While some people have the discipline to separate home life from work, many business professionals who attempt to conduct their business from a home office soon come to realize that they’ve created neither a home, nor an office.
Here are some of the top challenges:
A separation of work and family.
While it’s nice to be close to your family, it takes a lot of discipline to keep them separate. It’s easy for your daily or weekend routine to interfere with your business commitments. Instead of answering your emails, you might wash the dishes or mow the lawn. When there are kids involved, it gets even more difficult. Making business calls becomes a competition with your three year old who will engage in a number of tactics and behaviors to capture your attention.
Are you for real?
Where do you meet with your potential and existing clients? What address do you give them? Has your dining room become a boardroom? Is your business a “hobby” or is it as substantial as those who will be competing for the same customers as you? When you have a home office, these become legitimate concerns in a competitive marketplace.
Only the lonely.
There’s no receptionist. No co-workers. You’re it. If you were in a prison, they’d call it solitary confinement. And without others around, there is no such thing as collaboration or bouncing ideas off a colleague. In many instances, your work suffers from isolation as much as you do.
Blurred Boundaries.
When are you at home? When are you at the office? When your office is in your home, there is always the temptation to work past normal business hours. In a world where emails have become our preferred way to communicate, checking the mailboxes late into the night becomes routine. For the self-employed, a home office can become a substantial disruption to the family structure.
Resentment from family.
You’re in the house, but you’re not paying attention to your children or your spouse. Priorities have to be established. While it might make sense to you, it may not feel right to them. When you work at home there is the strong potential for the rest of the family to feel second place and ignored.
Underwear dilemma.
A home office is all about self-discipline and the ability to manage your time effectively and efficiently. No dress code also means no work code. If you’re the kind of person who has trouble being self motivated, you will more than likely have trouble attaining your business goals in a home office.
If you have a home office, you have probably spent some time, money and effort putting it together. You don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but you might want to occasionally consider a dip into a virtual office solution. There is a way you can experience the best of both worlds. The convenience of home when you want it, and the professional atmosphere and, lets face it, family-free office space when you need it.
It’s a brand new concept and it’s appropriately called The WorkZone™. WorkZone™ suites are part of The Executive Center, located in prestigious Old Town, Fort Collins. Here you can conduct business in a professional and prestigious environment without all the distractions that occur in a home office environment. You can set the level of your financial commitment with a variety of different packages. All WorkZone™ suites are available hourly, daily, weekly and longer. Each office comes fully furnished and fully equipped, including a state-of-the-art phone system and PC with high-speed Internet. A receptionist handles your appointments and calls, plus you get conference room privileges and access to the fax, copier and kitchen.
