Working from Home, Part 26
This is a theme that’s been on my mind for most of the past two years. I dream about working from home and a flexible schedule. Then I live it and start to miss the routine and being paid on time. Contracting and building your own business has a certain amount of stress built in that doesn’t leave at the end of each day. When I work for someone else I still take what I do seriously, but I can more easily disengage from it when I’m not at work.
Lately the days seem to melt into each other. It’s like being in college. I could choose what to do with my time, but if I wasn’t studying, I felt like I should be. So it goes with working from home. I get paid for my time and the other time I’m building things that are residual.
I’m a social person but working online so much has turned me much more introverted. I notice how much more difficult it is to really engage people I don’t know. That used to not be a problem! I used to love talking to people where now I more often observe.
I read a lot about Google (I blog about them at www.podango.com/Google) how a lot of Google millionaires actually don’t quit their jobs or they go on to found charities or join VC groups. Work doesn’t stop because a job does. Work is an opportunity to make meaning and a framework for growth.
I’ve been daydreaming about looking for a regular job with a PR firm. Where my social media, SEO, and writing skills can play in and I can fill in the gaps. And ideally I can blog. This is just an idea I’m tossing around (don’t worry Paul Wilson). Once again I crave the social atmosphere and routine that a job offers. I’m not quite there now, just thinking.
Here’s a great post that covers the pros/cons of freelancing and working from home that I could relate to.
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2 Responses to “Working from Home, Part 26”
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November 18th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Odd, I’ve spent time trying to figure out how to based on independent contracting where people don’t feel quite so isolated.
If you had the capital, it would be possible to create an office building with different size spaces, conference rooms, and computer resources that would allow independent workers to gather and do work as independent entities.
BTW, if you look at the traditional pioneer town, you would find that a whole lot of stuff like this went on.
There really should be options, other than working at home, for people who want to maintain their independence.
Conversely, there is nothing that prevent people who want the comfort of a regular paycheck from working at home. JetBlue has proven a model where their call service staff stays at home and takes calls.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
The airlines, cruise lines, travel agencies and the like increasingly are ‘home shoring,’ or steering customer service rep jobs to work-at-home professionals stateside. These ‘businesses’ have start-up costs, and though many of the CSRs are ‘independent contractors,’ they have but one client - the company for whom they do the majority of their work.
Telework on the way to entrepreneurship also can be an option. Put your toe in the water to test the work-at-home environment. Become comfortable doing what you do professionally - and doing it from home. In time, you may find the nerve to cut loose from the W-2 and go 1099.
Finding success in the home office takes time. As someone said on WebWorkerDaily, you hope to work from home doing what you love, but then ‘the business’ of work gets in the way - paperwork, accounting, chasing invoices, marketing, prospecting for new clients, etc. I’ve been doing this for almost 19 years (and I’m 43). The business end is still a chore, but I will never stop appreciating 1. the fact that I work from home with family around, 2. that I’m truly independent, and 3. when those checks come in! The business side may be a drag, but depositing a client check never fails to give me a bit of a high - and remind me of why I do this in the first place…