Working From The Basement

Ok admit it you had a grin on your face this morning when you woke up and saw the snow.  If you think the people that you work with that do the daily commute are jealous on a normal day, they really feel it on a snow day.  Even though I work from home on a regular basis there seems to be something special about a snow day.  The pace of the people around you seems to slow down, you linger round the kitchen longer getting your coffee and reading the paper.  I even make it a point to work in my PJs for awhile, maybe it’s the snow or memories of snow days when I was a kid, but I feel calmer.

If you are lucky the people that live with you can work from home too, with today’s telecommuter options there should be no reason to risk life and limb for an office job.  So savor the coffee aroma listen to some music and enjoy your snow day.

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

Morning, kids.  Still having my first cup of coffee.  Okay, maybe it’s my third cup, but I’m still not fully awake yet.  Been reflecting on the week.  I haven’t had much time to write this week, but I have a few minutes this morning and wanted to share my thoughts.

I am so very thankful.

Here’s what I’m thankful for:

1.  Good friends. This week has been rough – hell, the last six months have been rough – and I’ve got amazing friends who give me that boost when I need it.  And, I wanted to thank Mike Lawson for carrying the weight of the blog this week with all of his awesome posts.  And for the IT help.  And for the weekly beer and grilled cheese.  And his wife, Karen, for allowing me to invite myself over and yell at people in their basement.

2.  Good family. My sister has been my Office Manager for the past six months or so, and I owe so much to her.  She’s our Collections Officer; she’s Accounts Payable; and she handles purchasing all of the office supplies.  Working together has made us closer as sisters, and I’m so lucky to have her. 

3.  Good beer. Headed to Foster’s tonight to share some beers with some friends.  Nothing like swapping stories, teasing Mike Lawson, and drinking some fine brew.

4.  Great presentation yesterday. I spoke at Mohegan Sun to a group of financial services professionals.  The talk started out as LinkedIn101, but then morphed into a discussion of FINRA rules and compliance difficulties.  Great discussion.  I love smart, passionate people.

5.  Great roommates, both personally and professionally.

a.  Personally. I recently moved from Marlborough to East Hampton, one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make.  I found a guy on craigslist who was recently divorced, had a large dog, and needed a roommate to afford his house.  We rolled the dice and combined households, and it has worked out so well.  I got really lucky.  Having someone to share in the dog responsibilities and the house chores makes life so much easier.

b.  Professionally. My office is in Main Street Market, in Middletown.  We moved from the back of the building to the front of the building a few months ago (yes, two moves at the same time – stressful), and we are so lucky.  The landlord is great; the tenants are great; the building is beautiful.  MSM functions like a mini-community – Pastry Steve’s shop operates as the watercooler for all of us in the building; Norman at the African Art store signs for packages for me when I’m not around (and he barely knows me); and Tad the Building Manager stops in to check and see how we’re doing.

I’m in the right place, and I’m extremely lucky.  Thankful Friday. 

WFTB

Error Message's can be so cryptic?

A lot of people just don’t get Twitter and if you’re one of those people I would like to introduce you to the concept of using Twitter as a Search Engine.  Most of us have our favorite Search Engine’s Toolbar and home page somewhere nestled in our Internet Browser, but sometimes it fails us.  Recently I was greeted to the Error message that opens this post when trying to launch Microsoft Outlook, as you can see it wasn’t very informative. So I rebooted the PC and the Error still persisted even after running a repair on Microsoft Office.

I then turned to the Internet and Microsoft’s Bing search engine figuring that since this was a Microsoft program it might have an advantage over Google, but nothing specific came up.  Well that makes some sense since the error wasn’t very specific either.  I then figured out that this happened after one of the dreaded Tuesday Microsoft updates, so on a hunch I fired up TweetDeck (The Application I use to make sense of Twitter) and searched the exact message.  Well I may have been lucky, but I got a few hits and solved the problem fairly quickly.

This is what is known in the Industry as crowdsourcing which is defined as using the general public to do research or other work.  This was a relevant search considering that if my suspicion was correct and this error was caused by a Microsoft update other people would be having the same issue.  Search Engines take time to index lesser known sites, but Twitter is instantaneous, so if it is something common you can find it right away.

You don’t need a Twitter client like TweetDeck to search Twitter, just go to the website and type in your search and it will show results similar to a standard Search Engine. So even if you aren’t interested in Tweeting about your daily life you can still use Twitter to help you find quick answers to an immediate problem.  So when you can’t find the answer with a Search Engine give Twitter a shot and let us know if you were able to find it.

We are always looking for time saving tips so let us know what gets you through your day when Working From the Basement.

WFTB- Michael Lawson

If you are starting a new home business, one of the most important decisions will be where to put your home office.  Over the years mine has moved and ended up in the basement, but depending on your situation that may not work for you. Most people at first end up using a table in the kitchen, dining room or simply working from the couch and floor, when nobody is home.  It is very important though that you find a quiet place to work, especially if you need to think, write and make private phone calls.

While a corner in a room can work,  I would recommend finding a whole room or using a partition, and make sure that you keep it somewhat organized.  If you have a whole room, make sure it is big enough for some expansion, my latest space even has a spare desk.  Also consider going paperless, this one decision alone can free up a lot of space, scan what you can and keep up with your filing and shredding.

Having a space doesn’t mean you are tied to it for 8-16 hours a day either. Break up the monotony by working from  the deck, going to a coffee shop or even the library.  After all, if you are self-employed, setting your own rules is one of the benefits. I usually take a long lunch when I begin to feel cooped up and bring a laptop with me to get some work done.  This helps clear my head and get motivated. Make sure that when you do this, though, that it is something you can do while being distracted.  Don’t take a project with you that requires a lot of concentration. Your office or shared space should feel comfortable enough for you to escape to and get serious work done.  If you dread it because it is disorganized or in the wrong spot, you may want to consider other options.

In the past I have always thought that clients didn’t take you seriously if you worked from home, but with more people telecommuting I think that this perception has changed.  While this does depend on what you do for a living, and having an office outside the house can motivate you to get going in the morning.  One of the best consulting jobs I had was for GE in Avon where I was able to bike into work on nice days using the Farmington Valley Greenway.  I am just pointing this out because if you don’t pick a spot in your house or apartment on where to setup shop it may impact your work. If you really can’t work in the house or coffee shops, another option is month-to-month office facilities where they rent you a small office and a shared conference room.  This can be a great stop-gap measure, before committing to an office lease.  Other options include adding an addition on to your house, but if you plan to have employees you should check your towns zoning regulations.

The IRS used to frown on the home office and it was a big red flag, but now the rules have relaxed, and as long as you have a legitimate office, preferably one with walls it can be a great benefit.  I have always had a home office and over the years have made it a home within a home – my commute is 16 stairs in the morning.  It may take you awhile to make it comfortable, and make sure that if you don’t like something you change it as quickly as possible.  Don’t buy a lot of furniture either – people tend to crowd out their home offices – and make sure anything you buy is light-weight and can be moved easily.  Considering that I live off RT 4 in Farmington I save about 2 hours a day, so for me working from the basement works.  Make sure you name your space accordingly whether it’s a corner, a basement or a fortress of solitude make it your own and make it work for your business.

We are looking for people to Interview about how they work from home so please feel free to contact either Diana or myself if you are interested.  If you have any suggestions on what makes your home office work please feel free to comment on this post.

WFTB – Michael Lawson