Working From Home? Get Up and Get Out!
Home-based shouldn't mean housebound. Here, the best ways
to fight isolation.
By Laura Koss-Feder
http://www.clubmom.com
When Trish
Cetrone, the president of a home-based public-relations-and-marketing firm in Orinda,
California, first started her business, she avoided out-of-the-office meetings like the
plague. "I was really focused on billable hours. I didn't want to waste work time
fighting the crazy Bay-area traffic," she recalls. But after a few clients insisted
on some face-to-face sessions, she realized that "efficiency isn't everything,"
and she began to welcome the break. "When you work from home, you have to force
yourself to get out regularly," says Cetrone, who now makes sure to plan meetings
with colleagues and clients at least once a month.
According to the National Association for the
Self-Employed, an organization based in Washington, D.C., the nation has 17 million
home-based entrepreneurs like Cetrone, many of whom are constantly faced with the
isolation that comes from being a one-person operation. The same goes for full-time
telecommuters, especially long-distance ones. While most home-based workers relish their
situations, spending the majority of your workday solo is inevitably draining; virtual
contact via email or phone can only go so far. The adjustment is often especially
difficult if you've just made the transition from the busy, bustling corporate world to
the quiet of your home.
Finding creative ways to beat this loneliness is important if you're going to succeed
long-term. "You have to create the right kind of environment and schedule from the
beginning," says Rudy Lewis, the president of the National Association of Home Based
Businesses. "If you're alone too much, feelings of isolation can worsen as you grow
your business."
The only way to beat isolation is to get out and make human contact. But if you're
trying to build a business-or please a faraway boss-it may be a struggle for you to walk
away from your desk, even for an hour. "It's okay to give yourself permission to be
out of your office," assures Ellen Parlapiano, the coauthor of Mompreneurs: A
Mother's Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success (Perigee). You may also find
it difficult to escape if one of your goals in working at home is to spend more time with
your children. "Even though you may be paying for child care, you should still take a
break and see others during the day-just as you would if you were working in a big company
and went out to lunch with a coworker," says Cetrone, who has two daughters, a
six-month-old and a three-year-old.
Time-out Strategies
Replace your chained-to-the-desk habits with these new ones:
 | Get involved with local chapters of professional associations in your industry and/or
your chamber of commerce.
This has the added bonus of allowing you to network. "Going to business-related
events is constructive for your career and can keep you from burning out," says
Deborah Arron, a Seattle career consultant. Most organizations have monthly meetings and
various committees and boards that you can join. To give yourself extra incentive to
participate, offer to chair a committee or organize a special event. |
| Pay in advance to attend events.
That way, you'll feel almost forced to go, advises Arron. Knowing up front that you have a
function to attend will allow you to better budget your time while you work. |
| Start your own group.
Joining professional organizations is a good way to meet other mothers in your field. Use
this as a stepping stone to form a small circle of such moms who meet on a regular basis,
recommends Parlapiano. She founded a group of her own eight years ago. |
| Consider combining time away from the office with an outing with your child.
New York City career consultant Eva Wisnik has taken her six-year-old son, David, with her
to clients' offices to drop off holiday gifts. These brief meetings-five to ten minutes
each-allowed her clients to get to know her on a more personal basis, plus they gave her
son a taste of the business world. But, she cautions, "I wouldn't do this with an
infant. Take a child who is old enough to understand the concept of a 'client,' and keep
meetings brief." |
