Originally Posted by
Redhead
When I'm not on the road, I work from home. I really enjoy it but think it could get hard if I didn't travel at least some of the time.
It does take discipline. I found that I absolutely cannot work in PJ's (although shorts and t-shirt are fine) and I must shower before starting work. When I first started from home, I shut my office door so I wouldn't be tempted to wander around the house.
I find I sometimes work later than I did at the office since I don't have to worry about traffic, or getting home to make dinner, etc.
I also think you really need a room dedicated to be an office. I could never do this if my desk were in the living room or my bedroom. I live alone, so other people aren't the issue, it's more of a separation of work/personal life thing for me.
After 15 years of home-based self-employment, writing, consulting and providing management services to a professional association, I'm "semi-retiring" at 69, surrendering (and it's time) association management, but keeping several dozen small-change clients for whom I provide an arcane niche service.
Travel, business and personal, belonging to an informal "Spit'n Whittle" group at an antique & used gun dealer, "Pitch" on Thursday afternoons, and a couple of boards get me out of the house. My office, a former playroom, atop our house, has a half bath, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, window seats wide and long enough for a nap, and best of all a view from the ridgeline over the lake.
FT helps with boredom, and I'll miss the demands for self-discipline needed for my regular routine. I never wore PJs, always shower (but miss too many dates with the razor), and my office wear remains desperately informal.
Working at home has prolonged my career, seems to have raised my income (or at least increased my business-related expenses with a net positive result), and now provides me with a way to walk away at my own pace, no gold watch or parachute, but still clients who need me (or my services, too long priced too low).