I don’t work from home, but I once did. I’m a DUI attorney who started his own practice, and for the first few months of my practice I worked from my home. Let’s be honest, the phone wasn’t ringing that much, I knew it wouldn’t be, and I didn’t want to take on the extra cost of an office until I had to.
But then I decided to go out and look for some office space, and I eventually found some. And what a difference it made. I won’t lie to you and tell you it made me more money, necessarily, but it did end up being a much better set up than the home office. Here’s why.
1. It’s too isolated.
I think one of the worst things about working from home is the isolation it creates. For me, it was almost hermit like. I’d wake up in the morning, walk into my home office, and get to work. I’d stay there all day, eat lunch, work some more, and then it was eventually time to stop working. And then I woke up and did the whole thing over again. You can stay in touch with people if you put a lot of effort into it, but a separate office space makes it easy.
2. It doesn’t produce better productivity.
At least for me it didn’t. What would happen is, I’d work for a bit, go down and get a snack, and then end up watching television for an hour. Then at lunch time I’d do the same. Afternoon snack? You betcha. All of a sudden my entire day was gone. Going to an office eliminates a lot of those distractions.
3. It helps compartmentalize your life.
For many people, leaving work at work is one of the hardest things to do. Imagine what that feeling is like if your office is 15 feet from your bedroom. Sure, the commute is excellent, but you always have some sort of work looming over you. It’s nice to be able to break away from work and come home, away from it.
4. It just feels cooler.
There is something to be said for the pride that having a job carries. If you don’t feel it you’re either heartless or a liar. I feel it. And when I tell people I’m a DUI lawyer and then tell them where my office is, there’s a little bit of pride there. Even though I’m renting it’s my space. It feels good to wake up in the morning and have a place to go.
There you go, four reasons not to work from home. I’m not saying it’s not possible to work from home. People do it every day. These are the reasons I don’t.