14 Weeks Redux Lesson 2: Working from home just doesn't work.

At least for me. Being near the kids more is nice, but they have no concept of “working hours” or "really important", so they just bug me constantly and there's really only so many ways you can tell them to go away and leave you the f#$% alone before they start to take it personally. Then there's the procrastination factor of seeing so many things to do around the house, plus helping with errands and such. And the temptation to take a nap and make up the time later always looms large. Now with the school year ending this week, I HAVE to get out of the house or Fruhla is dead.

Working in coffee shops is hit and miss because one day you may find yourself in flow, then the next day two obnoxious moms sit next to you and loudly bemoan the fact they can’t find gluten-free cheerios and that they are now trying luke-warm yoga and sooo done with Zumba and try as they might, they can’t find 4 yr old Carson a decent life coach and blah, blah, blah.

Coworking is actually a pretty cool idea, and I’ve used The Branch in Maple Leaf, but packing up everything you'll need every day (including a kb and mouse) is a bit of a pain, and you can't leave stuff on whiteboards, pin up your comps, etc, because that space isn’t yours 24 x7 and you still have the threat of realtors and salespeople and others that work on the phone constantly.

New Plan: July 1st, I’m moving into a sublet space.
I was lucky enough to (a) find a 6 week retainer consulting gig and (b) find a business that has a whole 2nd floor they aren't using, and will let me rent just one small area for $175/mo (+ liability insurance) and go month to month and grow into more space as I need it. That should fill my Retriever-like need to be near people, but they’ll mostly leave me alone, and it's a professional, furnished space, where the tone is set for being productive. I even chose a cube over an office so that I don't waste time decorating it.  This should work well. In fact, I've been talking to a couple of out of state companies about full time roles working remotely, and even if I ultimately go that route, I think I'll still work out of this space.  (More on that possibility in the next Redux post DIY for every single aspect of the business just isn’t going to happen )

I'm going to miss being near the kids and especially Margaret during the day, but I think if I just get the hell out of here and work uninterrupted for a decent chunk of the day, I can leave it behind each night when I come home and be glad to be home instead of chasing everyone away all the time.

Then I can spend some quality evenings learning about The Clone Wars undistracted.

-Chris