The singular “con” instead of “cons” was deliberate because I’ve only experienced one downside to working from home so far. The downside is that it is always there and easily accessible…always. I’m having to exercise a form of self-discipline I didn’t expect which is not to work. I’ll often find myself at 7:00 p.m. thinking of something I need to do and heading downstairs to the office. I need to set some limits on myself so I don’t end up with a whopper case of burn out.
On the pro side, there are plenty. Working in jammies, sweats and blue jeans tops the list. Having canines milling around is a close second. There’s something about a dog or two passed out on the floor next to me that makes me more productive. Blasting music while I work is another bonus. In an office atmosphere with people around, the polite thing is to play music that can barely be heard from a foot away. As a result, it ain’t worth it. Plugging in the ear buds on the iPod is an option, but once the phone rings or someone comes in to talk, the ear buds become a nuisance. Here at home, I plug my iPod into a speaker system and play it at the volume I like and play the music I like (which is not conducive to a professional office – believe me).
So far the arrangement is quite satisfactory. I’m advertising in two papers and chasing referral business. I accepted a couple pro bono cases that I took mainly because right now I have the luxury of taking pro bono work because there isn’t any paying work to compete for my attention! I’m hoping to take on one or two pro bono cases a year (maybe more depending on complexity) because family law is an area where there is a huge need for low income legal clinics or pro bono work.
So far I’ve been keeping very busy doing start-up stuff like opening empty bank accounts, setting up advertising, setting up forms, printing out pertinent court rules and statutes, and trying to figure out how to make Quickbooks do what I want. It’s incredible how busy I can stay with only two clients! But the goal is to get set up in the front end so that when things start rolling (fingers crossed) I’m ready.
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January 29, 2008 at 9:05 am
Mamabeek
Yep, yep! Common problem among those who work from home. AR and I decided at one point that Wednesday would be good for a day off because nobody is on the beaches, hiking trails, in restaurants and so forth that day. But the trick was, we didn’t take weekends at all then and mostly didn’t take Wednesdays either. If one was working the other felt guilty and so forth. You have to set REALLY firm boundaries to keep from burning yourself out. I hate forcing myself into a schedule because, I mean, what is the POINT of working at home if you can’t be utterly spontaneous, sleep in, work at midnight and so forth? But the evil Type A monster will get you if you don’t look out…
Then later on comes the pet monster. Get all organized, get your hot drinkie and your comfy pillow behind you and fuzzy blanket over your knees and start working… cat wants out. Unbury yourself and let cat out. Get all set again… bird needs moving. Get up, move bird. Sit down a little less comfortably and try to get your head back into the work. Notice tea is cold. Get up and reheat tea. Sit back down with hot tea, work five minutes… cat wants back in. And so goes the day. Sigh.