Home Office Worker | Home Office Warrior

Get out!

Mar 19, 2009

No, seriously. Get out of here.

Oh, wait! Read the rest of this first. Thanks.

So I’m working at home all by my lonesome. The view is pretty, I’ve got access to snacks and coffee. I’m on Twitter (too much, probably), so I’ve even got little conversations going.

So why do I start feeling down? What’s with the inner struggle, the questioning of my abilities, wondering about my effectiveness?

Recently I’ve discovered the answer.

Most of the time when I work with my clients, I never even meet them face-to-face. A lot of my interaction is with someone on the other coast via phone, iChat, or e-mail. It works for them, which is the important thing. I do have a few local clients that I am fortunate enough to meet in person. Mostly I work in my studio away from the things of man.

So I’ve noticed that every time I get out and meet a client, a business partner, or even another illustrator I come back feeling refreshed and ready to take on new stuff. It’s not even that we always talk about refreshing new stuff I could work on or apply, sometimes it’s just local microbrews.

Using a small bit of logic and reasoning I’ve deduced that getting out sometimes is healthy for me and my business. There are (of course, you couldn’t see this coming?) a few things I try to remind myself on the way out the door:

1. It’s about them, too. Whoever I’m meeting with. They have plans, thoughts, and needs that aren’t related to me at all. Respect that.

2. Shave. I know, I know; “this is Portland.” I still shave.

3. Bring something to offer. I don’t mean like a casserole. I mean like a thought, some information that might be valuable to the other person.

Thats’ pretty much it. No major rules here. It’s just about being a human and meeting other humans outside the confines of your computer. It helps, it really does. Besides just getting that essential interaction, you might pick up some valuable info for your business. You could even (crazy) create a brand new relationship.

Now you can go. Go on, get out!

David Billings is an illustrator, animator, and writer. He currently runs two businesses from his home studio near beautiful Mount Hood, Oregon.

Sparky Firepants Images (http://sparkyfirepants.com) is focused on building kids’ brains to ginormous sizes while they have a crazy time. David creates fantastic, colorful images that complement books and educational media for preschool and elementary-level kids. A unique perspective on children’s publishing and the business of illustration can be found on his blog (http://sparkyfirepants.com/blog).

He also uses his technical expertise in creating corporate graphics and presentations to consult with and assist presenters of all types, keeping their audiences rapt with attention. Prepared Graphics (http://preparedgraphics.com) focuses on helping individuals and small business owners with great content who don’t want to mess around with that PowerPoint stuff.

David lives with his wife and children on an alpaca farm. No, they don’t really smell that bad.

Home Based Business, Home Office Warrior, Home Office Worker, Networking, Tips for Working at Home, Work-Life Balance Written By David Billings Comments (0)

How Exactly is This Different Again?

Feb 12, 2009

Welcome to the fantastic secret universe of the home office worker. Check your former ways of working, living, and thinking at the door.

If you’re like me, you’ve come to this new world of freedom from a 9-5 (okay, 8-7) corporate job. In my former career there were things I saw that made me want to hurl my laptop out the window. Office politics, blundering management, new policies that were too broad to be effective for everyone but enforced nonetheless… the list goes on.

Not one to point all ten fingers at The Man – I was guilty myself of some poor practices when I worked in an office. Complacency (sometimes), e-mail avoidance (often), procrastination (daily) were my main corporate vices.

Now that I find myself sans boss, in my home office (studio) environment, I’m starting to get a handle on what it means to be in charge of my every day.

The advantages of being independent are obvious:

No boss hovering around or scheduling impromptu unnecessary meetings
I can plan my day around personal errands, meals, time with family
My studio/office is my own to set up according to my comfort and convenience
I decide what projects I take on, my rates, and how to approach clients

Just about everyone dreams of this world. It sounds like heaven to most people headed toward Independent Land.

While these things are all happy little pieces of this home office universe, I struggled at first, trying to understand how this was different from what I used to do. The only tangible changes were lack of a regular paycheck, no commute, and no co-workers.

Over the course of my first year at home I realized that this couldn’t be simply a shift in location, it was a complete mindset overhaul. I wasn’t just trading in my ties for a t-shirt and wool hat.

I realized that:

Complacency kills, but when you’re on your own it hurts more
I have to find my own “co-workers.” Networking, networking, networking.
Sometimes I have to take on projects that aren’t my ultimate dream.
My family comes first, but they also respect my need to work (it’s our nuts and berries)
My bosses were good at challenging me. I have to find other people to do that now.

I no longer have the luxury of a large company’s sales force to fall back on. If I procrastinate or slack off in my marketing, I will feel the stress a month later.

The reality is that the Deep Pockets Corporation doesn’t exist. People are experiencing layoffs and belt-tightening because of the myth that large corporations have bottomless wells of cash. They act accordingly in their day-to-day “just get me to the weekend” mindset and at some point the bill comes due.

Those corporations are just like my small business, only the scale is different. Which reminds me of another realization:

The reality is, there is no weekend. That’s not a Zen koan, it’s just the truth.

Does that scare you? No weekend? No holidays? No paid vacation?

If you want to be a member of the super secret society of home office professionals, you’re going to have to realize that you cannot shut off your brain at 5:30 PM. You can’t “forget about the office” for the Superbowl.

If you’re going to really make a go of this independence thing, you’re going to have to do more than switch your location and your clothes.

That’s why I say “welcome to a different universe.” It really is.

David Billings is an illustrator, animator, and writer. He currently runs two businesses from his home studio near beautiful Mount Hood, Oregon.

Sparky Firepants Images is focused on building kids’ brains to ginormous sizes while they have a crazy time. David creates fantastic, colorful images that complement books and educational media for preschool and elementary-level kids. A unique perspective on children’s publishing and the business of illustration can be found on his blog.

He also uses his technical expertise in creating corporate graphics and presentations to consult with and assist presenters of all types, keeping their audiences rapt with attention. Prepared Graphics focuses on helping individuals and small business owners with great content who don’t want to mess around with that PowerPoint stuff.

David lives with his wife and children on an alpaca farm. No, they don’t really smell that bad.

Advantages of Working at Home, Home Office, Home Office Worker, Mind Map, Telecommuting, Tips and Hints, Tips for Working at Home, Work-Life Balance Written By David Billings Comments (6)

Are those who work from home more productive?

Oct 07, 2008

In a word, yes. A recent survey released by CompTIA Reseach indicates that when companies give workers the option of telecommuting, they are seeing greater productivity, lower costs, improved employee health and greater employee retention. And this was also talked about today in a great post on ZDNet called “Trying to increase productivity? Send your employees home.”

Like Sam Diaz who wrote the post on ZDNet, I am sitting at my desk in my home office with my MacBook and extra display. Printer and even my own 20″ flat screen TV with the music channel on. Polo shirt, shorts and flip flops are my office attire too. I could not imagine having to get up, getting dressed and commuting to an office job ever again.

While I am my own boss unlike those who telework for a company, I too appreciate that I am working as soon as I pour my own cup of coffee and sit down in my chair. My commute is down 11 steps and across the basement to my office. And that is a huge upside for me and for those bosses who have employees working out of a home office.

Among the findings of the survey:

67 percent of the companies polled said employees were more productive, largely because they spent less time getting to and from work.

59 percent reported seeing cost savings from reduced use of office-related materials and resources.

39 percent said they have access to a more qualified staff, expanding their options to people who are located in - and not willing to relocate from - other regions. Likewise, 37 percent said telecommuting improved employee retention.

25 percent said employee health was improved, largely by reducing stress levels associated with the commute.

Other benefits included promotion of safety through reduced highway use (18 percent) and environmental benefits (17 percent).

As Sam Diaz also mentions,

Today’s tech tools - things like VPNs, WiFi hotspots, faster broadband connections and online and video conferencing services - have made telecommuting easier. My favorite tool: a virtual phone number from Google’s Grand Central service allows me to give my business contacts one phone number that simultaneously rings my home phone, office phone and cell phone so I never miss a call.

I could not do what I do without the same tools. And I would venture to guess, everyone who works from a home office has the same list of items they would not live without.

ZDNet in their post provided a really sharp graph which takes the numbers above and puts them side by side. Improved productivity is clearly at the top.

Trying to increase productivity? Send your employees home. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com.jpg

If you are trying to convince your employer to give you the chance to work at home, show them the above survey results and sell them on it. They will be happy and so will you.

Best Of, Home Office Warrior, Home Office Worker, Telecommuting Written By Grant Griffiths Comments (6)

Survey says…

Aug 28, 2008

By Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage

The survey results are in. We didn’t get nearly as many responses as I had hoped, but I’m going to view the few responses we did get as a ’slice’ of the Home Office Warrior population.

Click on this link to view the results.

If we were to go by the results of this survey Home Office Warriors tend to check their e-mail constantly and spend one to two hours a day reading and replying to it. That’s 5-10 hours a week.

They are a social network connected bunch, with Twitter getting the nod from almost all of them. They don’t check their messages on social networks as often as e-mail but they do still conclude that they spend another one to two hours a day reading and replying to it.

Most of us blog, and the majority have more than one blog that they maintain. The average time spent on blogging was hard to determine, but the largest part of respondents fell somewhere between one to six hours a week.

A large portion of us don’t send out newsletters., but the ones that do average another one or two hours a week doing so. We’re an organized bunch using some form of system to manage our contacts. We spend a couple of hours a week invoicing and billing and we’re lucky enough to have clients that pay us on time reducing the need to send late notices for the most part. As a group we’re familiar with press releases and have sent them in the past, but most of us aren’t actively doing so now. We spend a couple of hours a week writing and submitting articles and 38% of us make over $100 dollars an hour.

Half of us that took the survey were virtual assistants, of the other half, everyone is aware of what a VA is, but none use one on a regular basis.

Wow. Looking at those numbers one can assume that just these tasks I included on the survey are eating up an average of 24 hours a week for the home office entrepreneur. That’s an entire day folks. And it’s costing over $2400 dollars for those warriors making $100+ an hour. Do you know if these activities are honestly bringing in an equal Return On Investment? In most cases that answer is going to be a big ‘NO’. And if that’s the case, we’re in need of a better way to manage the time spent on them.

Beginning with e-mail.

It may seem that it takes just a second or two to check that latest e-mail when your new mail indicator goes off, but in reality it often leads to being distracted from the work we were involved in. One way to keep that from happening is to turn off the new mail indicator and schedule reading and answering e-mail into your day. Utilize a tool like Awayfind to alert you to any e-mail that might need immediate attention and let the rest wait for your designated ‘email time’.

For social networking, using something like friendfeed allows you to subscribe to feeds from many different sources like Twitter, Digg, Flickr, blogs and others, bringing them all together in one place. This is yet another area where one will need to set limits on when they read/respond and how long they will spend doing so. I know from personal experience that the more people you follow on Twitter, the more time you can spend happily reading updates and responding. The saying, “Everything in moderation” holds true for social networking too.

The blogging aspect is a bit harder to control. After all, if you’re writing original posts the way I do, it’s all about the creative muse and when she ( or he) chooses to smile upon you. I try to do most of my blogging either in the morning before I begin working on client projects or late, late at night. I’ve identified these times as time that I seem to be able to relax enough to harness the muse. Also at these times of day I can concentrate on the writing. If I find myself hit by inspiration at other times of the day, in order to make sure I ignore possible distractions I put the iPod headphones on to block out the world.

The same applies for your article and newsletter writing as well.

Of course, another way to help with your time management issues is to outsource to a virtual assistant, even if you’re not comfortable having them write or blog for you, there are plenty of other tasks that they can take off your hands to free up more time for you to spend on items that are a better return on investment.

Of course our little survey is just a tiny sampling of not just the home office entrepreneurs out there, but also of the tasks and projects that pull our attention and time away from the true purpose of your business, whether that purpose is making money or interacting and helping others.

If you have questions concerning virtual assistance or have an interest in working with a virtual assistant you can contact Tina Hilton or visit her business website for Clerical Advantage.

Home Office Worker, Virtual Assistants Written By Tina Hilton Comments (0)

Looking for Home Office Warriors

Aug 03, 2008

We are working on a project where we want to feature as many home office warriors we can in a post and more in the very near future. But to make it successful, I need your help. I need all of you to comment on this post with a link to your own site. I want to make this a great list of home office warriors.

In addition to the “list”, be watching very soon on HOW for a new feature where you can have your home office featured every second of every day. And we are working on one other special offerings coming soon.

So, leave your comments or you can email me, but I would rather you commented. My email address is grant@g2webmedia.com

Featured, Home Based Business, Home Office Warrior, Home Office Worker Written By Grant Griffiths Comments (23)