Work from home
 

So, how many of you work from home and how regularly?

Since we moved 2 weeks ago I've been working from home a lot more and I cant tell if I like it or hate it.

Now I'm 30 mins away from the shop VS 10 mins, so its not exactly a quick drive down the road anymore (I should hardly complain though because her ride is now over an hour each way).

I find myself distracted often and I need to force myself to stay at the computer. Between the dogs, food, COD, bowl packs, random handyman house related projects, emails, phonecalls, etc., its easy to wander off.

Its not 100% regular for me yet and might not ever be, but with all the rain we've been having I cant paint and they don't need me to pour any concrete, so the computer it is.....

I'm coming up on my 20th year. Wife has been doing it for 8 years. We recently built out our basement into a dedicated office, which is nice since it's removed from the rest of the house and more conducive to working. There are few things that drive me to get the work done from home - 1. no work done means no money 2. no money means I have to go work for somebody else 3. working for somebody else means commuting. Most people in metro areas will laugh at your "30 minute commute".

If that stuff above is keeping you from working, you either need to remove it from your work environment, or remove your work space from that environment.

For me, the real joy is the flexibility. IF I need to run an errand I can usually do it during work hours and then just make up the lost time that night. I know I'm far more productive at home, alone, than I was in an office environment. I was in a management position before and was basically a target for every question anybody had- it was just a matter of walking in and interrupting me. At home, it's usually an email I can view at my discretion.

I was doing it every friday then got a new job. I'll be starting that again very shortly.

as of october, i've been working from home. it's a trade off...
solitude vs boredom.
i'm starting to hate it, but i love the liberties.
i can cook.
i can fuck.
i can sleep.
but like i said, i miss seeing people, talking to people...
i'm super fucking bored.
my office is 3000 miles away. i'm contemplating going back.

Working from home ever since I lost my job to the recession (May '10), building Megasquirts for a living. I don't like that I force myself to work everyday, including weekends, long hours (usually from 9am to 10pm). Loving everything else and wouldn't go back to working as an employee, unless I was making at least 3x of what I am making now.

cats, video games, refridgerator.

what more do you want?!

I have the same 30 min. commute to work, and work at home about once or twice a week. I absolutely love it. I don't have to get dressed, when I have no work to do I can sit and play video games until someone calls/emails me.

it's also pretty handy when I'm hungover on monday from drinking too much watching football on sunday.

Well, contrary to what everyone else is saying it just didn't work for me. I started my biz and worked at home for about 3-4mos and then decided to get an office away from home and have been there now for 13+ years. Part of the reasoning was that I could better compartmentalize work if it was away from home, as I was so freaked out about making enough money as a newly self-employed person that I was too wrapped up in it to really relax. Also figured it would ultimately be a liability (I'm a jeweler) to have lots of expensive materials/customer's items at home...might as well have painted a big target on the front door. Plus it is way more professional looking for a customer to come to an office downtown than to visit my home.

:bowrofl:

i miss a commute sometimes. I used to "read" a lot of books that way. I'm 15 minutes in traffic now.

I work in the office about once a week, and it's a 45 minute one-way commute for me. I prefer working from home because our office is about as lively as a morgue these days. Everybody seems chained to their desks and nobody really interacts. So I really prefer not to waste an hour and a half of my day to face that unless I really have to. I don't mind sitting at home, listening to the radio with my dog, working my ass off.

i seldom have shit to do. if i were actually working my ass off, it'd be another story, but i work for about 2 of the 8 hours i'm clocked in.
i really do miss the human interaction as well.
and i miss office drama/politics

I occasionally work from home, and I definitely prefer working in the office. Way too many distractions.. Mostly from my wife asking me if I'm done yet... constantly.

When it comes to working from home, the trick is to get into "work-mode", which can be difficult. A dedicated office, with a door that can be closed and respected by the rest of the family is a must. Then take the normal brakes that you would do at work - coffee break at 9AM, lunch at 12 and coffee at 3PM. Don't cheat.

At my old job, I worked from home every friday. The somewhat insane boss had his teams weekly meeting placed perminently in the calender at 5:30PM on fridays. I was sometimes calling in with a beer in hand...

I work from home. When i wake up till DD starts (daddy duty). then I hang with kid till bed time then work again. This week hes off school so i have him full on, double rainbow styles.

I love working from home, freedom is worth something. I game with my friends in the morning if I am up early enough, work, kid, work / game. Some days i do nothing but work, some days i do nothing but go for walks with the kid and play monster trucks.

If you offered me more money a year to drive downtown to an office, i would say no thanks.

Rick, you already make plenty of loot as it is. How many people here know another dude with his own helicopter and a yacht to land it on?

AH-64 Apache bro...come at me :)

Various military commands I've worked at have expirimented with work-at-home. We "practice" it a couple times a year in case the base is on lockdown and nobody can come in we don't completely shut down operations. I'm on staff duty now, so 90% of my day is spent plugged into OUTLOOK or pouring over PowerPoints. I could easily do my job from home with nothing more than a laptop and forwarded phone... but the internet through the Navy server is on fucking fire, so work>home.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1437377184.png

sam,

US Navy has nothing on CDN gov job.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1437408061.png

Go Canada!

Canada sucks, even Rick agrees. If he paid his taxes for one year, he'd fund your gov't sponsored medical program for centuries but he keeps that shit offshore, like a boss.

I definitely enjoy the freedom. That's probably what I like best about it. :bigtu:

At least I still get to go out and lug forms up and down hills when I can fit it in to my schedule. lol

If I didnt have the concrete work and painting on the side, I might not like it as much. Working from home on a day like today when its pouring out makes me appreciate not having to be out in it. I still do it, but now I have an option and I don't HAVE to.

The worst part of all of this for me is the worrying. I fucking worry too much now. I used to get up at 6, clock in by 7 and be sweating my ass off for the next 10-12 hours. All day long I would just work and talk shit to the brazilians and think about what I was going to do that night. The money I made went fast and went to nothing.

Now I have almost an ideal setup, money is managing to come in steady, financially I'm the best I've ever been, but I cant stop thinking about making more and all these what ifs everyday.

I guess that's part of it and I do like the responsibility, but I feel like I'm not enjoying it like I should be. Last night was the first time I got drunk and laughed like crazy in months.

This is the other part I hate. Phone calls for hours on end!! :vash:

I called FedEx freight to get a rate quote on a shipment and she's telling me that FedEx doesn't ship one off, antiques, or rare items. Well that's fucking perfect. When I asked her why didnt the account rep that setup my god damn FedEx account tell me this when I first set it up she didnt have much to say. Fuck you and I'll call someone else.

On the phone with 3 different people from Estes to try and get some quotes, and after wasting an hour on that the rates are through the roof.

I used freightquote.com for all my past freight shipments (at least 20) but the last one I had went bad and I lost $350 on it. After chasing my agent around for a couple weeks to no avail, I swore to him that I would never use them again if he didnt take care of this for me. Never heard from him so I want to keep my word.

Now I need to find a way to get back on track with freight shipments without getting fucked. Looks like that's how I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon......on the phone......

I work from home, and do enjoy it. Tech support. Somedays I'm slammed, others bored. I worked in a call center for 2 years so its heaven working from home. Gives me more drive to go out at night instead of wanting to stay home.