We’re writing a story for the next issue about working from home and would love to know your thoughts? If you do work from home, does it ‘work’ for you? What do you love about it, what’s tricky? If you don’t … do you wish you did? Why? Let us know by leaving a comment below … Thanks! Df
ps. there’s a great discussion going on on our facebook page if you’re interested in reading more people’s experiences
Tags: 40 Comments
40 responses so far ↓
I would love to share with you my experiences and thoughts on this. As a mum of three children under 7 and a husband who travels for work, I have really had to find a balance that allows me to run a new business and be there for my family and friends. I am still learning how to do this with good humour and even some tears.
Thanks Kim … how do you think working from home helps or hinders you in trying to ‘do it all’?
I’ve worked and grown my graphic design/bookdesign business from home for the last 15 years.
What I love about it? No traffic getting to work, just sneaking past the cats bowl without her noticing I haven’t put anything in it.
What’s tricky? Setting a standard for staff when they start early and walk past the kitchen window and you’re still in your nightie.
Hello Df.
Big topic very much on my mind of late.
I am lucky to work from an old country caretaker cottage on an estate in the Southern Highlands of NSW. The grandness of it all is utterly inspirational and beautiful and so this totally works for me.
I also love walking up to the Exeter General Store to post off my orders for the week and collect any new goodness sent my way. I am totally blessed to have Rebecca Wolkenstein as a neighbour with Tamara Maynes nearby also and we tend to gather at the local markets and each others houses when we can.
What is not working for me is the creative contact though, which apart from the Sohi crew, is mostly through the screen. I am relieved to hear other creatives bringing this up in terms of working in isolation without the beauty of peer feedback and emotional support when the creative process can wear one quite thin in order to hear/find/see a work/piece/article full circle.
I am happy to elaborate further and provide any visual for you to get a picture if need be.
MG
I love it! The space to be creative and not have to deal with office politics. My only distractions the dog and cat, but at least I can tell them to bugger off! The down side is having to chase payments – how do people think I survive? And we created a “home alone” club… Friday night drinks in each others office/studio spaces, xmas parties and Melbourne Cup lunches all help to alleviate the potential of working from home becoming a bit isolating. Works a treat!
I have accepted ‘Doing it all’ is impossible, but only when you try to do it all at once.
I worry when I am working that I’m not being a good mother and wife, and then when I’m focused on my family I worry about my clients and that I’m not giving them enough time.
I have to be strict on completing set daily targets for my business or else a week could go by and I have achieved nothing on the work front as family can take up all my time if I allowed them to.
Things have had to give, like housework, I don’t feel guilty any more that there is a basket of clean washing on the couch for three days, or that I have to get someone in to help clean once a week. This would be the area I have found the hardest with my partner as he likes an orderly home and he has had to accept I do work and that the ironing just has to wait, or he can do it!
If I am really honest, I know my business could have grown a lot faster if I put my kids in day care, but I have chosen to build my business slowly over the next two years as I work around them. I do have the help of my mum twice a week which is such a blessing. That is my choice and I have set my business plan around this.
I dream about the day in two years when my youngest will be heading off to school so I can really develop my business further. To have 5 days a week uninterrupted will be a the turning point in my business.
I would love to work from home. Or perhaps a beautiful sunlit, carpeted studio just at the back of my cottage garden. That way I could just gaze out the window for inspiration in any kind of weather while I set about creating ‘very meaningful work’. Ideas would be bountiful and I would have enough skill to translate them instantly to screen/paper/recording in a way that was both insightful and accessible. My Bernese mountain dog would lie curled up in front of the log fire and we could have a break in the early afternoon to have a walk and pick up my children from daycare.
The work I accomplished from home would be well received and would earn enough so that my wife would not have to go to work, but instead would build a studio next to mine and we could ‘cross-pollinate’.
As you can probably tell by now, I have not worked from home before, well not properly. Not like how I imagine it would be. There was a few months in my youth when clients would come and sit in my bedroom in a share house to approve the latest edit I had done for them, but the term ‘working’ to describe that period of my life is quite loose at best.
I guess that working from home is an ideal in most people’s minds, filled with opportunity, freedom and self-respect. I can only hope that one day I will experience it how I imagine. In the meantime, I will just have to read Dumbo Feather which always takes me to a similar place.
HHmm the joys and the wows…well with 6 kids 2 businesses and the rest, i wouldn’t have it any other way (working from home that is). My multi tasking has taken a trip to another level when i decide to work and from what time, when too clock off for tea break, early quiting time, long business lunches. I set whats to prioritize as urgent ( or MOST urgent). Ticking my lists gives me most gratification because its on my time line and deadlines i set with in my own boundaries of what I’m capable of doing not set by “the Boss” (not Bruce Springstein). The hinders …stock in my cupboards in my hall, by the front door ( just got 11 boxes delivered from India), no one to immediately brain storm or task sharing. Time management is the key, systems and planning which is trial, error & process, in other words whatever works best to get paid regularly that you enjoy. OH and exercise I am where it begins and ends so make time for it! Family comes 1st, so when a stockist calls and i’m trying to find a quite space to have a conversation and children want my immediate attention for toast the pantry is sometimes my office space. Distractions are everywhere so focus is difficult when your wearing all the hats in the home business. BUT seriously its a challenge but all work is and the joy of being at home with my family and them seeing me (trying to) work is important as Daddy goes to work but Mummy is at work 24/7. Talk soon Love me
Like most others, I love the freedom and flexibility that setting my own hours; miss the dynamic sharing of ideas and inspiration and general energy of a busy office; don’t miss the office politics. There are plusses and minuses of working from home that other respondents have – and will – more eloquently describe.
I like to think that it also reduces my carbon footprint. There’s less travel, for starters. Even though I bike commuted as much as possible, I also had to drive to work regularly. My mileage is greatly reduced now.
Before working from home, I spent a year as a prisoner in an air-conditioned fluoro-lit box where no windows were ever opened. I was exhausted for the entire year. When I think of the amount of energy it takes to light and air-condition all those offices, studios, work spaces, little wonder we have dwindling resources and global warming.
I hate air-conditioning (it’s freezing) and don’t need it at home. My home office is bright and sunny (in fact I need some thick curtains….) so electric lighting is only used after sunset. It’s a single, eco friendly bulb.
I intentionally do not have a printer at home, so now I think very carefully before making a PDF and taking it to my shared office to print. When I worked in an office, it was just too easy to hit the print button for everything. I keep a big stock of recycled paper for my notes and designs.
I’m sure your readers will think of other ways working from home reduces our environmental impact.
Also, my cat is much happier. She used to spend 12 or more hours alone every day. As it turns out, they’re not the solitary independent types I thought. She likes to know I’m around.
(BTW Thank you so much for your inspiring, fascinating, beautiful mook.)
Hi there, I’m a photographer in Brisbane working from home in a little 5×5m granny flat… most days i’m out shooting, but when there’s alot of shooting to be done, that means there’s also alot of computer work to be done. I LOVE my job, but the only downside is getting lonely during a solid week of processing on the computer…. This year I have also had to implement a strong daily routine for when I’m at home working or even shooting – trying to have a proper lunch break at the same time each day… not checking emails/ doing work before 9am or after 5.30pm. As I love my work so much and I live in my office I have in the past easily overworked and lost that life ‘balance’ with all other things in my life that also make me happy… My routine has helped immensely so far this year, and I’m still learning/ improving on other aspects of living and working in the same space. ..
loved reading everyone else’s experiences here ; )
Nat
I never had plans to run my own business from home, until I was made redundant (twice) in 2009. I, literally, found myself running my own business and just taking each day at a time.
The hardest thing for me – as a “people person” – was working alone. (Employees at the local butcher and paper shop got a regular ear bashing when I needed company.) The other big things I had to come to terms with was building structure to my day and not procrastinating.
Today, only 11 months after I started my business (PR, writing and communications), the business is going well, I’m discovering and harnessing my strengths and, either, learning to live with my weaknesses or avoiding those situations that exploit them. I know myself better than I ever have before and my career direction is much pointier. (Still some sharpening to do.)
I love not wearing makeup, corporate uniform and fighting traffic. I love managing my work to suit my brain’s peaks and troughs (it’s rarely 9-5), my earning capacity and a return to creativity (in every respect).
I’m still learning to balance work, family and life – I never really leave the office. And, I’m still learning all of the finance stuff.
My experience is every-dark-cloud-has-a-silver-lining in action.
This is so interesting and I am VERY keen to read all about it as I have just this week bitten the bullet and taken steps to start my at home sewing business. I have a one yr old boy and while I have been back at work for some months now (part time) every min he is at daycare breaks my heart!
I am a single parent who has to share custody so I am already away from him much more than I should be. I have to work though! Even for the next six months I will be winding up my “real” job slowly so that we dont end end up hungry if the business doesnt take off. That means I am going to have to do both as much as I can so it doesnt seem flexible or relaxing to begin with but I hope it will be worth for us both in the end!
Also just in response to many of the comments saying isolation and lack of creative inspiration was a down side I am finding it the opposite! While yes – most intraction is through the almighty web I am connecting with ppl who are much more in tune with my way of thinking and sitting in a grey office all day punching numbers is far more draining on the soul than sewing like crazy to your favorite tunes or reading blogs about other crazy sewers (or interesting mooks)!
So while I am new at the game, and full of hope I think this is going to be a life changing decision for my little man and me!
Kate I am available as you know to discuss the pros and cons. If we’re all honest with ourselves, a lot of the decision comes down to cost. Working independently of a ‘boss’ usually comes with a financial sacrifice. A happy tax if you like. How many of us have a choice? I would be sincerely interested to know.
I work from home and I find there is a bit of relationship inequality as a result. When I work from home, I often get dinner, pick up children, clean and tidy, but when Mr works from home it’s ‘work only’. Maybe that’s my lack of discipline?
Pros: Pets, slippers, food-stained dressing gown, music autonomy, candles, tea and cake breaks.
Cons: Isolation (I am Monique’s neighbour and have been known to go to the Post Office just to chat with the postmistress and have some face to face company). Isolation is huge. It extends to feeling not a part of the ‘real’ world. With an office on the High street, even a solo office, I would feel part of things.
Great topic. Looking forward to the issue.
Rebecca.
Hi.
I am lucky enough to work from home. It was my dream to have a studio and shop space that I could open up to the public. I did, however, have to move to the other side of the world in order to achieve it.
It’s five steps from my back door to my studio. Not very far but those five steps enable me to be really diciplined about the hours that I work and the hours when I don’t.
When I first moved to NZ my studio was in the cottage in a spare bedroom and I’d work until all hours. Having a space that’s separate from the cottage has made a huge difference.
I’m actually quite a private person, well, there are certain aspects of my life that I like to keep private so I had to get over having members of the public visit my space. As well as the shop, I encourage customers to wander around the studio and even have a rummage through my fabric and notions.
It would be so easy for me to work every single day and hibernate in my space and so I took a two day a week job away from here which means that I am mixing with others in the real world. It works well for me.
Do ask away if there is anything else you would like to know.
Bye for now, Alison
I started working from home because of children, as many do. We have a family business and it makes sense to keep involved and pay ourselves to jobs instead of others. Subsequently, however, I have suffered some quite serious medical issues and I have to say that working from home has been my lifeaver, quite literally. I developed a debilitating illness that would have prevented me from being employed full time anywhere, even with the family. The home office has been my saviour, meaning I can complete tasks when I am able, day or night. As things have gradually improved, I have been able to take on study as well, all the time being available for my children.
The marvels of electronic banking and communication and the flexibility that working at home provides have meant that we can contain costs that otherwise may have proved disastrous.
I don’t think the balance thing is an issue for me – the office is right next to the kitchen! Seriously though, I appreciate the fact that I can do things anytime although I know that doesn’t suit everyone. My job has deadlines and I can meet them, the rest is up to me.
Hi Dumbo Feather
Woweee!
What I love about working from home is:
- wearing tracksuits and uggboots on cold days or just a singlet and undies on sweltering days
- being able to make endless cups of tea
- taking time out to walk my dog in the hills behind our home when I’m getting in a rut (or because she is looking up at me with big eyes and whining to leave the house!)
- having total solitude and silence, which is sometimes essential for me to get into the groove of writing a tricky report
- being able to multi-task – participating in a teleconference while I’m hanging out the washing
But there’s things that I loathe as well:
- there’s no-one around to share a cup of tea with or bounce ideas off
- the curse of procrastination is bigger working from home ‘I can’t work in this mess – I MUST vacuum the house before I get started!’
I’m looking forward to reading the article!
Cheers
Laura
It’s been great reading everyone responses to this!
I’m a freelance designer and illustrator and I decided last year to leave my studio design job and work from home on a freelance basis and try to set up my own business. I don’t have kids – so that wasn’t the main reason for me wanting to work from home. I love working from home and I’m lucky that I have a partner who supports me trying to develop and run a business from home otherwise I probably couldn’t afford to do it on my own.
PRO’s: Wearing my ugg boots all day, flexibility, working to my own hours that suits me and my creativity, not working in an airless air-con room (I haven’t been sick once since working from home!), no traffic commute, no office politics, not having to deal with people I can’t respect or trust, setting my own standards.
CON’s: I too find it quite lonely and isolating sometimes, unable to bounce ideas around and share ideas, I miss learning and being inspired by other people, no-one around to rev you up when you’re feeling unconfident about your work and direction, can be challenging financially compared to a regular job.
Lastly can I say how inspiring it is to hear from so many mums working from home. You’re all amazing and are setting a fantastic example to your children. Not having kids I don’t know how you manage to fit it all in – but congrats for having the courage to do it.
Hi Kate
Working from home must be managed like an other location. I love the freedom that comes from operating my business from home, as well as the cost advantages of only having one premise. However there are things that I have to consciously attend to: some projects require me to be out and about a lot (thank you iphone for the ability to manage office from my car). Other times I may be working from my desk predominantly and must consciously take breaks (like around about now) and get out to engage people in person (thank goodness for great coffee shops). I have found it is important to ‘train’ the people around me so that they respect my work day at home as much as they would if I had an office in a commercial location. I still sometimes find it difficult to see some clients who don’t want me to come to their place of business or prefer not meet in a coffee shop. In WA one needs a home-based business licence to have customers (and staff) in a home office (& if don’t have one it also impacts insurance etc). Aside from this, as a single woman living on my own I do not really want to have customers in my house (professional image is less of an issue for me but I know it can be for some) so I have made sure I have the option of going to a serviced office and hiring a meeting room if the client and I are unable to meet in their business or find a quiet coffee shop. Overall working from home works well for me! Thank you
I am a freelance Graphic Designer working from home and I think the best thing about working from home is the husband/kids being able to come in and say hello or just run past on their way somewhere, and to hear happy/cranky children playing close by. The worst thing about working from home would be having the husband/kids being able to come in and say hello or just run past on their way somewhere, and to hear happy/cranky children playing close by! I think you know what I mean.
It’s been so interesting reading the responses (here and on FB)… I didn’t properly work from home before having kids, so that moulds my perspective quite a lot. When I had two children, aged 1 and 3, I ran a craft kit business from home for 2 years before selling it last year. Now my third is 11 months old and I am two months into the relaunch of my photography business (I ran one casually before the craft kit business). This time, I’m doing it properly!
I’ve actually forgotten, I think, how to watch tv or listen to music (my usual evening activities) without multi-tasking – be it packing supplies in my previous business, research, emails, bookwork, design, editing or the mundane stuff like folding washing, my hands are always busy. The beauty of working from home is that I am able to have these other things happening. The flip side of that is that it is difficult to focus, especially when I really need quiet to concentrate on certain work. Fortunately, I’m accustomed to work amid chaos.
Missing meals is a problem that I didn’t have when working in an office… and while I could cook something tasty if so inclined (a bonus of working from home), if I’m not in the mood or unwilling to stop working for that long, there is nowhere nearby to grab a quick bite, it’s all DIY.
Distraction is also a problem, but setting out self-imposed rules and to-do lists goes a long way toward resolving that one.
Overall, I am grateful that I can. Because working from home means that I can. And when my daughter’s school calls, I can head right down without any concern. I have time for my son’s early intervention and I have the give and take of varying demands on my time – while I have to prioritise, I am able to. Which is the point really. This way I can.
Loads of washing, visitors dropping by for chats who don’t “get” that you are working (or taking a business call), over-excitement at seeing the mailman, the fridge… these are the hazards, temptations and peculiarities associated with working from home.
To be honest, as a born extrovert with anxiety issues, I need variety in my week and people populating my days, which is why I’ve just committed to a three-day work week outside the home office.
I’ve found the more time I spend in my at-home hobbit hole, as delightful a place it is to look at, the more reluctant I am to venture outside, into the big, wide world, where all the best ideas can be found, which takes away my creativity. It’s also hard to establish new, fun, fulfilling relationships while attached to one’s MacBook.
I missed the buzz of ideas and conversation and shared experience of working in an office with like-minded folk. I also miss the commute: buses and trains can be a pain, but, oh, the people you see and hear and meet!
My commute from the bedroom, via the kitchen to my office takes a full 32 seconds. There is no other way I could run my new business, service consulting clients and juggle a family if it were any other way. The experience is one I look forward to everyday, but sometimes I miss the spark, dynamic and creative energy created in an office of like-minded colleagues. It can be a challenge to stay motivated and on-task and finding someone who makes you accountable has been my key. I find that joining in group activities gives me the exercise I need and makes me feel part of a work and social team. Turning off at the end of the day and shutting the office door can be tough. The urge not to pop into the office and check emails, update the website or finish off work late at night is something I haven’t quite got the hang of yet. This is double-edge sword of the 32sec commute I suppose.
I have just started working from home and am loving it. I work out in the world one day a week which makes me feel a part of it then the others am here. I love my job so it makes it easier to get up and do it otherwise it might be abit tricky for motivation. I love not feeling forced to work and being able to get really stuck in if you’re going swimmingly or else relaxing abit and having some tea and sitting back. It is tricky however to stick to working hours and not sleep in and then work late into the night… but am sure that comes with practice!
Ah yes, the work from home dream.
I started contracting myself out as design professional – products and some graphic artwork some three and a bit years ago.
It was born out of sheer frustration after submitting folios and cv’s to some 150+ companies and the offers that did come back were for very unattractive companies for pittance. Luckily in the lead up four years I worked in a construction firm in projects where I learnt all sorts of useful day to day business and project management tools. I took a day off to spend with a mentor who had been helping with one of my designs for a few years, and realised that day that if you make some hard and smart decisions, they could pay off for you in the long term. But I digress slightly…
Self discipline. You are going to need it. A few little house rules you are going to need to implement… like you HAVE to be out of your jim-jams BY 9am. And if you don’t HAVE anything REALLY important, you are at your desk by 8am. Charge your clients for morning and arvo smoko. Everyone else gets it, why should’nt you. But really, these are the easy ones. It’s the other end of the scale where real discipline is needed. STOP working at 6pm. DO NOT work through the night. That’s right, university is OVER. Don’t beat yourself up over the small stuff, build relationships with your clients, not profits. Get an accountant, get a bookkeeper. Evolve. And then one day, some three years on, you will have a new dream…
The OFFICE dream!! Thats right, you can’t wait to have a good enough cash flow to support an office away from home…
thanks for letting me share – giles
Working from home and being based in rural Tasmania can be quite challenging at times- more for the social aspects of sharing work spaces with others, which does mean I can focus entirely on what I’m working on and when I need some human contact I go into town to stock up on materials and check my mail- this is why we have a P.O Box, so I’ve got a really good excuse to go to town nearly everyday!
After sharing studio spaces in Hobart with other artists (over 10 years ago), I find that now I’m working from my home studio its the most liberating, relaxing (not always!), meditative and productive experience I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy, and continue to enjoy. Its a real treat to be able to determine working times/hours/days and if I need to finish an order I can wander downstairs for dinner and a walk and then come back to the studio and work until the wee hours of the morning when all is quiet and I feel like the only person awake (apart from nocturnal marsupials!), for miles. This is not always possible when working in shared spaces with others and restricted access.
Being an artistic individual who enjoys a daily sense of theatrical escapism in order to create work constantly, working from home enables me to create the ideal environment that continues to feed my arts practice and its something that can be quite delicate and often needs sensitive monitoring in order to be sustainable and practical. The benefits are many and varied and the amount of focus I enjoy in my working environment is very important for me. It helps that I’m a very driven person AND I couldn’t survive without my laptop and internet access!!
Whenever I need some external stimulation or to research imagery, design innovations, discourse, anything….the internet is really a vital tool for me…especially when I’m so far away from the friends and design colleagues who help to nourish me artistically and who are currently spread all over the world.
Its not always rosy…I do have to find positive ways of combating the rare days where I feel listless and cannot engage with what I’m working on. The other huge development in my life which is about to change everything is that I’m due to have my first baby any day and its going to be really interesting to see how we all adapt to the family/work balance within the house. I will probably not want to work all night anymore, and this can only be a good thing for my health and creative processes- which will need to become more streamlined and manageable!
Most of these comments represent the perspective of people who are running their own businesses from home. I represent another corner: that of the employee in a relatively conservative (but creative) organisation whose boss permits a reasonable amount of working from home.
There’s something soul-destroying about the air-conditioned, fluorescent-lit office space. That’s what I work in 70 to 80 per cent of the time. On the plus side: having a desk in an office represents face-to-face interaction with colleagues, productive “eavesdropping”, being part of the buzz of day-to-day work, not falling out of the loop, and easy access to the company’s physical resources. On the negative side: a not very well designed open plan office space means unwanted distractions when you’re trying to focus on something creative or complex, and its harder to control (prevent) random interruptions. I also don’t have immediate access to my vast personal collection of reference tools that I use in my work. And yes, the physical environment is uninspiring.
That’s where being allowed to work from home as required is a boon. I feel very lucky in that respect. The challenge is, because it’s not my principal or regular mode of working, it’s been more difficult to set up a really productive routine. As others have mentioned, the temptations of procrastination can really take hold when you’re alone in your home. And the line between a flexible schedule and a crazily irregular one is a very fine one. Self-discipline is hugely important or the benefits of working an “office job” from home are lost.
What’s clear to me is that current technology has definitely reached a point where working from home for a traditional employer (whether full-time or on an occasional basis) is becoming more and more practical. Computer networks, email, phones, etc. – the communication tools are more than up to the task and only getting better. Given that very few traditional offices are set up with any kind of enlightened workspace design, and most are in fact downright counter-productive for many types of work/tasks, I can see more and more companies recognising the advantages of allowing their employees to do some or all of their jobs from home.
It will then become a new element in learning how to be a “employed worker” – that process which so many in the developed world go through at some point. Once that involved learning about comporting yourself in an office environment and how to manage the advantages/disadvantages and the social/political interactions of office life. Soon it will also include learning how to manage a solitary work environment and another set of strategies for etiquette and social interactions. Interesting times.
Yes I work from home, it’s Fantastic I Love it!!!!I design & co-ordinate a womens clothing label “little green dress” beautiful clothes made here in QLD from sustainable textiles……. I am part of the SLOW Fashion movement, I’m into quality not quantity, my product is unique, made locally with care & intention, my only criticism of working from home is the lack of stimulation from other crazy creatives like myself…….
I’ve been reluctant to work from home because my space is tiny and I share it with two growing kids. Juggling life has fragmented my already-short concentration span and it has taken me a while to trust myself to work in an environment that feels so comfortable. I know that sounds bizarre but there’s nothing like ‘colleagues with a deadline to meet’ pacing through your workspace to focus your mind!
Recently though I have found that being able to lose myself in my work and my study has become easier. I think taking a ‘whole of life’ perspective on work helps: there is no need to be locked into 9-5 but jobs need to be done.
Like everyone I find the positives are flexibility, no commute, relaxed dress code (makes a swim at ‘lunch’ easier too). Negatives—not so many new faces, difficulty switching on also becomes difficulty switching off, solo problem solving.
My favourite workspace—laptop+stabletable+bed. Ok so not great for posture but gee it’s warm!
I’m a landscape designer, and when I had to close the retail nursery side of of my business I decided to continue designing from home. It has been 3 going on 4 years now and such a struggle, I have found it really hard.
I’m a people person so not having that constant contact is difficult and can become quite depressing.
I have been lucky enough to find a group of friends who all own small businesses. We meet up for breakfast a few times a week to bounce of each others ideas and to vent, this helps keep us some what sane. I have also just started go to the gym every morning to get me out of the house, I find it gets me motivated so when I get back home I find it easier to get in and do work.
The hardest thing is my partners attitude towards my business. He seems to feel that because I’m at home the house should be immaculate and dinner cooked. He cant seem to get his head around the fact that I am “working” when I’m at home and not sitting around watching Oprah.
I have heard there are a few people sharing office or studio space in Canberra now and I think given the opportunity I would jump at it.
I don’t think working from home is all it’s cracked up to be.
I have been working from home for nearly 12 months now, starting up a new paper communications brand, after (very happily BTW) receiving a redundancy from a high pressure corporate marketing job.
While it’s sometimes a struggle to keep positive (especially now it’s winter), I really feel that I’m incredibly lucky to have been given this opportunity to fulfill the dream of running my own business. I am also grateful to be able to spend more time with my young son in this short period before he goes to school. I have missed so much of his childhood by working (mostly full-time) since he was only 3 months old, and now I have the opportunity to make up for some of this lost time.
I love:
- Having my son as my alarm clock, and not having to get him and me ready, breakfasted, drop him to daycare and be at my desk by 8.30am
- The view from the “deck desk” – alas, only good in the right weather, and wonderful trees all around (we live on the edge of the forest)
- Deciding to go for a walk in the forest, doing the weeding or going to the local cafe when I feel self-discipline waning – for some creative thinking time
- Mum Days (I only work 4 days a week, except on market weekends)
I’m not so keen on:
- The tiny, cramped study/office which I share with hubby, so I work at the dining table. This means having to pack up whatever I’m working on in order to eat dinner each night
- Never feeling like I’ve left work – I can’t shut the door on the dining room
- Isolation, lack of creative input, the quiet (when I forget to put some music on), shortage of laughter, lack of positive feedback – and the Facebook, Twitter and Google Analytics addictions that fill all the gaps
- Feeling disorganised all the time, even though I’m not really. It’s just that this work is a lot less structured than my old job (it’s a lot less pressure too) (not to mention the above-named addictions)
- A regular income – and the related frustration about how slow it is to get a business off the ground.
I wouldn’t have it any other way though, and I’ll be doing everything possible over the coming critical months to ensure that I can protect this special lifestyle.
Great topic to bring up! My husband and I have been working for ourselves for the last 6-7 years. Firstly setting up his IT company (which moved out of the home and into a commercial space this year due to size) and then my studio/gallery ARI (I am a printmaker). Both of us have relished working from home as it provides us with the flexibility we want combined with the lack of office politics. It does require discipline and setting ground rules regarding issues like when to stop work for the day (or we would both probably just keep working on every evening) but it has allowed us both to travel extensively which is something we both enjoy immensley.
Feeling isolated has not been an issue either – we just made sure we both get out to as many events as possible (both personal and work related). If anything, we now have much better social lives than when we worked in jobs away from home and we enjoy the networking events instead of seeing them as chores.
It takes time to find the right balance but when you do – it is well worth it!
Hello DF
I’m a photographer and I’ve run my business from home over 10 years now. It’s great to be able to see clients in the evenings and on weekends, but the flip side is that it’s hard to switch off. I’ve tried shutting the studio door and not checking my email all weekend, but it doesn’t work. But it does mean that I can take time out of the week day to see exhibitions and work on my art practice, but I do feel like I work seven days a week.
What I am interested in is the mix of people who work from home…I understand why so many women do it, but it seems to me that less men do…why? Is it still seen as what you do if you can’t do anything else? Some of my friends (who don’t work from home) think I’ve always available because I don’t really work (as they see it I don’t go to work), but I’m pretty sure I have much better working conditions and much less hassle at work than they do!
I’ve made it an absolute policy to be up and dressed and have walked the dog before I start work in the morning. My studio has windows on to the street, so to sit there in my PJs would be yeek! I start work by 9am most days and finish about 6pm if I don’t have a job or clients to see. And I try to be very organised and keep up with bookwork and other studio bits and pieces each week, even when I’m flat out. You can’t do it without structure (at least not for any length of time) or without normal business practices like a at least rough business and marketing plans.
I find isolation the hardest thing, it’s hard to keep your creative focus on your own and if I see someone after a day at home along I tend to babble on. I don’t have too much trouble with the business side of things, although if I do have a quiet patch I tend to panic (and without the support of peers this is harder) rather than take advantage of the extra time to catch up with friends and do my own thing.
Obviously life circumstances and choices play a big role in this – I see many of your contributors have children and working from home have understandable advantages. I’m not one of those. But I am an intorvert and do enjoy my own company, so theoretically it should work fine.
I am a teacher, so working on site is pretty essential. But I did have a dabble in journalism a while ago and I found the home-work side of things overwhelmed me with anxiety. I felt so disconnected and trapped – there was no escape from the pressures of the working day; no one on hand to share the load; no synergy. I dreaded the telephone; completing the simplest of tasks took all day.
I think we often take for granted the benefits and joys of going to work: making that wonderful transition between the inner and outer world and developing different aspects of ourselves in the process. Dressing for the day is one of our most natural forms of creativity; the thought of ugg boots and pyjamas makes me shudder.
Going to work means I am required to collaborate with very different people to those I share my home with. I have the benefit of supportive peers just footsteps away, yet at the end of the day I can re-tune myself to one of life’s greatest pleasures – coming home. Not so easy when you’ve never left it…
As a new business I am learning to take it step by step and not expect to have it all at once. I dream of a studio with high ceilings and a huge desk, not to mention all the high-tech gear and stationary I want! For now, it’s a tiny shared desk in the corner of our apartment, an old PC and a mobile phone. My business documents are lined up side-by-side with cookbooks, novels and my boyfriend’s sports magazines.
Most of all I dream of a buzzing work environment where I have a great team around me, and lots of noise and action all the time! Although for now it’s contracting the odd assistant and doing everything else myself, I get dressed every morning, makeup and all, to ‘go to work’ at home. I put on some jazz music, make a cup of coffee in a bright mug, and pull out my schedule, which I make sure I stick to even though there’s no-one looking over my shoulder.
It can get a little lonely, so it helps to have supportive friends, and to go to regular networking events to meet other small business owners for inspiration. I love the idea of the at-home office parties too!
I’ve been working from home for over 3 years and LOVE IT! No dealing with peak hour traffic and wasting precious time or worrying about what to wear too much especially in winter when you just want to stay warm and snug. No one watching if you want to check out no-work websites for some down time.
Now that I have a young son I can enjoy the early years (whilst still being able to check emails as I walk past the computer) and work when he is asleep, at night or in day care 2 days a week.
Tricky parts? I learnt early on to start the day at
9am or earlier otherwise I found I couldn’t get focused. I’m my own boss so I need to stay on top of my game but aim to keep the stress levels low.
I’m an artist, and living on the Gold Coast, real estate here don’t take to kindly to us -as they state, ‘bohemian types’ renting a studio.
I’ve been working from home now for about a year an a half, and recently moved in with my folks and two sisters again. By day, its usually busy about the house, and my work gets interrupted with my mum yelling out “come and watch this on Ellen”, or me deciding to take another tea and pat the dogs break.
By night, the house is quaint. This is when I really get things going and I am hugely productive. I’m still on the hunt for a studio, as my sisters are studying law, and my make shift studio now accompanies lawyers in the making.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. It’s so great to hear everyone’s story. I’ve only just discovered Df and I so looking forward to reading my first issue.
I am an artist and designer (former photographer) and I started working from home even before thinking about having children. Now that I do have two, I am so glad that I had the opportunity to learn the self discipline required to successfully work from home first.
The things I absolutely LOVE:
- Being able to incorporate what I love to do into my lifestyle, earn an income, and be home with my family is such a gift.
- Sharing my work with my family, especially since they share my excitement with successes along the way, as they’ve seen for themselves the hard work and effort that goes into making things ‘happen’.
- Brainstorming ideas with my husband over a glass of wine. And passing on the inspirational reading material I come across in my research.
- Teaching my children techniques that they may not be otherwise exposed to.
- Being able to work with my 2 year old home with me instead of putting him into daycare.
- Seeing my children’s imagination run wild and not being afraid to think outside the square because of their exposure to creative processes.
- Setting my own goals and then achieving them. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing an idea grow and reach it’s potential… having the control over what I choose to focus on.
- Creating a comfortable home and actually being able to enjoy it… all week!
The things that I find CHALLENGING:
- At times being too hard on myself when I don’t meet my own very high expectations. I know I can’t control everything sometimes there are sick children to care for instead of meeting deadlines. Family first… always.
- Having to feel I need to justify that what I do is ‘work’. Just because I love what I do does not mean I do not work hard.
- Isolation can creep up on you before you know it, so I make a conscious effort to get out and interact with other people as regularly as possible.
- Although I love working around my children, there are days when I would really love to have a stand alone studio away from the house, or at least a lock on my door. Disruptions to my creative flow can be hard to minimise at times.
Working from home for me has so many more pro’s than con’s… I would not change it for the world.
I can roll out of bed at 10:30am to the sound of someone calling my mobile, cough three times, put on my business voice and start the day…!
From time to time I work from home. It requires a lot of discipline (to not open the fridge so often). But I think so long as clear boundaries are set in terms of work space and time then it is possible to work productively. But then I am single with only a dog to distract me. I can only imagine it is not as clear cut for those who have a business AND a family to run!
I came across this page and thought some of the points quite apt
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home