P aul Boag wrote a brilliant post today on The Reality of Home Working. The article covers some excellent points and raises some solutions to problems which I’m clearly not the only one having. Well worth a read, see my comment on the matter below:
Great post Paul, I’ve now been working from home for a month and a half and I’ve encountered a lot of the problems which you’ve mentioned here. The biggest of all of them for me is the “working 18 hour days” one – the problem is that when it gets to 10pm… I don’t WANT to stop. I feel the urge to work on a personal project or WordPress theme, so where does that leave me? Right back here in my home office again.
Like pretty much everyone has said, I guess it just takes time to find a balance – but I also think people probably work really long hours to start off with because they’re desperate to get themselves established and make sure that they’re going to have enough work to cover all their bills for the first couple of months.
“…when it gets to 10pm… I don’t WANT to stop.”
I tried to explain exactly this to a friend over the weekend, she works in an office and just couldn’t get her head around it.
Good to know it’s not an uncommon feeling!
Paul really hit the nail on the head in that blog – even after nearly 2 years im still finding a balance with working from home.
Some times you have to take a step back or you end up loosing that freedom it should give you because your working 80hr weeks! not good in the long run!
Its a learning curve but I don’t think I could every go back.
The thing I find hardest with working from home is the lack of human interaction. I live on my own so that obviously makes it worse.
I find Twitter a great help. I follow a lot of freelancers and there’s definitely a sense of were all in it together.
Posts like the one Pauls just made on Boagworld and a lot of posts John makes here really help because they remind you you’re not the only one and all this talk of 18 hour days makes me pull me finger out & actually get some work done!
I’m currently working from home, but as soon as profits are steady enough, I think I’m moving to an office for myself in town. It’s walking distance from my house, so if need be, I can be home in 5 minutes.
Also, I think having an office, not at home sends a more professional signal to potential clients (you could invite them into your office, rather than guiding them through your kitchen, living room and into a converted bedroom).
Downside: costs, of course, but if it improves productivity, it could be worth it.
Wasn’t Paul’s post great! It was really what I needed. I’ve been trying to plan how this sort of thing might work for me, and I think that sort of blog post can help me learn from others’ mistakes :)
I definitely need to get out more! Isolation is something that I think everyone is prone to if they don’t consciously try and do something about it, to combat it. I am guilty of not doing anything about it, and I know its unhealthy for me.
Interestingly, despite having worked from home for over 2.5 years (for an employer), I am already finding the experience completely different now I am self-employed (and its only been a few days!). There’s a lot to be said for structure in your working life. Now its all freeform for me, lots of things to do, and no structure to it.
Agree, its a good Boagworld article.
You took the jump then! Big congrats! :)
Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!