Why my business will always be home based

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If I had a pound for every remote working article I have read this week then I would be a rich man. Remote working & working from home articles are a plenty. Drop into Medium and as you flick through you may manage to read three in one session (I don’t get this sentence?)

Most concentrate on productivity and squeezing more out of your day. Sure the environment you work in is super important but for me it’s purely a byproduct of what I am wanting to achieve. I’m an ambitious business owner and like all business owners I want to achieve growth. But growth doesn’t always mean expansion.

People become obsessed with growth in an expansion sense. Office spaces, hired staff, investment, huge targets. All this works but it’s not for me. I see growth a little differently, and move more towards achieving the ‘right’ business as opposed to pure measured size.

But that’s for another post. Having tried and failed at a coworking space I know right now home is where my business will be based. I have a modest set up; a Macbook Pro with an accompanying Samsung curved monitor and a 7 year old Dell keyboard (You can’t tear me away from it).

But these are minor points as to why the home will always be where my business is based.

Home is my happy place:

Happy environment:

Companies hire professionals to create a happy office environment. Interior designers, zen professionals; they do this to create an environment where their employees want to work.

I’m incredibly house proud and love how comfortable I am in my home. This for me makes it the right working environment. I can control the temperature, decide on the decorations and mould it to be exactly what I want.

Clear mind:

I nearly used the ‘productivity’ word but we are staying away from that throughout this post. When I used to commute 2+ hours a day I would have a ‘foggy’ mind.

I’d get to the office exasperated from fighting fellow morning slaves to the commuting game. First step would be coffee, then chat with colleagues about their night, and lastly I may start my work.

Running a business from home means you wake up and you’re a few steps away from the office. For me without having to commute & prepare my lunch I am immediately ready for the day with a clear, focused mind.

Embrace distractions:

I work at home and we have a 9 month old daughter. Although my office is upstairs it’s not the most quiet, serene environment.

Having read Jason Zimdars post on working remotely his comments on ‘embracing distractions’ really struck a chord with me.

When people find out I work from home they immediately say ‘I don’t know how you do it without watching TV’.

My response is that it’s quite simple and that my business pays for our lifestyle so without it we wouldn’t have the lifestyle we currently lead. Those type of distractions just aren’t a problem for me and millions of other homeworkers across the globe. They don’t enter our thought process.

But as Jason Zimdar alluded to, it’s the welcome distractions which you should embrace, and make running a business from home quite fabulous. Seeing your daughter’s smiling face when she wakes from a nap, giving your wife a hand for five minutes now and then. These are opportunities and perks not everyone has and are something you should embrace when being at home.

Comfort zone is good:

I’ve read a lot recently about removing yourself from your comfort zone. WHY? That’s complete horse shit. Right now I’m embracing my comfort zone working in an environment where I am comfortable and achieve my best work.

There’s a vast difference between comfort zone and complacency. They are two completely different things. Embrace the comfort zone but don’t become complacent.

Freshly cooked food:

Tupperware images spread across Facebook and Instagram with status updates along the lines of ‘Tupperware game is strong’.

One of the beautiful parts of running a business from home is the ability to freshly cook a meal. You can also decide you want something completely different 10 minutes before and as long as you have supplies in the house you can eat whatever you like. We spend BIG on our weekly shopping yet we know that’s the only food expense we will make.

Food of your liking available with a fully equipped kitchen to cook it in. It’s what most offices dream about!

Family life:

Family is hugely important to me and I’ve always wanted to be a hands on, involved father figure for my daughter. Having Matilda was the reason I quit my job to freelance and is the reason I want to run my business from home.

If I can be around to help my wife and spend time with them both while running a successful business then why would I want to change anything?

Working from home means I can finish for the day and we can go out for a walk, or I can cook my family lunch. It’s these priceless memories which having an online business affords you. These should be embraced not shunned.

It costs nothing:

Having premises, commuting to a shared working space etc all cost money. Not to mention the money you spend by being in a city centre environment (and being drawn in by the temptation of a freshly made coffee).

Arguably working from home can save you money (tax deductions) but it also actually costs you nothing and can be the best environment you will ever work in.

Where do you run your business? Why have you chosen this environment? I’d love to hear some comments and alternative opinions on this.