[gmku]

I do, and I can only say it is nothing short of brilliant.

What do I love about it? Let me count the ways. No rush hour traffic, coffee made to my taste and no waiting in line for it, my doggies at my feet all day, surfing the net is productive (brainstorming), my records, going to the record store or book store whenever I want. Oh, I could go on.

The money? That's another story. But the lifestyle is brilliant. I wish I had done this so much earlier in my life. At the same time, I doubt I had the audacity at a younger age to try it. Plus I don't have kids at home anymore.

[SynthethicalY]

I might do that, when I finish my major in photography.

[gmku]

Do it, man. But start making your client connections early. Try to start getting paid assignments while you're still in school. Some of us are soloists. It feels good to be on your own.

[SynthethicalY]

Yeah, right now I am just too busy with the general ed that I haven't had the time to work on anything.

[Crumb's Crunchy Delights]

I think you should post pictures depicting your ever increasing waist line. Haha.

Now you don't have to talk to real people EVER!

[jon boy]

i have worked from home in the past and is very good but it also has its drawbacks in the fact that you have to be very motivated and avoid distractions and you dont really interact with anyone else which can be good for a while but quite isolating after a time. it is excellent though!

[gmku]

Depends. On time of day, tasks to do. During a normal day, I usually have to run at least one or two work-related as well as personal errands that require a modicum of decency, so usually I'm in very casual attire--T-shirts, cargo pants or jeans, or shorts if it's hot and muggy. If I have to visit a potential client, I take it up a notch to business casual (very casual, as in beltless khakis and an untucked polo shirt or something like that).

It helps to follow a regular daytime routine of showering and dressing and so on to hold the slacking potential at bay. I associate pajama wear during the day with sickness, depression, and goofing off, so that's not an option. Unless I'm sick, depressed, or goofing off.

[gmku]

Originally Posted by jon boy

i have worked from home in the past and is very good but it also has its drawbacks in the fact that you have to be very motivated and avoid distractions and you dont really interact with anyone else which can be good for a while but quite isolating after a time. it is excellent though!

It does take discipline. But the idea that you're isolated is a misconception. At least in my work as a freelance writer, I have to interact with other people, not only story subjects (interviews and so on) but also the routine contacts like postal workers, office supply clerks, and the like. There's probably just as much interaction, maybe more, as at an office, and at least in my case, probably fewer distractions at home where there's no office gossip, people using the microwave outside your door, a record store right around the corner, coffee houses just down the street, pointless meetings, and so on.

Once I walk out of this office, I try to pretend that I don't even have to work for a living. No way.

[atari 2600]

Yo, homeboy here.

Happy Labor Day to any non-working-at-home folks reading!

[Everyneurotic]

i work at home too.

yeah, awesome, no dealing with morons, no being late, no dressing up in suits, no "try to look busy so they don't fire you", if you feel sleepy you go take a nap or watch cartoons, you listen to the music you want at the volume you want.

but in a month or something i'm getting a half time job or i'm going to study something else, it gets kinda cramped when your regular friends are in work hours.

[atari 2600]

I still get up early every day, take a shower, and even put on my shoes most of the time. But the real discipline is never accepting procrastination of a task as an option. I've always been the type that wants to get any work before me done as soon as possible to go ahead and get it over with, so it works out.

And, like you guys also wrote, I'm not completely isolated either. I'm often returning e-mails or accepting calls from repeat and new customers. And friends with jobs that keep them out on the road most of the time come by the house and visit around a couple times a week, and so on.

[jon boy]

Originally Posted by gmku

It does take discipline. But the idea that you're isolated is a misconception. At least in my work as a freelance writer, I have to interact with other people, not only story subjects (interviews and so on) but also the routine contacts like postal workers, office supply clerks, and the like. There's probably just as much interaction, maybe more, as at an office, and at least in my case, probably fewer distractions at home where there's no office gossip, people using the microwave outside your door, a record store right around the corner, coffee houses just down the street, pointless meetings, and so on.

pointless meetings are something that i really would love to avoid.

[gmku]

Don't go to them. Toward the end of my employment at the u, about 6 months ago, actually, even before I knew I was leaving, I stopped going to a bunch of meetings. Surprisingly, nobody said anything! Sometimes I'd get the, hey, where were you, and I'd have some excuse ready. But it's interesting if you're not essential to the meeting how easily you're not missed.

[jon boy]

impossible i am afraid as they happen in the area my desk is in so everyone crowds round and i have to listen to the managers using their stupid terms for things instead of speaking normally. they dont pass on information the 'cascade it' they are not getting rid of people they are 're assessing the headcount' its not a desk its a 'work environment space'.

[gmku]

Oh lord. You know what I'd do if they spoke to me like that? I'd say, uh, excuse me, sir, but I think I speak for everyone hear when I say: Huh?

That's the kind of shit I don't miss. That and outside consultants. We had one come in last year to spend a year "observing" us and figure out how we might re-organize. I started to get suspicious when she gradually started showing up less and less, until finally there was just a note on her office to let us know how she could be reached. Some observing. She turned in her report and we never heard another thing, and nothing changed. We didn't even get to have Hawaiin Shirt Fridays.

Oh, and "Strategic Planning." We'd spend three boring days in some dismal hotel convention lobbby listening to consultants and working in little work groups to come up with a big plan. Then we'd go back to our offices and that would be it. Plan? What plan? Ridiculous waste of time.

[SynthethicalY]

I might give it a try for a few months before, then see where it goes from there.

[jon boy]

i just try and go numb.

[atsonicpark]

i'd imagine working at home and getting your dick sucked at random times while working would be great.

i'm purposely gaining 250 pounds so i can get on disability, then i'm going to sit at home and press a button all day.

Originally Posted by SynthethicalY

I might give it a try for a few months before, then see where it goes from there.

Yeah, but make sure that gmku pays you well for the service that you provide him with, you slut.