Jeremy writes a post on Working @ Home that got me thinking about my own home office set up and some of the advantages and disadvantages of choosing to do so.
An opportunity came up for me to move out of home into an office with three other micro business owners – it was very tempting for a lot of reasons:
- the social interaction it would bring – blogging can be a lonely business
- the potential cross pollination of our businesses and opportunities it might bring
- social stigma attached to working at home – also the ability to bring a client to an office without worrying that they think you’re a two-bit substandard consultant working out of home because you can’t afford anything else
- he ability to have better boundaries between work and home life
- less distractions and the ability to concentrate more upon work without TVs, video games, kids etc
- shared resources/office equipment etc
Of course on the other side of things there are some distinct advantages of working at home like I do
- lower overhead costs
- less risk in working for self rather than having to worry if the other businesses would fall over
- being able to work from bed in boxer shorts til 2pm in the afternoon
- being more present in family life (I’m amazed how many dads now work at home and are present in the lives of their kids these days – this is very attractive to me – or will be when we try to start a family).
I have a love hate relationship with working from home and was tempted to move out and may still do it one day – however in the short term I think I’d rather put the money of hiring office space into buying a new house and other ventures.
Also read Tris on the same topic.
