The end of Biznik’s home office?
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008It may be hard for some who haven’t met Dan and I yet, to imagine Biznik being run from a home office. But up until recently the Biznik staff was small - just Dan, myself and John, our kickass developer - supported by a number of contractors. Working from a home office was not only fine - I preferred it! The bulk of my 10 hour days are spent on my laptop, and meeting people in coffee shops provides a great change of scenery.
When we started adding fulltime support staff this summer, they’d come to dining room table. I definitely felt the impact on my personal space, but the benefits outweighed the inconveniences. Plus we always have Office Nomads, a great coworking space on Capitol Hill, where we can pull our team together for a group work session, or just spend a day out of the house.
Melody Biringer, author of the CRAVE Business blog, wrote a post this month on the Top Reasons to Work from Home and she included 6 from me:
Lara Feltin, Biznik:
1. Commute. Some days I commute from the upstairs to the downstairs in pajamas. Other days I commute from the upstairs, to the downstairs for coffee and the laptop, then back upstairs for a couple hours of work in bed.2. Wardrobe. My “professional” wardrobe consists of yoga pants, sweaters and slippers. I make maybe 2-3 trips to the dry cleaners a year.
3. Budget & Weight Control. I don’t have a $10/day Starbucks habit nor do I snack on junk food, because my well stocked kitchen is in the next room.
4. Flexible Hours. Everything I need to run my business is in one place. Working late well after midnight isn’t followed by a late night drive through empty city streets, but a simple climbing of the stairs back to bed.
5. Fuzzy Friends. Working from home means my cats live where I work. They’re happier, and who’s not happier with a purring kitten curled at your feet all day?
6. Multi-tasking. I know the experts recommend home office workers don’t give into the temptation to unload the dishwasher or do laundry during “working hours,” but I’m going to take a 5 minute break every couple of hours and move around anyway. A trip to the basement to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer is a great way to break up the day.
I don’t know if contributing my list to Melody’s blog woke something inside of me, but less than 2 weeks later, Dan and I have not only started looking at office space, we think we’ve found a new home for the Biznik headquarters. I can’t share the location yet, but stay tuned. Looks like I’ll have to create a new list of Top Reasons Not to Work from Home.
