Successful Daddy Blogger: Garry Conn

Garry Conn has been blogging for money for the past four years and he’s a work-at-home-dad. The difference is he, like many dads at home, LOVES his job. In fact, I don’t even think he calls it his job because it is more of a hobby that pays him. He’s doing what he loves and having a ton of fun with it. Garry is the father of four kids, the youngest was born near the end of last year so it shows you can be the father and earn a living at home.  All in the same house with a newborn.

What is it you blog about and why did you start?

I have many blogs that range in subject. My most popular blog is my personal blog at www.GarryConn.com. I originally started blogging because of how different the environment was compared to building web sites. With blogs, you interact with your visitors. With web sites, there isn’t much interaction and I feel that having a connection with the people who visit your site is very important. 

How long have you blogged?  How long have you been a work at home dad?

I started blogging around the middle of 2005. I have been self-employed since around 2004.

How old are your children?

I have four kids. 16 year old daughter, 11 year old son, 3 year old daughter and a infant son.

Can you share with us a daily routine you have with your children included?  (Do you have diaper duty? Feeding the baby? etc)

Well our family all operate as one unit. We equally focus attention on things that need to be attended to. My children are very responsible and extremely mature and devoted towards helping and keeping our family operating soundly as a whole unit. 

What is the best thing about being home with your baby? Are there moments you wish you weren’t at home?

The best thing about being home is simply that. We are all home together and all work together as one towards growing and developing our entire family. We do everything together. There is never a moment I wish I was not at home. Home is our world which is protected from many of the harms of the outside world. While the country seems to have terrible times in the economy, in our world we don’t suffer from these elements. 

What advice would you give other work at home dads? What advice would you give a father deciding to quit his job to become a work-at-home-dad?

Do NOT quit your job and cut your lifestream (money) until you are in a position to do so. If you lose your job, you better go find another. I understand that you want to make money online and I understand that you want to be home. However, this can not happen over night. You need to work two jobs in order for this to happen. You work you day job and you spend many sleepless nights building up your other job from home. 

Do you think there is a difference between wahm and wahd? Why? Or Why not?

There is no difference other than men and women are obviously two complete different people. Women are much more detail minded and in my case, my wife and especially my oldest daughter are the glue who keep our family unit operating at 110%. If you are a wahm or wahd, the whole family is wah. Without the support and backing from your family, you will fail.

What do you do when your child is sick? (since you can’t call it a sick day)

My business isn’t demanding of my time. My business operates itself. My job is to scale my business and monitor it. If one of my children becomes sick, or has sporting events, etc… that is the beauty of what we do for a living. We are able to always place family before business while not causing any ill effects on profits. 

How do you divide your work time with your family time? What are some family time things you all do together?

We do everything together. You have to understand that all the duties and tasks within our family account for a small part to how our family operate. Even simple things such as taking out the garbage contribute to the big picture of our success. 

Do you find it hard to juggle working from home now that you have two children? How do you remedy a situation that may take too much time?

We have four kids and not we have no trouble balancing our time. In a situation where much time is needed towards completing a task, we would rather complete 15 smaller tasks and then if we have time, we’ll tackle the task that requires more time invested. In this world you have to think volume. What is the most tasks you can complete in the hour rather than how much time you should devote to each pending element.

Many people say you leave work at the door, now as a blogger you tend to already live in the house, can you leave it at the door? Got any suggestions for those other fathers out there?

For over two years I did most of my work directly in the home. This isn’t an environment conducive towards productivity. We are in the process of converting our two garage into a home office suite which will enable my in particular to perform at a much more effective and productive pace with a minimal amount of time invested.

Can a work-at-home dad be successful and share in all those beautiful moments with his family?

For sure, isn’t that the point of being a stay at home and working parent. If this isn’t happening, you might as well work for a company. Working at home has risks, but these risks are worth taking because of the amount of time you can be at home developing your children.

What if anything, would you like to say?

You only live once. God gives you life to live it to its fullest. If you spend any moment of your life doing something you don’t want to do, then you’re not fulfilling life to its fullest. If you want to become a pilot, become a pilot. If you want to become a lawyer, become a lawyer. If you want to make decent money from home so that you can take your kids to baseball games and the park, then make decent money from home and take your kids to baseball games and to the park. My point is this. No element or no person is preventing you from doing what you want to do in life. You are the only person who can think of excuses as to why you can’t live the life you want.