After sitting in a cubicle all day, many individuals working in corporate America start to dream of finding a job that allows them to work from home. I worked from home for six years before migrating my way back into a nine-to-five position. I’m happy to report that the shine of the corporate world hasn’t worn off and I enjoy getting up and heading downtown every weekday.  How is this possible, you ask? Easy. Working from home, as glorious as it seems, can really make you crazy.

Here, let me count the ways:

• Yes, you do get to toss your alarm clock and work in your pajamas. However, I missed not being able to wear all of my cute outfits and there’s no one to show off my new shoes to on Monday.  Maybe this is just a girl thing. Your wardrobe starts to consist of stretched out jog pants and holey t-shirts.
• You never see anyone, unless the UPS guy stops by. It gets kind of lonely. That’s when I would offer to meet a client at Starbucks just to get out of the house.  Sure, you could go shopping or something, but the guilt knowing you should be working gets to you.
• You also get to hang out with your dog all day, but this causes them to be really co-dependent and they hate it when you go anywhere without them. The same can be said for children. Children have no concept of work separation. You are at home therefore they can bother you.
• I had to convince people that yes, I have a real job. Just because I can take you to the airport at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday doesn’t mean I don’t have a “real” job.  I worked harder than most individuals with a nine-to-five occupation when I worked from home. I would get up every weekday morning, make coffee, and sit down to work at 8:30 in the morning and work until the work was done.  And no, I can’t be at your house to wait for a plumber while you’re at your “real job.”
• If you work for someone else then your entire competency is based on numbers because your employer can’t see you spending 10 hours a day busting your hump. Therefore you have a tendency to overwork just to look as good as your slacker peers at the office.
• Also, if you own your own at-home business, there is no one else to delegate to, or blame and no real vacations.  There’s no one to do your job if you want to be in the Caymans for two weeks. No power lunches, no open bar holiday parties, no birthday cake in the conference room, no free coffee, no camaraderie.
• There is also no one to bounce ideas off of. You get your own counsel and that’s about it. You can ask the dog but she doesn’t care. Without the interaction of a team of other people you start to feel kind of dumb, or mad scientist brilliant. It’s bizarre. You know how a great intelligent conversation can leave you feeling smarter, more well informed? Yeah, none of that. Plus, your competitive spirit dies.
• Discipline is key when you work from home. It’s really hard not to say “aw to heck with it” to your Excel spreadsheet and do laundry, or go to the Dollar Store. So in order to be successful you have to have the discipline of a Buddhist monk. It’s way too easy to sleep late or skip days all together. Plus, the TV will suck you in, even with all of the horrible daytime programming.
• The separation of work and home is a balance that most corporate folk take for granted. At work, you can’t see your dirty tile floors so there’s no need to fuss about mopping them. When you work outside the home, you can generally leave most of your work on your desk at 5:00. I did my best trying to designate an area specifically for work that I could walk away from at the end of the workday. Unfortunately, my work computer was my only computer, so if I wanted to play a game or look at Facebook – there’s that spreadsheet staring me in the face.  Imagine never leaving where you work.
• Post-it notes cost money! This is not an issue for the corporate person…there is always a stack in the copy room. They’re expensive, like $5.99 for two packs!  That goes for laptops, manila folders, mailing labels and copy paper…oh and don’t get me started on printer cartridges and label maker tape!
• When your other half gets home after their hectic day, all they want to do is stay in, eat dinner, and watch TV. Meanwhile you’re dying to get out, see people and go places. You’ve started to go completely batty. The first strains of Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run starts echoing through your brain. “Stuck inside these four walls…”
• Your spouse expects a clean house and hot meal when they get home, because “you’ve been home all day.” I think that many work-from-home professionals are viewed as Oprah watching, bon-bon eating, couch potatoes with all of the time in the world. (Someone actually said that to me once). In fact, juggling everything at once gets super hectic. Work from home dad and marketing specialist Michael Gray suggests “get a slow cooker and learn how to use it, it’s a lifesaver especially if [you] have kids.” Becki Bayley, a work-from-home mom and entrepreneur says “choosing between cooking dinner and meeting a deadline is never easy” and “you [have to] love the folks that ask you to do other things because, you’re home anyway…”
• Lastly, the fridge is always, RIGHT THERE. So it’s easy to go get some string cheese or an apple. More likely it’s last night’s leftover cream pie, or Bacos right out of the jar. Easy access to food means weight gain. Then you start signaling the end of your day with a nice adult beverage, or two. Hello, 30 new pounds.

So before you take that work-from-home job, think about whether you have the personal balance, discipline, self-motivation and thick skin it takes to do it. Would I work from home again? Sure, if I could get away from it all by spending at least three days a week at the office.

- Vikki F.

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