working from home

[jeffrey collins]

Re: working from home

ahh, ha.

[pdowney]

Re: working from home

I work from home as a freelance writer. It only works if you have a regular relationship with employers. I have people I write for every week or month, and then there are special projects that come along every once in a while. Trying to invent some new project from scratch for work every month is not the way to go.

When your employers don't "see" you, all they care is that the work comes in on time. If you can do this reliably, you're set.

It can be lonely. If you like office chatter, gossip and politics, you will never like working from home. If that stuff drives you nuts, you might be much happier.

[ShawnD64]

Re: working from home

umm. its tough to start as might be impossible as you are probably in your low 20's/

for one, you obviously need a few grand to start your business, getting paid might not happen for a few weeks and you should get separate computers, phone lines, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, get insured for the business to sheild your home. also, the costs of obtaining a business liscence is a few hundred bucks easy. AND you need to open a corporation and use the appropriate venues (CPA/ Attorney)

i work from home a lot, and sometimes leave the office at lunch to work at home. i find it more enjoyble, as you get music, tv, interweb. but you need to discipline yourself to be able to get up at 7, get shit done and budget your time.

mid 20's, close enough. i would have the money to start something as i have some stock money that has been sitting there (supposed to be down payment on a house when i get to that point) ... so its there if i was confident enough, which i am not really.

It can be lonely. If you like office chatter, gossip and politics, you will never like working from home. If that stuff drives you nuts, you might be much happier.

i hate office chatter. i am a social person but not at work. i have alot of friends, and most people i work with are boring and/or annoying. i also dont like my co-workers knowing what i get up to on my free time (partying during the week, trips to the casino on a wed night returning at 3:00 AM ect...) i keep a very clean image at work. they think i am a computer geek with no friends so yea, i would prefer to work alone. i will save my social time for me and my degenerate friends

i think i will try to hammer out some websites then see if i can pick up some work on the side to do at nights and see where that takes me

[floridaorange]

Re: working from home

Nice thread...Interesting stuff.

[neoee]

Re: working from home

I think I would really like to work from home, but do not know which avenue to take. I love an unstructured life, and just being home during the week and just going out for a run when the roads are quiet is very peacefull to me, and I wish I could be away from the structured life of a 9-5 office job... I was a computer science major and now I work in IT. I was thinking about getting into web design and trying to get some jobs on the side to do at night ect, and see where that goes...

anyone have any ideas?? obvioulsy their are problems such as benifits ect... but i would love to be on my own....

There are many jobs in IT that allow you to work from home. I was putting together an business case for my group to go virtual but it seems that mgmt has their minds already made up so I'm going to withdraw myself from the project tomorrow. It doesen't really matter since I can find other groups within the company to jump to.

Your best bet is to work for a large corporation since they are all looking to go this route because of the cost savings (real estate, facilities maintence, electrical, liability costs, etc.). Smaller companies are more hesisitant to go this route. Or you could do what I was doing and make a business case to propose to your management to allow you to do so. All the studies I've found on it indicate that it will save the company money, improve productivity and quality of work, should be an easy sell, as long as your mgmt has an open mind (unlike mine). You might still have 9-5 hours but I think it will make life much more enjoyable and it will be that first step towards your ideal goal.

[palmer]

Re: working from home

How do you deal with having no colleagues anymore?

I used to work as an employee before I started running my own show and the colleague contact is something I miss a lot. Even when I work together with employees of my clients on projects, I have to treat them as clients too (marketing you know). Same goes for the people who work for me. Ok, I sometimes make a joke or talk about trivial shit like sports 'n' stuff, but there's always a distance you keep/feel that wasn't there when you were "on the same level" with the others...

For me that's the biggest disadvantage of going solo.

Yeah I definitely miss fucking around with people throughout the day but I'm a lot more focused when I don't have other people as a distraction. I bullshit with people on instant messenger throughout the day though... not quite the same.... but it gives me some laughs through the day.

[palmer]

Re: working from home

you just described my ideal day. i am going to hammer away at web design in aspirations of living that way. i have little to no experience with web design, but i will use my programming back ground to get off the ground. you seem to be more into design, but do you have any advice for me

Really just learn as many skills as you can so that you can work on a variety of different projects it really helps to keep things challenging and interesting. There are a lot of people that know web design and there are a lot of people that are really good at it. So having a larger skillset will really open things up for you.

If you have a programming background though you can get into much cooler/crazier shit that will pay a lot more. There is a large demand for programming cats in the 3d world. Just some food for thought.

[nbpgt]

Re: working from home

i work from home & work for myself (arch design). most of my business comes by way of subcontracting from another guy. my day runs about like palmers, but with less emailing. if times are slow, i play some playstation or stare at the tube, or surf the net. or go for a run.

i generally hate the bullshit that would go on in an office environment & dealing with people you have nothing in common with (besides the person who signs your check) & could care less about. so i love being the only person in the house.

you do have to learn to structure the financial side of it & try to stash a little away for a rainy day, along with having the books in order. some months are better than others, you gotta learn to ride through it.

my startup costs were huge, but i had been working on the side & @ night for a few months & just stashed it away for expenses or a vacation (if my gig didnt work out).
as far as the benefits, you can still purchase insurance (a little more expensive), & put money away in some form for retirement up to a certain amount. but whenever im not working, im not getting paid, so you have to work that into the fees charged for the work.

goodluck

[thesightless]

working from home.

god i love the remote access. something like this.

me- hey im going to a client.
boss- ok.

go to client, go home.

work while watching espn and no one cares.

you stay at home parents have something going here.

[peloquin]

Re: working from home.

working from home is definately not overrated

[thesightless]

Re: working from home.

im here, sitting in shorts and a FUCK NY tee shirt, with a sam addams on the desk, watching espn and playboy. if i could do this at the office. i would be very happy.

[KinKyJ]

Re: working from home.

shit sorry guys on both count. double post and wrong forum. and yes, i had a nice pair of guiness an hour ago.

Plus the Sam Adams... Maybe at this point it's better to start organizing your pencils instead of doing someone's taxes

[Lrn]

Re: working from home.

why dont you go out and do something istead of sit infrount of a computer like the rest of us saps

[maddlingo]

Re: working from home.

I'm jealous, I'd do anything to have the freedom to work from home.

[jeffrey collins]

Re: working from home.

cause he's still @ work until 5PM