Working from home. Need some serious inspiration.

May 8, 2009 3:26 PM

Working from home. Need some serious inspiration.

Ok, so in some ways the job is awesome, in other ways I feel like I'm going crazy. I work from home, the money isn't bad, and my job is pretty easy over all. That actually might be part of the problem though- not being challenged enough. I do research and personal assistant work for someone, and I can pretty much keep my own hours, and I never even have to see my boss because he's always traveling. He doesn't care when I "clock in" as long as I'm available by phone and like once a week I send him updates. Lately though, I've started to kind of hate it because I'm just so bored half the time and I feel really isolated working from home. I can't usually work from coffee shops because I'm sort of "on call", like when something comes up I need to have the stuff from my home office available.

How do other people deal with working from home? I thought this would be so ideal, but I'm starting to think the point of going to work is to have some kind of community. Maybe I just need to go out a lot after work and add some other structures to my day. Sigh.

I'd hate to walk away from a job a lot of people would find ideal (at least in this economy, and in the area I lived). I also just feel generally stagnant in my my life, and I definitely need a hobby. But that's another question, probably.

Any kind of feedback would be fabulous.

posted by anonymous to work & money (9 comments total)

Can you find a group like a Jelly? It's a group of folks who work from home but that get together periodically for company. This may be hard if you're "on call", but on the other hand with a set group you can get guaranteed socializing in during a few hours a week.
posted by wyzewoman at 3:42 PM on May 8

What about joining a "coworking" space? These are basically designed with folks like you in mind - the idea is to give self-employed or telecommuters a space to work with other people. Not sure what kind of stuff you need at hand, but it might be something you could set up at such a place. If there's no such thing where you live, maybe you could start one.
posted by lunasol at 4:05 PM on May 8 [3 favorites]

2nding the coworking suggestion. It is designed exactly for people like you. Most have a drop in rate or some sort of part timer plan.
posted by COD at 5:35 PM on May 8

I too work from home, and how I deal with it is by weighing the pros and cons:

Cons: isolation, lack of structure, constantly seeing housework that needs to be done, only a cat to talk to (or bother me when I am trying to concentrate). Did I mention isolation?

Pros: Getting up when I want, dressing how I want (i.e., no pantyhose, or tie if you're a guy), no commute, learning new things, project-oriented work as opposed to rote work, challenging myself, no office politics, setting my own hours, being able to take bathroom breaks when I want (a big deal when you've done cust svc work).

It has its ups and downs, for sure. I've gone online and met some local people, and last year I was taking Tuesday afternoons just for myself to meet another woman who writes. Her schedule got whacky so it fell off for a while, but I know I can call her if I want to get together for breakfast or something. I also have neighbors who have off-hours so I can get together with them if I need human companionship.

If you set your own hours, you're the business owner, and you can tell the person that you are incommunicado at certain times. Such as, Wednesday morning for walking, coffee meet-up with someone on Friday, whatever. You set the time and it becomes habit for both of you. You might make it up at other times, but that's okay. I get really involved with my projects/clients too, but I am not on call 24/7 and you don't have to be either.

I also got onto Twitter and followed local people. Some of them are freelancers too. When I'm working, I shut it off, but I know I can go on and "tweet" to them so it's not so isolating. Get into the Tweetups or Mefi meetups, or some local group that suits your fancy. Think about what you'd be doing in your off hours if you were working 9 to 5.

It's hard because you have no set time to go to work, then come home and you're done. You're there, you're there, you're there, and when you're done with work, then what? That's where taking a class (dancing, hooping, whatever suits your fancy) can come in handy.

Good luck and MeMail me if you want to talk.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 6:36 PM on May 8

3rd the coworking. I just started working at IndyHall in Philadelphia because the rest of my company is in Germany.

It's amazing; I don't have to work in my living room, I get to separate work/private life, I meet interesting people every day, and I get to hear about stuff from completely outside my "field" all while still being in a working environment.

If there's not a coworking place in your city, take a look on craigslist or just walk around & ask businesses in your area if they'd be interested in renting out a desk -- full-time or a few days a week, whatever you need to get out of the house.
posted by polexa at 8:20 PM on May 8

Nthing the co-working thing... but I'd take the 30,000 foot view here as well - why did you choose this job? What did / do you want to do with the time / flexibility / convenience / lack of commute?

Now is a GREAT time to tackle almost anything that interests you, and the trick might just be finding out what it is that interests you. Online learning? Playing the stock market? Writing a blog? Grad school work? As long as you're available by phone and (guessing!) are near a computer, what you do with your downtime is presumably up to you.

Enjoy it, my lucky friend.
posted by chrisinseoul at 10:38 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

I can't usually work from coffee shops because I'm sort of "on call", like when something comes up I need to have the stuff from my home office available.

I'm assuming that the things in your office that you need available are of the paper sort. Have a look at the ScanSnap. It makes all your paper searchable and available to you whenever you want on your computer. With a good project management suite, a cellphone(Iphone has some wonderful apps that might help) , scansnap, and a digital address book, you could work anywhere in the world with your laptop. I'm able to scan a full cabinet of files in about 30 minutes and about an hour more organizing in the scansnap organizer. It's a really nice piece of kit that every information worker should own.
posted by bigmusic at 2:05 AM on May 9 [2 favorites]

I know exactly what you're talking about. I absolutely despised working in an office and was able to keep the job without the office-- awesome. However, it's lonely and when you're not in an office you don't waste all the time bullshitting around and trying to look busy-- you just get stuff done. What used to take me 40+ hours now takes me about 20, and my boss resists all efforts for me to grow my responsibilities. Whatever. It's her dime.

So I got a second job teaching a secondary skill that I have at a Park District program, just 8-10 hours per week, generally in non-work hours (like 4-6 p.m. and Saturday morning). This gets me out of the house and is social in the extreme, plus I never have to talk about my "day job" there-- it's completely immaterial. It's also very autonomous, just you and your students, fairly low-level of boss-like interaction. (Day job boss knows about secondary job and is very supportive.)

I also developed at-home hobbies for those times when I'm in the boss-hasn't-gotten-back-to-me holding pattern but I have to be near a computer and a phone. I garden, I write in the family blog, and I sew. Then there's Metafilter....
posted by nax at 5:22 AM on May 9

Sounds to me like Chrisinseoul has got some good ideas there. If I had a gig like this, I'd take that downtime and start a small business, do graduate school/college, or work on my wood working skills. I say embrace the lulls in your work and turn them into something fun and exciting.
posted by alexherder at 7:06 AM on May 11