Adventures in Working From Home

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home sweet home office

Last week I had the pleasure of being a guest columnist at MOMeo Magazine, a resource for Entrepreneurial Mothers that includes articles addressing work life, family life and playtime for mommy.   I wrote about something that touches many women (and men): adventures in working from home.

Here’s an excerpt:

As a corporate gal, I was always envious of the consultants who worked for me. They had all the perks of corporate life – interesting work, being part of a team, contributing to the company’s success – yet the benefit of doing it from home. I was sure they had discovered Utopia; at least that’s the way it appeared from my view in cubicle land.

You can imagine my delight when I began consulting. This is it, I thought. No more commute, no listening to unexplained noises coming from the cube next door, no more drive-by impromptu “meetings” from colleagues who have a little too much time on their hands.

Working from home has been pure bliss; wonderful; everything I thought it would be!

That’s not entirely true. Let me tell you what I’ve learned about working from home.

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Click here to read the rest of the post, and please feel free to leave a comment on MOMeo, retweet it or Facebook it. I’ve had such a great response to this piece!

I look forward to further contributions to MOMeo and other publications in the future.

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Neglect

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Fence

Hubby and I were ecstatic when we bought our home.  A contemporary gem with walls of windows in every room that looked out onto beautiful spaces, we couldn’t believe our good fortune.   While it had, as they say in real estate, “good bones”, it needed serious cosmetic help.

Multiple previous owners had each left their interior design stamp, layering on hideous wallpapers with different trims that defied logic.  And don’t get me started on the floors.  We had five different kinds of flooring, including three different carpets.

We knew that over time we could fix the inside.  We were thrilled that the outside was in great condition – beautifully landscaped, fence in good shape, solid retaining wall.   Eventually we were able to slowly renovate the inside to our liking.  It’s beautiful and we couldn’t be happier.

Until recently.

The once beautiful outside spaces had become a wasteland, the type you see in sci-fi movies, all gray with an assortment of broken things strewn about.  What was left of plant life was overgrown in many areas and barren in others. Hardly the view we wanted to enjoy from our walls of windows.

In all fairness to me and Hubby, neither of us have a green thumb nor do we have an interest in yard work.   Oh, we enjoy being in the yard. We just want someone else to take care of it.

The only plant life remaining was indestructible bamboo.  Some years ago, in an attempt to make a Zen-like retreat around the pool, we let a landscaper convince us that bamboo was the way to go.  He said it would require almost zero maintenance and would withstand the drastic temperature changes, especially the heat.  We were sold.

You all know where this is going.  Didn’t take long for the bamboo to take over.  Sure, it withstands any temperature.  In fact, we couldn’t kill it – and we tried.  Hubby regularly inspected our neighbors’ yard each week to make sure the bamboo wasn’t invading.

The real issue here was not the bamboo, although it’s a nice excuse.  Hubby and I had neglected the outside spaces, putting our finances towards travel and other home improvements.

How bad was it, you ask? The neighbors would creep down the alley in their cars, staring and shaking their heads. The once solid retaining wall had crumbled to dust and we feared sliding downhill into the neighbors’ house. The fence had weathered to an ugly gray and was barely standing.

Actually, it wasn’t standing at all. What was left of the fence was secured to the house with a variety of straps, two-by-fours and rocks.  Every night we’d watch the weather report for wind gust predictions, knowing that blowing out candles on a birthday cake would be more difficult than blowing our fence down.

Desperation set in as we waited for our turn on the fence company’s list, our wood-strapped-to-the-house contraption becoming even more of an eye-sore.  Hubby spent hours trying to secure the remaining boards and both of us tried to reassure the neighbors that we planned to replace the fence.

We had to view this ugliness every day from our walls of windows, we were sick of it and now we had to act quickly.

Why, oh why, did we let it get to this?

There are many reasons for neglecting something so important.  Money, time, hoping the problem will resolve itself.  That works for awhile, but at some point you have to take action.

How many of us neglect a job search when we already have a job?  We ignore that things may not be as good as we’d like at the office since we do have a salary and work.  Besides, it’s so much trouble to update the resume, work your network, and apply for jobs.  Sometimes we take the ostrich approach, like Hubby and I did with the fence, hoping that our resumes remain strong even if we fail to update them.

Problem with that approach – for either our fence or a job search – is that there comes a critical point where we simply must act.  A job search is not something you want to do under pressure if you can avoid it. Don’t neglect your job search skills until you’re desperate.  Keep an updated resume and stay in touch with your network.

Our new fence is great.  Now I’m working on my resume, just in case.

Promises, Promises – Some Jobs are Too Good to be True

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I have an announcement to make, and I’m so excited.  I’m going to quit writing. Yep, quitting my favorite pastime so that I can pursue an opportunity to make $60,000 per year working part-time.  Can you believe it?  That’s great money! And since I’ll only be working part-time I’ll have extra time to spend reading and sitting by the pool, in addition to working on my abs of steel at the gym.  It’s almost too good to be true.

What is the opportunity, you ask?  Well, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s got to be great.  See, I found this flyer taped to my front door recruiting me for this opportunity.  Very personalized, huh?  They want little ol’ me!

Don’t believe me?  Here’s the opportunity, typed exactly as it is on the flyer, minus the recruiter’s name and phone number.  Sorry, I’m not sharing that information for fear too many will apply.

LEARN HOW TO MAKE AN EXTRA $60,000 A YEAR

This system is proven to work, even during a recession

If you’re concerned about the economy, you need to look at this

Will work even if you are on unemployment

This is NOT a get rich quick scheme

It is a business plan and concept you work at part time

If becoming financially independent is important to you and your family, call to see if you qualify

Call now for an appointment.  

Unbelievable, huh?

All kidding and sarcasm aside, it really is unbelievable.  There’s so much wrong here that I’m not even sure where to begin.

  • If this is a “proven” system that works, why isn’t everyone doing it? I’m sure congress would love to know about it so they can get people working again.
  • Make “$60K working part-time”?  What kind of legal part-time job can provide that kind of income?
  • “Call to see if you qualify”. LOL!  I’m betting that all of us qualify. I’m also betting that it costs money for us to learn the “secrets” to this “business plan that’s NOT a get rich quick scheme”. 

This makes my head hurt.  It gives false hope to people who are desperate to find a job, and it may even cost them money to get started. If not money, it’s got to cost time.  Nothing is free, after all.

When you’re in the hunt for a new job, the recruitment process is daunting.  Applications must be submitted online even if you have a network connection at the company.  There’s usually a phone interview (or two or three) followed by a couple in-person meetings.  After what seems to be an eternity, you might be lucky enough to actually get an offer. It’s enough to make anyone throw up their hands in frustration and search for a quick, easy, fix like the one above instead of a job lead that actually nets a good opportunity.

To land a great job you simply have to do the work, including networking, applying and interviewing.  Over and over again.  There’s no “quick fix” when it comes to finding your next opportunity.

As for the job advertised on the flyer, I’m sure that somewhere in the world there is a person who actually has benefitted from such a proposal.  My uncle would have done well at this; a natural salesman, he could sell ice to an Eskimo.

As far as I’m concerned, a better plan is to persevere with the job search the old-fashioned way through networking, filling out applications and going on interviews.

I’m also keeping my writing gig; it’s too much fun.  Especially when I see things like this to write about.

Reading Between the Lines

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I’m not good at reading between the lines. Vagueness or ambiguity is totally lost on me. That’s probably why I was not too good at dating.  Never understood why guys could not be honest and direct enough to say, “You’re nice but I’d just rather be friends”.  Tough words to hear, but much better than waiting to see if he’s going to call you again. 

This hasn’t changed for me, even in marriage. Hubby learned the hard way that it’s best to just man-up and tell me what’s on his mind.  Otherwise my mind will come up with all sorts of crazy notions about what he wants to say, which are usually wrong, and we’ll end up having a rather loud and lively “discussion” with tears flowing and the dog cowering under the bed.  Definitely not fun.  

When I started my career, business communications were right up my alley: clear, concise and direct.  I was expected to be tough and get the job done. Best to ask questions, recap meetings and lay it all out there so everyone understands the expectations. Doesn’t seem too hard, does it?  My mantra became, “say what you mean and mean what you say”. In a nice way, of course. There’s usually a way to get your point across without being rude. 

Some years ago I noticed a trend away from direct communications, even in business discussions.  Seems like everyone is afraid of offending others by being too direct, and in an attempt to be super nice, we’ve lost our ability to communicate with clarity. 

At work I’ve always said that if you want to ask me to lunch, just ask me.  If you come to my office and say, “I really like pizza”, I think you’re just making a statement – although sort of an odd one at work.  Never would I think that you are trying to tell me “grab your purse so we can head to the cafeteria”.

Why do I have to say “I’m reaching out to someone” instead of “I’m calling him”?  What does “so we’re good, right” mean?  Whatever happened to clearly stating what you need, so the recipient has a good understanding of your expectations?  At least with clear direction, the recipient can ask questions.  Some communications are so vague they are open for interpretation, which is not good for either side.

Recently I’ve noticed that I’m starting to move to “the dark side” in an attempt to fit in with the new corporate culture, using vague communications so as to not offend anyone with my direct-but-polite approach. Yet all this has done is got me in trouble.  A recent email I sent went something like this:

What I said: “Based on yesterday’s discussion, we need to organize and host the upcoming meeting. Would you like to take the lead on this?”  Notice my super-nice phrase, “take the lead” – nothing wrong here, right? After all, I wouldn’t want to insult the recipient by spelling out my expectations, would I?

What I meant: “Will you be the point person to manage this project and all that’s included to see this to completion, such as inviting attendees, developing the agenda, ordering food and preparing the presentation or assigning others to help in the presentation?”     

The response I got: I would love to be there, thanks for inviting me. I’d be happy to show them around the office.

HUH?  This person either totally misunderstood my uber-polite email, which is scary in itself, OR this is an uber-polite-yet-so-subtle-that-I-don’t-get-it way of saying, “No, I’m not able to/interested in taking the lead on this project”.   

I used to think this was mainly an issue with younger people, those who have been brought up never hearing the word “no”, always believing they are “winners”, the ones with parents who coddled them a bit too much.  But I’ve noticed it in older employees too.  Maybe it’s a function of career path – I started out in a traditional, well-established business environment that had structure, and clear communication may have been easier to learn than if my career had begun at a small start-up company where things were done on the fly without much organization. 

However this trend began, I know I’m not a fan.  Seems like we’re either writing fluffy emails or tip-toeing around with our spoken words, fearful that we may come across as negative or hurt someone’s feelings if we use more direct communication. The result is often misunderstanding and confusion and we end up spending more time trying to clarify our meaning than if we had been clear and concise to begin with. Ugh.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. That’s all I’m gonna say.

© Tami Cannizzaro 2012 All Rights Reserved