I know lots of people who work from home very successfully – they can shut themselves away, not get distracted by the washing up and lock their office door when they’ve finished and forget about it until the next day.
I have tried working from home. I did it for a few weeks (after my op I started working from home the day I got out of hospital – no 6 week rest for me) but then something changed. I started cooking every day (much to hubby’s delight) and worse – tidying! If I didn’t get back into a proper office I would end up ironing for goodness sake!
No – I needed an office. Thankfully I have one, I signed up for it 3 days before I got my op date, typically! It’s all set up and ready to go, I even have a couple of pictures.
Then yesterday, my landlord (who is also a client) came up with an idea – he’s got a large office that’s just become vacant and thinks he might use it as a “hot desk” office – with tenants using it either occasionally and booking a desk as they need one or having their own desk in an open plan office, depending on how much they want to spend.
My initial thought was “great – I could do that and save a fortune! – I don’t need a private office!”
But do I? What about secure storage and client confidentiality? Am I just too messy to work in an open space? Now I’ve got some peace and quiet do I actually want to give it up, even with the cost savings?
On the other hand it would be nice to have some company once in a while – they are a friendly bunch here but I only tend to bump into people in the kitchen – unless someone needs me I can go all day without seeing anyone, even in here. Also, with my business the more visible I am the better, so perhaps being in the middle of an office would get me more clients? I could rent 2 desks permanently and still save half my rent…
I have a nice space and can grow my business without moving for a while. But I can see the benefits, it would be a great half-way point for a lot of small businesses…
He’s still thinking about it, so if it sounds good to you and you’re local let me know – if his hot desk office is as popular as the rest of his business centre it won’t be vacant for long!