After working from home for about twenty years, I left home last month. I didn’t want to but my basement office began to cool down as the Norwegian autumn went orange. After a particularly crispy day left me with icicles hanging from my nostrils I gave up and moved into an office down the hill.
I can honestly say that this is much better than working from home. Let me count the ways…
- The money spent renting the space is undeniably tax deductible,
- The money spent powering my equipment and heating the space is undeniably tax deductible,
- The money spent buying consumables to power the workers (me) is also tax deductible,
- My family loves all the stuff I bring home from the office that I did not manage to consume, and which was tax deductible,
- The office gets “business” Internet access which, for some reason, works so much better than “domestic” aka “broken” Internet access,
- The office encourages working and thinking, unlike home which is, on any given day, rent with the emotions and tears of kids,
- The office has no disturbances like doorbells ringing, dogs barking, or spouses wanting help, making phone time a pleasure,
- Coffee at the office does not involve coffee for the spouse and three guests, each of whom wants a different order,
- The environment is free of all the emotions that pervade home, allowing untrammeled thought,
- The distance from the office allows one to gather ones wits en route home, rather than sharing the minutiae of ones angst in real time…
Bottom line, I plan to stay out of the house as much as I can. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
As you can imagine, this is a bit of a problem when teaching 200 odd people how to earn money while working from home! You can do it like that, but my current suggestion is that you get some space around you.