Is working from home all it’s cracked up to be?
I’ve worked from home for the last 27 years so I guess I am entitled to make some observations about how it works.
There are some critical issues that you would need to consider –
1. Discipline. Working from home means working – not staying. And the temptations for walking away from the work can be compelling. Kids come home with great news so that’s a good reason. A movie on TV I want to see – well that’s pretty compelling. How about when I’m not in the mood. You know – the words aren’t flowing, the mind feels like porridge, there’s no-one to see me. It’s easy to simply find an excuse and justify it with a catch-up clause. I’ll work later when everyone has gone to bed. I’ll get up early. Yeah.
I work from home because I like the flexibility. I can take a break to listen to my kids – they are both away at university now – but I watched them grow up – and I got the chance to grow up with them. I can goof off if I feel like it – but you have to face the facts that the work has to get done. If you take time out for some other activity – you have to put it back. I smile when I read about all the guys who work in their pajamas at home – seemingly for the odd moment in between drinking coffee and goofing off. About how easy it all is. Garbage. If they are successful I’m pretty sure the reason why they are in their pajamas is because they haven’t slept for 3 days and don’t have time to change. I know there have been days when I’ve got to writing at 3am and been so busy that I’m still there as suppertime – dressed for bed. It’s just been too busy to change.
2. Flexibility. Working from home allows enormous flexibility – often the cause of so many home business failures. I like to work a lot. If I worked in an office away from home I’d be frustrated. See – working from home allows me to go to my office when ever I want. I can watch my wife in the kitchen, listen to the TV in the den, stroll through to grab a cup of coffee and watch my wife painting – (you can see her stuff at http://www.veebauer.com). I can get up at night and go to work if something is buzzing in my brain. I can go to work at 3am and no one minds because I’m home when everyone else gets up. I can work late if I want and that’s ok. But you will notice the word WORK a lot in my story. It’s vital to make the flexibility work for you and help you increase your output – not tempt you away from the work to be done.
3. Organization. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to take over the rest of the home as office space. It usually starts on the dining room table – I may need to spread out some work so I can organize it. Then some goes through to the TV room because I’m going to proof read or catch up trading or sketch an outline while the commercials play on the screen. Then I leave all that behind when I go back to my office to do something there. It’s very easy to get buried when you work from home. So you either have to have a spouse who will shove you back in your hole occasionally – with all your stuff, or you end up lost. You have to stay organized – ( My wife wants to know how come I can’t follow my own advice …hmm)
4. Focus. You have to keep the faith. In spite of the distractions it is essential to keep the focus on output. You must be able to measure what you have done and how much closer to the end result you are. Sometimes it’s easy to get confused between effort and results. We are taught to work hard and we will be rewarded. Perhaps one of the biggest lies told. Results come from the right work being done properly – not from effort. Don’t get me wrong. Effort is necessary – but it doesn’t stand alone. That means that busy work is to avoided at all times – and busy work is that stuff that needs to be done but doesn’t move us towards the end result. It’s often a convenient distraction from doing important stuff because it’s easy, risk free and routine and maybe makes us feel good. Do that when the real work is finished. When the end result is closer than it was.
5. Loneliness. Working from home can easily create a feeling of being isolated. Guys go to work – talk about the game, customers, the boss, the secretary, the news and so one. Don’t let them fool you that’s its all work. There is a feeling of community in a public work environment. You don’t have that at home. You are usually alone. Working. Alone. Worrying. Alone. You must be prepared for dealing with that.
And there are solutions. Maybe alone is ok for you. I think it’s great. I can get on with stuff and no-one is poking his head into my office wanting to gab about something. But then my wife and kids think I’m a bit strange anyway and it’s safer for the public if I don’t go out. You can also maintain contact with others through the phone of visits if you feel the need to share. That’s what the telephone is for –
Conclusion
Working form home is a life style – not really a work style. I don’t commute in rush hour traffic, don’t ever get home late for supper, see a lot of my family. I don’t have to pay office and parking rentals and I get to be my own boss – and I’d never change it.
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About The Author
Kevin Bauer has worked from home for 27 years. To help you build your own home based business – get your copy of how to build a residual income working from home at http://www.grow-your-income.com
(You may reprint this aricle for your website or ezine but you must include my resource box and live links to my websites.)
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This article was posted on August 19, 2005
