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Oct 27 2007

How To Work From Home Full-Time

It’s been almost a month now since I started working for Telligent, and fortunately I’ve been able to work entirely from home. Overall it’s worked out pretty well, but for those of you who think working from home full-time is as nice as it sounds, you should know that it’s a lot harder to pull off than you might realize.

Discipline
The first thing to know is that working from home full-time requires serious discipline. You have to be disciplined to actually put in a full 8 hours (or more) worth of work. You have to be disciplined not to play Xbox half the day. You have to be disciplined not to sit around the house watching your stories. You have to be disciplined not to work on all those home improvement projects that have been piling up.

In short, you have to act like, well, like you’re at work. One some level you have to kind of operate as if you are not really at home. It’s as simple as that. You have to get used to the fact that even though you’re physically at home, mentally you are not.

Distractions
There are many distractions at home. The Xbox. The Wii. The TV. The wife (of course that could be a *good* distraction, if you know what I mean, hehe). The kids. The dogs. The fact that your house is in complete disarray because you’re completely remodeling it. OK, that last one might be just for me, but hey, it’s real. The point is that you have to be able to set aside all the distractions and focus on getting work done. If you can’t do that, you can’t work at home for any significant amount of time.

Office Space
Having worked from home for a day or two occasionally before, I usually ended up just sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop trying to get stuff done. That doesn’t fly when working from home full-time. It’s critical that you have a dedicated office space at home where you can focus and get away from the distractions. Having a dedicated space not only helps you, but it also signifies to everyone else in your household that when you’re in there, you’re working. Trying to work at the kitchen table doesn’t have the same effect.

Normal Work Hours
One of the mistakes easily made working from home is the work hours. As Scott Hanselman found out, it’s all too easy to just always work. I’ve made this mistake before as well and have gotten pretty good at working normal hours and setting a hard stop. I’m usually online from 8:30am – 5:30pm, give or take a half hour on either end.

Of course, this can sometimes be challenging if your co-workers are in different time zones. For example, I’m in EST (Ohio) but my boss Jose Lema is in PST (California). If Jose says, “Let’s chat again at the end of the day”, his end of the day and my end of the day don’t match up because his 5:00pm is my 8:00pm. His day is just ending but I’m getting the kids showered and off to bed. So keep that in mind as well.

Isolation
This is very obvious, but working from home full-time means you are on your own. You don’t see your co-workers. You don’t attend meetings. You do nothing face-to-face. It’s the complete opposite from working in an office where everything is done face-to-face. You might not think this is a big deal, and sure we all know people who we don’t want to see anymore anyway, but this is a far bigger adjustment than it seems.

Communication
And being isolated leads into communication. No matter where you’re working, communication is essential to be effective in your job. However, when working from home you have to communicate differently. It’s all about IM, Skype, SharedView, and conference calls (all of which Telligent lives by). Communication is always critical, but that critical-ness gets kicked up a couple notches when being isolated at home.

Watch the Weight
A couple weeks into working at home I noticed I was putting on a few pounds. I was still running (treadmill), but then I realized I hardly moved during the day. I was just sitting at my desk working away. See, working at home by yourself means there is nobody to go talk to; meaning, no office floors to walk or building stairs to climb. It’s just you and your computer. Plus, I noticed my eating habits changed. Being at home I was more likely to hit the fridge or pantry a lot more often that I was used to. Heck, before Telligent I was used to not even having lunch many days. These changes bit me and were completely unforeseen.

So, with all that being said, if you can manage it, working at home is a pretty good deal. You do get to see your kids more. You save a ton of gas money because you aren’t driving anywhere. And the isolation can work in your favor because it allows you to be more heads down to get actual work done (as opposed to constantly being interrupted by people in an office). Just remember you still need to shower and brush your teeth :-D.

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  • http://michaeleatonconsulting.com/blog Michael Eaton

    Dave, I’ve been working from home almost exclusively since 2001 (with one short cube-farm break) and I have to agree with most of what you say.

    The biggest issue for me is the isolation, so I make it a point to have lunch with friends every so often.

    Oh, another issue for me is the perception by family that since I’m home, I’m available to do whatever, whenever. :-\

    On a good note: I actually managed to lose 25 pounds in the last year because I stopped raiding the fridge throughout the day. :-p

  • http://keithelder.net/blog/ Keith Elder

    I’ve been working from home for pretty much two years now so I share a lot of your same sentiments. One of the things I tell everyone is to invest in a great wireless headset. I don’t know if you’ve invested yet, but if you are like me and on the phone several hours a day, it becomes a must. Here’s my tip Dave.

    http://www.keithelder.net/blog/archive/2007/04/15/Working-From-Home-Tip–Start-With-Your-Headset.aspx

    -Keith

  • http://www.jphamilton.net/ J.P. Hamilton

    Dave, the hardest part I encountered was actually being able to set the boundry between work and home. I found that as I thought of new ideas, I would wonder into the “office” during off hours. For me, it was never a problem of working less, but working too much.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    U can always schedule lunch w/me if you get lonely–however, please shower first and put down the food.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    I really wish you would have done this working from home thing earlier in your career…talk about a god-send—u at home actually doing work, and me not having to see u! Great combo.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    Hmmm… your statements on discipline… and how this is sooo different than working w/your coworkers or at the office…

    I guess if you’re really “passionate” about what you are doing… why would you struggle with discipline? Why would you struggle with any of it… if your mind is aligned with the bigger picture…

    Also,,, entreprenuers I believe don’t struggle with the concept…You have to get used to the fact that even though you’re physically at home, mentally you are not. I don’t think there’s a separation… personally. I think the two can co-exist…I personally love working no matter where I am physically at… if it’s something I love to do.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    I guess why do you have to separate work out from life… and why your kitchen table doesn’t work…..

    I think that’s just the nerd in you. Making compartments for it all…

  • http://www.arcware.net/ Dave

    J – I have to separate things because otherwise work will consume and take over my family life, and I refuse to do that.

  • ummm

    I can’t possibly imagine that your boss would be so cruel (and insensitive) as to interrupt your family time. That would really suck.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    Good points on the separation—

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j

    U should create a work at home, carbon emissions counter… meaning, more days worked at home, equals less carbon emissions… how much did you save the environment by working from home and not commuting.

  • http://www.loudcarrot.com/ j
  • paul

    Hi,

    I’m pretty much interested in working at home. Do you know of any company that does that? Or is your company currently hiring? I’m really interested to the fact that you don’t have to get out of the house just to work. Kinda lets you save on gas. ;)