Home Office VS Office Space

For the past 5 years I have worked from home. I enjoy it a lot because I have my beloved dog Eddie and cat Luke with me. Not to mention a great big office space where I can have the freedom to play music, grab a drink or a bite to eat and most importantly I can wear my sweatpants and no one knows any better. I’ve done really well working from home and my productivity has jumped about 20% every year. I admit that it is awfully fun to sit in the pool on a really hot summer day and answer my calls.
As my team grows and I started to coach more agents, I felt it was better to get an “office” in the office. Not to mention I kept listening to my boss tell me that I simply “need” an office. I decided to share it with two other agents and we agreed that I would likely only come in Mon-Fri 3hrs each morning for prospecting (which I take seriously). The other two agents were rarely in before 1pm, if at all so it seemed like a good trial for me.
I’ve now had one month in the office and have already decided it isn’t for me. There are many factors to look at when getting an office, in an office. If you are sharing, make sure you all have the same “goals”. In my case, my two office mates aren’t “prospectors” and are quite messy. I on the other hand am very organized and am goal oriented. Almost opposites. They like the energy I bring in so they are often coming in to catch some of it, which means…..they are in a lot more now. The location of the office is important too. Mine is located in the “bull pen”, so it’s the busiest place in the office. Since I do a lot of training and coaching, that means the door is always being used (even though there is a prospecting sign on it). Then there are the expenses, at home you don’t pay per use on anything. However, when in the office you are paying for photocopies, phones, printers, parking, gas, software and not to mention pretty high rent.
In order to work from home and enjoy the freedom, you really need to be focused. More importantly, you need to create a very personal office space. Paint it a separate color, make it your own and have a different feeling than your home decor. You have to be very organized as well. Have a goal board and set up hours. I lead generate from 0800-1100 and then take a couple hours off. Whatever you do, don’t work more than 8 hrs a day at your home office or else you will simply get sick of your home and that’s not good. When you take the hours off, make sure you are outside of your home. Go get groceries, garden, swim, walk the dog. Manage your time. This really is self explanatory.
At the end of the day, I’ve missed my dog snoring at my feet, my cat hitting the printer paper as it comes out. Having a fresh pot of coffee ready, staying in my pj’s while replying to emails on a snowy winter morning, and not having to think about traffic heading into work. The self discipline I need to implement is worth it to get these wonderful things.
If I need to socialize, I’ll go into the office. Otherwise, don’t fix something that isn’t broken was the lesson I learned.
I know there are a lot of Home Office Lovers Out there right now reading this and sipping their coffees in their Sweatpants!
Congratulations for being able to do it!