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Days are shorter, the kids are heading back to school, and there's an unmistakable threat of cold in the air. Pretty soon you'll be scraping that windshield and braving those icy roads when you trundle off to work each morning. But not me. When your car is coughing and will not start until you are the exact temperature of a human popsicle, I'll be pouring myself a steaming cup of tea and gloating. Because I work at home.
Not every profession--or personality--is suited to home work. But if you have your own business or a cooperative boss, if you can handle lots of solitude and freedom, if you like to spend the day in your pajamas, you may be ready to move your headquarters into your home.
I turned my spare bedroom into an office just over nine years ago and have worked here ever since. The Iowa Source recently asked me to share my tips for equipping a home office and maintaining sanity at the same time. Sanity is simple: No daytime TV. That's also a good rule for maintaining your income. Now for the equipment.
It can be summarized easily: buy a computer, a printer, and a modem, and maybe put in another phone line. Read the manuals. And Get Thee On The Internet.
For form's sake, I polled five other eastern Iowans who work at home for their tips and tricks, but darn it, this is my article, so I'm only going to quote them when they agree with me. For the record, here is my ad hoc committee of home office experts.
Brian Stains, a computer programmer, worked in a software publisher's Maryland office for four years. In 1991 he decided to move to Iowa. He's still a full-time salaried employee, but works from his home in Fairfield. Brian is at work in his office during the same hours as his team in Maryland. He explained, "When your phone rings and it's your boss, you want to be there to pick it up," which I think is an excellent business plan.
Patricia (Hufnagel) Draznin, a writer, was employed at Telegroup until a downsizing this past March. She has since developed her freelance writing business, Writing to Go, and works from home. Patricia works on average six to eight hours a day but says she's deadline driven, sometimes working through the weekend, sometimes taking weekdays off. She tries to "put on clean pajamas to go to work."
Anne Lamansky, mother of three (ages 18 months, six years, and eight years) and home schooler has operated her network marketing business from her home in Brighton for the past three years. Before that, she did part-time accounting from home. Out of choice, she has not set up a separate work space, but likes being in the flow of the family environment. She says her cordless phone is 'a lifesaver.' I would love to be a fly on her wall and see how she does it.
Ron Blair, direct marketing consultant and independent Telegroup agent, has worked from his home for nine years. Like Anne, Ron's favorite office tool is his 900-mhz cordless phone and headset, which gives him the freedom to answer calls anywhere in his home or yard. I know this for a fact because we have frequent conversations about our Macintoshes, during which he is invariably digging in his garden.
I've been tempted to go cordless because, hey, why be chained to a desk all day? But I get paranoid about my conversations possibly being broadcast all over Jefferson County. In 1990, I had a cordless phone which my neighbor (who I won't name) said broadcast my conversations on her TV. This may have been her particular electronic karma, since she claimed to receive a radio station from Nome, Alaska, on her back teeth, if you get my drift.
Dean Draznin, public relations and marketing consultant and owner of Dean Draznin Communications, has been working from home for one and a half years. I interviewed Dean a few days before his marriage to Patricia (above). I didn't take very good notes, since we were both distracted by the upcoming nuptials and other gossip. By the way, when Patricia was all gussied up in her wedding finery, she looked in the mirror and said, "Someone tell Dean I'm not gonna dress like this for him every day."
The Necessary Equipment
Okay, so what do our panelists say about equipment? Brian's employer furnishes his equipment (computer) and software. The rest of our panel bought their own. Everyone has a computer, modem, printer, and fax machine. All of them use email and get on the Internet.
It is convenient to have a separate fax, and, as with all technology, prices are falling. I just logged on to Staples' Web site and found five faxes ranging from $99 to $179, with a good quality plain paper fax for $129, shipping included. Multifunction machines, which combine color printer, scanner, and fax into one box, start at around $250.
These days you can get away without a standalone fax, since there's free faxing on the Internet. eFax.com gives you a dedicated U.S. phone number that is your private fax line. Then they email the received faxes to you and provide software to view and print it. For a small charge, they'll also let you send faxes. (Fax4Free.com lets you receive and send faxes at no charge, but last time I checked it added garish advertising banners to each page you send.)
A few years ago, a computer was merely helpful. Today it's essential. For almost any use of pen and paper, your computer offers savings in time and effort. It frees you to do more important things, like play solitaire on it, or try to make your modem work. And then there's the Internet. The Internet delivers the world to your computer, all for free. It's a resource no business can afford to ignore.
Most of the large manufacturers recognize this and bundle their computers with speedy, 56kps modems. Prices continue to drop. In fact, you can pick up very decent packages, including desktop computer, fax/modem, printer, and software for under $1500 to $2000. Of course, if you wait until next week, you can pick up those same packages for $23.95 and a free oil change.
For those new to computers, I suggest buying either Dell or Gateway (PC compatible) or Macintosh. These companies provide excellent products and support. In some cases, they offer financing and a reasonable monthly payment plan.
Note how I side-stepped the whole Mac versus PC controversy. Computer owners are divided into two camps: those who use Macs and those who use PCs. Each side is convinced the other is pond scum stubbornly clinging to inferior technology. Actually, unless you have some very specific software need for a PC, or the need to prove you are a Real Man without breaking any bones, buy a Macintosh. They're way easier to use because for one thing, they actually work. For this reason, PC owners think Macintosh owners have the intelligence of guppies.
As proof of Macintosh superiority and PC users' prejudice, my nephew, Ben, is the one Macintosh user on his floor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering. We are talking major geekdom here. All the other computer programmer nerds in his dormitory gather outside his door on the full moon chanting "Wimp! Wimp! Wimp!" while conjugating algorithms, but the point is they slink back to his room later with their pathetic PC floppy disks begging him to print their homework "and not tell" because they cannot get their own, inferior, PCs to work.
Now, on a serious note, please listen to Auntie Susie and learn to actually use your computer. Years ago, when I worked as a technical writer, I fell in love with Microsoft Word. Admittedly, this is something only a tech writer can do. But my point is the shortcuts in Word let me do my job in about 60 percent of the time it would take if I used Word in the "normal" way most people use it, like a typewriter that has funny margins. Later, I fell in love with FileMaker Pro, a database program, which has let me automate my entire telecom business instead of making any actual sales calls. I'm thinking of founding a Church of FileMaker Pro, but that's another story.
