Working From The Basement

I received a Tweet this morning that stated the Micro Enterprise Resource Group of Connecticut had closed its doors after 5 years.  This really doesn’t surprise me that much because micro businesses seem to be too diverse and distracted to get any kind of political message out.  Most of us hunker down and go to a chamber meetings or small social media networking gatherings, but seldom spend much time thinking about policy and politics.  I think we all agree the micros don’t get much respect from the government, banking institutions and even our slightly larger peers.  How many times have you heard “Oh you work from home?” I think most people just think we are unemployed.

So the question remains can micro businesses come together if not physically or on a specific agenda but more philosophically in a virtual community.  Could a Facebook Fan Page or group foster some kind of community spirit that wouldn’t take much effort or more importantly time.  I don’t know but it’s just a thought, let me know your opinion.

Don’t forget to click on the MERG CT link on the left of the page the organizers left a little treat for you there.

Thanks for visiting Working from the Basement

Michael Lawson
WFTB

They say there is no such thing as a good decision, but unlike what the accompanying picture says Indecision can kill a business.  Being able to make quick well informed decisions is one of the benefits that entrepreneurs have over their larger competition.  If you’ve ever worked for a large corporation or on a committee you know that sometimes even small decisions can take forever.  Endless meetings, missed deadlines and misinterpretations have killed or sidelined many projects.

It’s not that larger companies can’t make decisions, it’s just that sometimes their structure and policies can get in the way. That’s not to say that longer strategic plans shouldn’t be discussed at length especially when they affect their employees and the company’s long term health.  Also just because you are small you shouldn’t make snap decisions based on no information.  Take as much time as you need and gather all the information you can, do your research, ask friends and consult your peers.

So what happens if we make the wrong decision? Well then you simply make a new one to correct it the best you can and move forward.  I always go by the formula of 50, 50, 90 which means:  you have a 50, 50 chance of making the right decision, but 90% of the time you are wrong (just kidding, sort of). Making any type of decision is better than none, because if you don’t your forward momentum and enthusiasm may be lost. Sometimes making a decision is hard especially when you are unsure of which way to go, but take the responsibility and implement the changes as you see fit.

Just to make it clear Indecision is not the key to flexibility, don’t believe everything you read on a wet nap.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

Count me among the many of you who work in the basement, although I’m not running a micro-business nor am I self-employed. Technically, it’s more accurate to say that I sometimes work in the basement and sometimes I work a bit farther away. For example, I spent last week working in California where there are plenty of home offices but almost no basements (Perhaps a west coast version of WFTB would be called “Working From The Spare Bedroom”?). The trips out of the basement afford me the best of both worlds.

I’m a freelance producer and sometimes writer. It’s the producing work that sometimes takes me out of my basement. Last week, I was on a Los Angeles sound stage shooting an infomercial with a crew of fifty, which is about forty-nine more people than are usually in my basement. We also had one fairly famous celebrity, which is exactly one more than the number of celebrities ordinarily found in my basement.

Despite the lack of celebrities, my basement, also known as my World Headquarters, is a comfortable and productive place from which to work. In addition to my desk (which I built and is the envy of most visitors) the basement is equipped with a gym, treadmill and stationary bike all of which call to me on a regular basis. Unfortunately, more often than not I ignore those calls which no doubt accounts for my need to work in loose fitting sweats. Who knew that the mere purchase of a treadmill is not enough to get into shape? The world headquarters is also outfitted with a large screen television and a surround sound stereo. I find that productivity drops when the TV is on so I try to keep it off during the day. On the other hand, I seem to be more productive with music so the stereo is frequently on usually with Itunes or Pandora.

For this most recent shoot, I spent a week in the World Headquarters prepping the job. I generated countless emails, worked the phones and tinkered with the budget, all while wearing the afore-mentioned sweats and a t-shirt. But the advantages to this set-up are not limited to sweat pants. I’m can run to the store or pick up one of my kids after practice all without missing a beat. And yet when everyone is home, the basement still affords me a quiet place to work.

While working from home has become commonplace today, it is not for everyone. People often worry about letting the distractions of the home interfere with their productivity. It seems some would prefer the structured environment of an office to keep them on track but I’ll take the basement any day. I have very little trouble with distraction when I’m on a project like the infomercial as there is usually way too much to do and little time left for distraction. It’s when I’m between paid work and left with only my own personal projects that I let distractions creep in. When I’m simply rewriting the screenplay, working on the latest blog entry, or perhaps writing a guest column for WFTB, I’m much more likely to find things that suddenly need to be done around the house (I’ve done two loads of laundry while writing this column) before I settle in to work. But eventually I do settle in and there is no better place for me to work.

There are countless other benefits to working at home. For instance, office politics are non-existent in my basement and I don’t wait in line for a cafeteria lunch. Also there are no annoying co-workers in the next cubicle who talk too loud, steal my desk supplies, or reek of too much perfume. On the other hand, I will admit that most people in an office don’t have to deal with a large fluffy cat that complains a lot either. I’m sure that I could go on about the advantages to working from the basement and ordinarily I would but I do still have two loads of laundry to fold and a cat to feed.

About Jeff:

Jeff Vibes is a freelance Producer/Writer who lives in Connecticut with his wife, two sons and one extremely demanding cat.  He has been in the film industry for over twenty years.  In addition to countless commercials and infomercials, Jeff has also worked on documentary films and movie publicity all over the world.

Originally from Connecticut, Jeff spent twenty-two years living in California before returning to Connecticut in 2001.  Since then he has continued to work primarily in both California and New York.

He spends his down time (a misnomer if ever there was one) attending his son’s baseball games.  Any remaining time is spent writing unproduced screenplays and personal essays.  Some of his writing can be found on his blog “The Random Vibes” at

http://www.therandomvibes.blogspot.com/

Jeff can be reached at jvibes@mindspring.com

Excellent references (all well paid of course) are available upon request.

WFTB – Jeff Vibes

OK a lot of entrepreneurial related media talks about creating your own rules to be successful, but that’s not what this posts about.  What I am talking about are the rules that we need to keep ourselves motivated, organized and sane.  I have two sets of rules I use, one set is used every day the other for specific days of the week.  I’ll go over some of the ones I use every day.

1. COFFEE – This is the number one rule that must be obeyed for me to function, and I’ve seen Diana without coffee so I assume this rule to be universal.  I must have coffee before my brain even starts to work correctly. 
2. SHOWER, SHAVE etc… – OK this one usually happens at some point during the morning, but again it is not as important as rule #1 and sometimes goes un-followed.  This rule actually becomes rule #1 when leaving the basement though.
3. THE DAILY TASK LIST – This really should be rule #2, but #1 and #2 seemed to go together (am I confusing you enough yet?). I try and keep a short task list with only 3 or 4 things on it, enough to get completed during the day but not too daunting.  Yes I have a real task list that contains everything I need to do, but by moving only a small number into a daily list it makes it so I feel accomplished.  You can always add and remove things to the list and prioritize it as the day goes on.
4. LIMIT DISTRACTIONS – We talked about space here before and limiting environmental distractions is important, but keeping yourself focused is important as well.  If you are in the middle of something and the phone rings don’t take it unless you have to.  Close your email client, Chat, Facebook and any other Social Media outlet, plan to spend a set number of minutes an hour checking them if you use them to market your business.  I like to answer emails first thing in the morning, mid-morning, over lunch and mid-afternoon, unless it’s an emergency.
5. MUSIC – I don’t consider music a distraction, it helps me concentrate while working alone, One of the benefit about being self-employed is we can crank it when a good song comes on.

I actually have a few other rules I follow, but I just wanted to get you started writing your own list, although I think Rule #1 is universal please let me know if you have anything else to replace it.  I’ll post my weekly list if anyone is interested, but that is going to vary greatly depending what you do for a living.  Having guidelines even if we don’t follow them exactly helps us get through those really tough days, and I think also keeps us more focused.  One nice thing is your rules can be anything you want them to be; after all you are the boss.

WFTB – Michael Lawson

I just wanted to mention a few good events coming up over the next few weeks that might be of interest. This Friday Oct 30, 2009 Diana will be at the Middlesex Expo in Cromwell Ct from 9:00a– 8:00p at her B-Law booth, I’m sure she would be happy if you all stopped by.  Our friend Charlie Schein will also be helping Diana man her booth.

Friday October 30^th 2009
Middlesex Expo 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Cromwell, CT
9:00am – 8:00pm

The ambitious event schedule for TweetCrawl continues with fund raising efforts this time focusing on Operation Home for the Holidays.  If you haven’t been to one of these yet it would be a good time to meet new people and help a great cause.  Diana and I will be at the one on November 11^th in Middletown, we are not sure about which of the others yet.  It’s Karaoke night so stop by and see if you can get Diana on the stage to sing.

Thursday October 29^th 2009
Hot Rod’s TweetCrawl
114 Bank Street
New London, CT
5:30pm – 8:30pm

Thursday November 5^th 2009
TweetCrawl at Wadsworth Atheneum
600 Main Street
Hartford, CT
5:00pm – 8:00pm

Wednesday November 11^th 2009
Karoake TweetCrawl at Public’s in Middletown
337 Main Street
Middletown, CT
6:00pm – 9:00pm

Friday November 13^th 2009
Open Studio
555 Asylum Street
Hartford, CT
6:00pm – 8:00pm

THE FOLLOWING EVENT HAS CHANGED
Saturday November 14^th 2009
Operation Home for the Holidays TweetCrawl
The Warehouse of Lisa Davenport’s Home Gallery
9 Austin Drive
Marlborough, CT
1:00pm – 5:00pm
This Event is now “Open House to Bring Them Home” party
Kid Friendly and lots of Raffles and Prizes, please RSVP on Facebook.

7:00pm – 10:00pm
$40 per person to benefit Operation Home for the Holidays.
Order your tickets here or RSVP on Facebook and pay at the door.

Another Event that I would recommend is the “Starting and Staying in Business – What it takes to survive in today’s crazy world“  seminar hosted by Rothstein & Co.  Alan is a great speaker and is very engaging, this should be a really good presentation. A donation of $10 to FOODSHARE would be appreciated, please rsvp to cpa@rothsteinco.com and let them know you read about it on WFTB. The agenda and contact information is listed below:

Job Stability is Being Self Employed
Alan Rothstein, CPA/PFS
Alan works extensively with small business owners and entrepreneurs

What can go wrong in business, and how to prevent it
Susan Busby, Attorney

New Rules on Marketing and Communications
Using Social Networking to grow your business
Darlene Susco, President Susco Visual, Inc.

November 11, 2009
Farmington Marriott
15 Farms Springs Road
Farmington, CT
7:00pm – 9:00pm
$10 per person requested donation to FOODSHARE

I want to thank all the people that got back to us about  Diana’s Thankful Friday post, it was one of our biggest days here at WFTB. It was very encouraging to hear that we are helping motivate others in their daily lives.

WFTB – Michael Lawson