Do you work from home?
I have worked from my home for over three decades – yikes, that’s a long time. When I was an employee of a software company located 2,500 miles away, I had a remote office, based in my home, that I worked from when I wasn’t on the road calling on prospects. So when I ventured into the world of entrepreneurship 13 years ago, that same home office became my headquarters.
Here are some changes that I’ve noticed in my years of working remotely:
- Some people advise that you should dress up and put your make-up on in order to be more productive in your remote office. That’s never been the case for me; I believe it’s a mindset issue. So I LOVE my days of working as long as I want in my bathrobe and not putting make-up on for the day. What’s changed however is the availability to do video conferencing. Bummer – now I have to get ready to be SEEN on a ZOOM call!
- Technology improvements have made working remotely more productive. When I first started working from home, we had to call someone, from our land line, to communicate with them. Imagine that – actually talking voice to voice! I appreciate the convenience of emailing, texting and the Internet in general, which has made it much more efficient to communicate quickly.
- Technology improvements have also made it possible to collaborate with people in different countries. For example, I have an assistant who is in India. This week we worked as a team for about two hours one morning to accomplish a task. Don’t you think the ability to do that is just amazing?
One thing that hasn’t changed is the danger of the kitchen… calling my name to come get a chocolate when I’m procrastinating or conversely, when I’m finished with a task. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t need a good reason to head to the kitchen – I’m on my way there right now.
I hope you enjoy the articles in this issue of the magazine. Be sure to visit our newly designed website which will make it easier for you to access for of the magazine’s information.
