Comments on: Where We Go, Distractions Follow

By: Maverick Conceptions » Blog Archive » How to Freelance from Home… My Take

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:13:57 +0000

[...] have recently read a ton of articles about freelancing and working from home and how to get yourself motivated. Some of the common advice [...]

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 23:25:57 +0000

Erin, one of my sisters has a refrigerator magnet that says, “Housework, if done properly, will kill you”. Scary, huh?

Turning off some of the outside world really is (at least for me) easier than getting to an office every day.

We’re gonna have distractions wherever we work, I just like the path of least resistance.

By: erin

erin — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:45:45 +0000

this is a great post. i have to say i agree with you over jon’s earlier post (jon, try not to cry about it).
i work from home, starting my own online bag company and i actually think i get more done here than i ever did working in an office. while being in corporate america, i was constantly distracted by co-workers who wanted to chat, emails (had to be logged in), phone calls (had to take and return within the hour), and just genuine activity and nonsense that goes along with that environment. at home, my only company is our 3-yr-old lab and i can turn off most of the outside world until i need to use them (email, phone calls, etc).
for some reason, i have no problem ignoring the pile of laundry or the clean dishes that need to be put away. those don’t seem to be distractions for me, personally. ha!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:53:43 +0000

Oh, that deafening silence! Maybe you should have made of tape of them so you wouldn’t have to go cold turkey.

Of course, you’re right about the trade-offs and being able to focus on those back-burner projects.

Now, about this word “priorities” that you mention ? ? ?

By: The Old Man

The Old Man — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:02:02 +0000

Thanks Carolyn. You know, just yesterday we moved them into a new apartment with their mother. Yes, the time we spent together this past year-and-a-half has been time I wouldn’t have traded for the world. Now it’s just me and my wife again and it’s so quiet around here. I’m actually distracted by the LACK of children playing, fighting, and getting rambunctious. But I’ve learned that there are trade-offs.

While having the children around has been great it has kept me busy enough that I couldn’t focus on some of the things that I wanted to focus on. Now that they are gone I can, I hope, start on some of the projects that I’ve been putting off and finish some that I’ve been lagging on. Priorities … that’s the name of the game when you work at home.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:23:47 +0000

What you’re describing sounds ideal. Funny, but the pump prices didn’t occur to me while I was writing this; that’s a major chunk of change these days.

One of the best parts of working from home is the things we don’t need to miss; like you and your grandchildren. That must be priceless to you.

As for the pieces of cake, we get quite enough to sweeten the day.

By: The Old Man

The Old Man — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:31:25 +0000

I’ve worked at home for the last year-and-a-half with a three year old and a four year old as background noise. Have there been distractions? Absolutely. Most of them have been quite welcome. The positives, however, far outweigh the negatives:

1) I am in control of my time and take a break whenever I feel like it and for as long as I feel like it (last summer we took entire afternoons off and went to the lake)

2) My gas bill has been cut back drastically while prices at the pumps have doubled because I don’t drive very often and when I do I don’t drive very far

3) The blessings of spending time with my grandchildren while they enjoy the presence of people who care about them has been an experience I would not have given up for the world

4) My expenses are so small and I have spent the majority of my time focusing on building the business rather than worrying about how to pay the bills in order to stay alive

It hasn’t all been a piece of cake, but the pieces of cake that I got a long the way sure beat the lemons I had when I worked in the corporate world. :-)

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:55:36 +0000

Ok, I’ll agree something must be done about your 3am habit. But working all day with no windows is far too extreme. Seriously, I think that might be as unhealthy as funky sleep patterns. Think about all the people who get depressed during the winter months and think how it would be to see no daylight all day long. Sorry, Jon, we must have windows.

But we do agree on something else. “if you don’t absolutely need it, and you can live without it for a while, then it’s fine”.

We’re at fifty percent; not bad :)

By: Jon - Freelance Folder

Jon - Freelance Folder — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:53:17 +0000

Hey Carolyn, thanx for the great article, some points you mentionned I totally agree with ;)

Changes at home can definitely make a huge difference, if everything is crystal clear and the family and friends know you’re working, usually it works fine. Althought I usually find myself answering the phone and getting distracted anyway, and end up working till 3am (which I feel is bad for my health)

Yep, I agree, I do want windows! hehe
But if the only option you have is to rent a space, cause nothing works at home, and renting a space that has windows would be too expensive, you can always rent the space anyway, and later on move somewhere else, where you’d have windows)

I have a “if you don’t absolutely need it, and you can live without it for a while, then it’s fine” mentality hehe :)