Home Office Worker | Home Office Warrior

Summer Vocation: Home Based Worker Hits the Road

Apr 03, 2008

Jeff Zbar of Chief Home Officer is doing something this summer I have only dreamed about. Taking the home office on the road. Read the press release below to find out more. I would also urge you to subscribe to the RSS or Email subscription of his new blog Home Office Highway to watch his trip and to find out more.

Coral Springs, FL (March 31, 2008) — Think you can’t take a month-long holiday and still keep your business or family finances from taking a permanent vacation? Think again. This summer, Home Office Highway: A Digital Adventure – will hit the road to prove vacation and vocation can travel hand in hand.

Setting off July 4th weekend in a recreational vehicle packed with the latest small office technology, Jeff Zbar and his family will showcase just how productive the modern family can be when traveling the nation’s highways. Wife, Robbie, will manage the family’s home finances. Their kids will stay connected with friends. And Zbar, a widely published technology columnist and author, will chronicle the adventure each day in blogs and videologues as the RV travels from up the Eastern Seaboard – and back again.

“We take a family road trip each summer, so I’m used to mixing vacation and work. This year I got the idea to share my experience with others, and show that through technology, you can leave home for vacation and take the office with you,” said Zbar, creator of the site ChiefHomeOfficer.com. “That’s how Home Office Highway was born.”

The home office is large and growing – with spending power in the billions. It includes home-business owners (14 million), teleworkers and corporate employees who work from home or the road (25 million), and heads of households who manage family finances via electronic banking and bill-pay services from an Internet connection.

The family will visit small towns and popular tourist destinations. Zbar will file dispatches, blogs and Webcam videologues to reveal how productive a “road warrior” – and his family – can be from the road. The tour will be live at Home Office Highway.

“With a cell phone, a laptop computer, wireless broadband Internet access and common workplace technology, anyone can work or manage their affairs as if they’re sitting in their home office – even if they’re miles from home,” said Zbar, who will post each day’s adventure to www.homeofficehighway.com. “This trip will remove the mystery and show how easy a working vacation can be.”

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The Pros and Cons of Working from Home — Revisited

Mar 21, 2008

For many home office warriors, you work at home and work for the same company you worked for before. You telecommute and work as an employee. Technology has opened the door for more companies to allow such an arrangement.

As with anything, there are benefits and there are disadvantages. If you are looking at moving from working at your employers actual location to working from home, Explorer News provided some thoughts to consider:

The benefits:

You’re free to do as you please, more or less.

Your commute is from your bed to your computer.

Unless your boss requires a Web cam, you can be productive in shorts and a funky T-shirt.

The boss doesn’t pop into your office unannounced, unless he or she has remote access to your computer. (My side-note, I would not work for a boss who had access to my computer).

You may get a tax break by writing off your home office area and related business expenses on your annual tax return. (Check with an accountant or tax professional for advice on this matter).

You may get a new computer, office equipment and furniture out of the deal from your employer, or possibly partial compensation for all your business-related expenses.

You get to spend more time at home with your spouse and family or maybe with your roommate and friends.

You can watch TV or listen to music and work at the same time because you won’t be disrupting another office employee. This option may even increase your productivity by improving your mood throughout the day.

The downside:

If you aren’t self-motivated, don’t have proven self-discipline and don’t have the capacity to begin your work on the same schedule as those who commuted to the actual business office, you may have some immediate challenges.

You’re it, all day, every day. There are no co-workers or opportunities for office socialization. If you like your own company all the time, that’s great, but if you thrive on being around others, professional camaraderie and practical joking now and again, this is going to be difficult for you to handle.

If you have a habit of hitting the snooze alarm, you’ll need to buy a clock with only one loud wake-up setting.

You’ll be having lunch alone, with your spouse or whichever friends are available and in the immediate area. And just because you’re at home, that doesn’t mean you get two-hour lunch breaks.

If you’re a slob at home, this habit may spread to your work area as well, and that can detract from not only your creativity but also your home comfort level after business hours.

You’ll meet the new employees at special office parties, and they may think that you’re a new employee.

You are judged and compensated based solely on your productivity. The fact that you work until midnight every night won’t be noticed by the boss. Your diligence will go unnoticed. Only your final product will determine your success or failure.

You can become an over-workaholic or office junkie who’s trapped in a routine that is destined to result in personal burnout.

I sometimes feel like some in the “mainstream” media attempt to come up with these list to discourage people from exploring the “work at home” alternative. While I would agree, working at home is not for everyone. I would also argue no one should dismiss it too quickly.

However, I would agree that you should “take a critical look at your options before jumping” into working from home. Look at all the ups and downs and decide if you fit the mental picture of someone who can make it work. I have been working from my own home office now for just over three years. And quite frankly, I can not see myself ever going back to a “downtown” office.

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Subscribe to Home Office Warrior — And Never Miss an Update (CONTEST)

Mar 19, 2008

First of all let me extend a hughes THANK YOU to all of you who visit the Home Office Warrior on a daily basis and to those of you who already subscribe to either the RSS feed or Email subscription option.

However, there is a large number of you who visit daily and are not subscribers. I know, I know, you don’t want to subscribe to another feed or you don’t want to get more emails than you already get. But, let me assure you one thing. When you subscribe to HOW, you are only subscribing to HOW. We don’t spam you with other emails or RSS feeds.

There are benefits of subscribing and the biggest one is you won’t miss a single update to HOW. In fact, if you subscribe by Email, any updates will be delivered to our Email inbox. And if you use RSS, our updates will come right to your RSS reader.

Now the kicker. We are sitting at 200 loyal subscribers. And that is in addition to those of you who have booked marked HOW and visit us on a regular basis. My goal this year is to hit 1000 subscribers. And, when we do we will have a celebration. In fact, I plan to give away “door prizes” when we hit 1000 and sustain it for a period of time.

I will announce the prizes as we get closer to the magic number. In the meantime, you all can do me a favor. If you are not subscribed to HOW, here are the links to do so.

EMAIL Subscription

RSS Subscription

Next, tell all your friends and fellow home office warriors about HOW. Ask them to subscribe. The faster we reach the 1000 mark, the faster we can give out our “door prizes.” Oh, can you spell iPod, 100 free songs on iTunes. How about an iPod Nano. There will be a way for everyone to enter to win whatever prizes we come up with.

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Thinking of leaving the U.S.?

Dec 04, 2007

Once again, Build a Solo Practice, LLC has a post that should get you thinking about your options as a home office warrior. in Millions of Americans Thinking of Leaving U.S. Susan reminds us that we are not bound by borders. Many of us working in a home office could actually do what we do from anywhere. No longer are we limited by a specific location.

When I was discussing her post with her yesterday, I told Susan all I really need is my trusted MacBook and a good wifi connection. And with VoIP, we can even conduct phone calls from anywhere.

I know I visit with someone who lives outside the U.S. at least weekly. And guess what. They are conducting very successful home based businesses, doing business with individuals and/or companies all over the world.

Don’t limit yourself to just living in one place if you have the means and courage to venture out a bit. I know we are certainly exploring just that option. Thanks again to Susan for another great post.

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How do you handle the Health Insurance Question?

Nov 26, 2007

This is the one question I just don’t have an answer for. And I certainly don’t have a clear answer or solution that will fix it or answer this question for all of those working from a home office.

I can find coverage if I am willing to pay more for it than I make in a given month. But that is not the answer either. And we could go with higher deductibles and/or co-pays. Or we could give up coverage of certain health risk too.

So, since I don’t know the answer to this question. I am turning to all of you. What do you all use for your health insurance coverage. There has to be something out there for the home office warrior. Is there a group we could take advantage of? Or is there coverage for the home based self employed I am missing?

Please leave your comments here and maybe, just maybe between all of us, we might come up with something.

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