Was thinking about this last night - I worked from home for approx 4 years until April last year when I moved into business premises. Just wondering how many of you work from home or have seperate premises? And what do you do? My reason for switching was mainly motivation - At times I found it very hard to get any work done, espcially with all of it being online! Nice weather didn't help either! Now I have moved it's a lot easier with a daily routine, a lot more businesses aswell as expanding
I have a home office and workshop. I do hope to move into business premises at some stage in the next 12 months. I have two young children and so work in shifts-day shift when they are at school and then night shift ( a couple of hours) when they are in bed. They are old enough now though that I can usually work uninterrupted after they come home from school as well, for about an hour while they play outside or do their homework. It is hard to get a routine when you are based at home, I agree. Actually I was just going to post about a great book I've just read to help with organisation and routine
Home office for me. All paperwork etc etc done from home. We dont have a lot of space in my shop for office work. Plus i can sit quietly in the house and watch the stock market :wink:
Home Office. I have no problems with motivation, as I absolutely love what I do. Doesn't feel like work half the time! I have a separate office upstairs, away from the missus, the TV, the doorbell etc I have the door shut most of the time and just crack on
I had an office but moved out a month ago due to the building being renovated. I was offered the opportunity to stay in the office for free during this time (it wont be done until June) but the building is freezing and it was expensive enough warming one office (I had 2 rooms with high ceilings and 3 huge single glazed windows. Then the roof was being repaired and there were 6 bowsl cathcing rainwater in the other room, and dust and noise, plus they cut through the alarm wire! So I figured I would work from home. Meantime some business friends of mine have put in an offer to buy a building I was thinking of leasing, and if that gets accepted I can have one of their rooms. Have to say, having been used to driving 60 miles. an hour each way, working form home has allowed me more time, less hassle, less tired from peak commuting on the M1, and of course saved me lots of diesel costs! But I agree for me also, there is no proper structure like being in the office. Im not distracted as I do work all day when at home, and my meetings are almost always within 30-40 mins max because I make my appointments ater the rush hour so im on the road less. However, its just not the same. And I will return to the office environment at some point depending what works out where but I think I would prefer an office closer to home than in the city.
I worked from home for about a year and a half. I have a small flat so I had to work in the front room. I couldn't escape the daily life of the family and it was really disruptive. I couldn't afford an office but decided to take the scary leap and get one, never looked back
I used to have an office but now work from home (for Fuzzydon), I have no trouble separating business and pleasure :001_rolleyes::wink:
For the last two years been working at home, but have bought my own unit now and just awaiting completion before I move in (fingers crossed it's mine next friday, but not getting my hopes up as completion date was supposed to be 21st March)! Know exactly how you feel, I struggle with motivation when working at home. The main reason I am moving out is because of the lack of storage space. I also need a bit of pressure to get me working harder, some would call this a kick up the backside.
I have a home office upstairs and we're in the process of converting the garage in to a dedicated stock room with a door in to the house (the best part :clap I don't have a problem with motivation, although I am having a bit of trouble switching off at the moment but I've come up with a few ideas today to ease this problem (for example giving a 9am to 6.30pm time on my contact page for customers to telephone and making sure I have half an hour for lunch away from my desk). It sounds a little strange but I don't want the business to grow too big as I prefer being a sole trader and working from home ... there's talk of hubby working from home for a couple of days a week if things get any busier which will be entertaining :eek1: and could quite easily lead to damage being done :sneaky2: I had a problem to start with because some members of my family and some of our friends seemed to think I spent most of the day with my feet up and could therefore run errands or receive visitors willy nilly but they've got the message now. Have had a few lively moments with hubby when he's come home and asked questions like why I haven't taken the washing out of the machine (while he's lounging on the sofa and I'm still attached to the computer) but I pretty sure he's kidding :confused1:
I work from home, only just kicked off the business so it's not surprising being a consultancy business anyway, I'll have to see what the first year holds before I look for premises. Very very very distracting being at home though. I must learn to concentrate..... I must learn to concentrate..... I must learn to concentrate..... I must learn to concentrate..... I must learn to concentrate.....
I must confess I am really lazy, the employee works in the warehouse and I work from the living room. We communicate using MSN and if he ever needs to show me something he puts it close to one of the CCTV cameras. :lol: Believe it or not, it works really well. The only time I ever go in the warehouse is around 5pm to give the post to Royal Mail/Parcelforce and on the odd occassion to give him a coffee and a biscuit.
awww what a nice boss you are - and give's another meaning to arms length management! Have to agree about whats mentioned earlier, people think you sit around all day doin g not much at all, and think they can just pop in during the day. Only been caught out twice so now I lock the door and keep the blinds fairly closed so I can ignore them if I want to. I wouldnt normally, but the visits are an hour or two otherwise! That said the beauty is that I can take a couple of hours off here and there and work it on the evening or weekend, but then everyone thinks Im working 24/7! Can't win!
Also agree on the errand & visit thing but am in more of a routine now. We have also just converted garage with knock through from another reception room by our front door which is quite nice as it's turn left to office and turn right to the home. It's just being finished now and hope to be in there properly from next week and have to say I cant wait! No more muddy subcontractor boots traipsing through my hallway for cup of tea in the kitchen. Also means that my telemarketing employees can pop in and work with me when they want to rather than just from home so I too can be a lovely boss and give them the odd cuppa and biscuit! ps- hope you claim your hobnobs on expenses
I too agree with people thinking you are lounging about all day when working from home! It can be hard to get the work / life balance right that way! I have been lucky in that my office is no more than a 5 minute drive from home (and thats with school traffic)
Morning everyone, I also used to work from home, and whilst it was great most of the time my productivity started to dip as i became too distracted by other things. Now I go into my office each day, and whilst it's only 5 minutes from home it's great having that separation. Because I was new here 15 months ago, I knew no-one, but have now met loads of people through having my office as well as the networking opportunities which have given me more business. It's definitely worth the rent! Am just trying to persuade a friend to get an office too - maybe I'll send them this way? Kim