Archive for March, 2009
Unlike Proust, for me it’s bacon sandwiches
Mar 20th
For me, one of the best things about working from home is that you can be flexible about when you work and so take advantage of beautiful weather, quiet times in the shops and so on. This morning we took some time off to try out the breakfasts at a café we’d spotted in nearby Bradford-on-Avon.
A had the full English, which came on a plate almost the size of a dustbin lid, and I had a BLT, served with salad and coleslaw. All the food and coffee was well-presented and delicious, and the whole experience reminded us of the halcyon days of the late Strand Café in Newlyn.
The Strand Café consisted of just a few tables in a conservatory tacked onto the side of the kitchen but the consistent excellence of the coffee and fresh, local food were legendary among its cult following. The bacon sandwiches were quite literally the size of doorsteps and included liberal amounts of mayo and fresh organic herbs. Eating them required at least two napkins to clean up face and fingers and maybe a shower if you were a messy eater. Only if you were extremely hungry or particularly greedy could you manage a slab of sticky fruit loaf afterwards, but somehow we usually did, along with another mug of coffee with a biscotti on the side.
We had despaired of ever finding anywhere even remotely similar in quality of ingredients and generosity of portions but Canterbury House comes very close. Fortunately for our waistlines it requires a drive rather than a short stroll down the hill, like the Strand Café.
And Another
Mar 18th
I’ve added another page, this time one that’s not immediately obvious. Move your cursor over Work From Home Book and you’ll see Other Home Working Books appear. Reading has always been one of my favourite pastimes and this is a selection of my current favourites, some to help with work and others purely for relaxation. Do any of your own favourites appear, or are there any must-reads I really should know about?
New Page!
Mar 16th
I’m delighted to have added the new page on homeworkers’ rooms, as promised a few days ago – just click on Homeworkers’ Rooms on the green menu bar above. Many thanks to the people who have started the page by sending me their photos and descriptions.
I hope you find them interesting and will send in your own so that the collection comes to reflect the amazing breadth and brilliance of homeworkers! I’m sure I can’t be the only one who is fascinated to know how and where other people work. I aim to add one every few days so come back soon to find out who has a sea view when they’re working…
She did WHAT?
Mar 13th
Since my last post I’ve had an exchange of emails with someone who would rather not tell her story herself – you’ll see why – but has given permission for me to pass it on. Here it is in her own words:
‘In a previous job I once had to make a sales call to a self-employed businesswoman who worked from home. It was like going into a skip filled with children and her husband was there too. The rooms were filled with junk of all types and weirdly they insisted on showing me around the house – it was so strange. We then repaired to the kitchen which was of a minimalist design but filled with family detritus, and tried to have a meeting while three children added their two pennyworth! My sales pitch was peppered with Thalia or Otto or Primrose interjecting and at one point being breast fed while I looked on – IT WAS AWFUL!!
‘I felt like I didn’t know how I was meant to behave – was I meant to act like a friend or a professional business contact… Very weird and I bet they aren’t in business anymore!!!’
So beat that for how not to do it! In a generous mood I’d say that the woman might not have known how else to behave to a visitor to her home. If I was more cynical I might wonder if she was trying to disarm the salesperson and get a better price.
Customers in Your Home
Mar 11th
Maria and Anne have recently posted comments on the subject of customers coming into the home, and this morning, as I was tidying the kitchen in preparation for some associates of A’s coming for a meeting, I was reminded of an experience we had that might be worth passing on.
I have always aimed to be ready by the time of the appointment, which seems fair enough. Even so, despite your best intentions, it can sometimes be a scramble to get the house tidy before the client arrives. You prepare what is needed for the appointment, whether it’s paperwork or materials, and then realise the carpet needs a quick vacuum or the bathroom is scuzzy!
But what if the client is actually early? And not just a couple of minutes, but seriously early, when you are still shoving things into cupboards or finishing the washing-up. For some reason it had never occurred to me it might happen. I suppose I just assumed that if someone driving to see us was that early, they would pull off the road and make some calls, read the paper or something. It’s not like going to an office, where there is a reception area, or the doctor’s, where there’s a waiting room. This is our home, and even friends don’t turn up that early when they’ve been invited.
But looking at it from the client’s point of view, they are coming to see a professional and if they happen to be early, then they expect the professional to accommodate it in some way. They are concerned with their business, or their health, the reason they are seeing you, not whether the kids have been packed off to nursery yet or there are still cups on the breakfast table.
So now, I try to be ready at least 15 minutes before the time arranged, to avoid that heart-lurching moment when the bell rings and you think ‘No, it can’t be…’
Homeworking Rooms
Mar 10th
A friend has come up with the brilliant idea of having a page showing the spaces we work in at home, whether that’s an office, workshop, shed, studio, garage, attic, kitchen table or whatever.
If you’d like to feature on the page, please email me a photo of your workspace or something in it such as your desk, the view, a collection of treasured objects etc, along with a few words on what you like (or dislike) about it, your first name, occupation and your URL. I hope we will all get some inspiration about what works in a homeworking workspace, as well as promote ourselves as the site becomes better known.
I’m waiting for some photos at the moment – everyone I ask wants to tidy up first! I’ll put the page up when I’ve collected a few, and I’m looking forward to seeing where you work.
Julie Myerson – what do you think?
Mar 7th
I’ve been following the press furore about Julie Myerson and her son with great interest, as it taps into a dilemma I’m currently experiencing in a much smaller way – how much personal detail do I include in these posts about working from home?
It’s said there is a chip of ice in the heart of every writer that makes them see every experience and relationship as legitimate material. I have the chip of ice to the extent that part of me is objectively observing every situation I encounter, but I seem to lack the core of ice (the courage?) that would enable me to publish it.
I quickly discovered on my writing course that I had an embarrassing lack of ideas for stories, and was reduced to writing straightforward accounts of my own experiences and passing them off as fiction. My tutor suggested I could get one of my pieces published as a short story, but I never seriously considered it because it was a faithful portrayal of someone in my life and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.
Now I’m writing about working from home, I find I’m reluctant to mention even my friends’ first names in case they feel I’m using them, although I fear my posts may be less lively and engaging because of it.
What do you think? Would you have written about your child as openly as Julie Myerson has? Do you think her son’s behaviour ‘entitled’ her to do so, as some commentators seem to suggest? And if you’re a friend, how do you feel about being mentioned here?
It’s Official
Mar 5th
Judy Heminsley's Work from Home book
Work from Home is published today! Which as a first-time author is a very exciting event, but apparently a total non-event as well. My publisher tells me I should get an advance copy in a couple of weeks time, and that copies will be available in the shops in April, but nothing actually seems to happen today. A bit like a birthday with no cards, no presents and no cake. I am having a party but not until April when I have books to show my guests. So I’ve got to be grown-up, be patient and try to practise that most tedious of behaviours, deferred gratification.
Home versus Work?
Mar 1st
I won’t be posting here for a few days as I’m utilising one of the perks of the self-employed homeworker and taking some time off to spend with my parents. I honestly don’t how I would fit in all my domestic and family commitments if I had to turn up at a place of work every weekday.
I suppose over the years I’ve got used to working during the evening when other people are putting their feet up, and at weekends when others are switching off. It seems a more than fair price to pay for the privilege of taking weekdays off to see relatives or have a short break.
I think that when you work from home you inevitably start to experience ‘work’ and ‘home’ as interwoven strands of your life, and not as the distinct entities people often do when they physically move between one and the other. I guess it depends on your personality whether you regard that as an advantage or not, not to mention how much you like your work.
See you soon!
