Diary of a 'Work From Home' Man - Part I
Okay, it's been exactly 14 business days since I became a free agent, and by my estimation, I have officially been working ten times harder than I ever did at a "real" job...at least it feels like that. For some reason I had it in my head that I would have eight hours a day now to purely dedicate to coding; my bubble has been burst, however, as I find that, unless I'm willing to put in extra hours in the evening as well (which I am and have been doing), I really only have about four hours of coding time, at best, during the day. Of course, every day is different, and there have been a few where the phone was quiet, I was disciplined enough to stay logged out of Meebo and gmail, a nearby relative who equates working from home with not having a job didn't try to hit me up for a ride, and I actually got FIVE hours of work done. But typically, it's four or less.
I do realize that there's always going to be a "settling in" phase where I get into a routine, learn my way around a self-employed day...stuff like that. But man, I've got to tell ya, at this point I find myself LONGING for a regular day job again! Ah, the comforts of being salaried! The peace of earning money even while "seeing a man about a horse" (colorful metaphor my ex coworker used when referring to quality restroom time)! These days the old truism "if a man will not work, neither shall he eat" holds absolutely valid, as my livelihood is dependent on precisely how many billable hours I can churn out in a day. But no matter how hard I try, it seems I always come up just a bit shy of what I hope to accomplish. I am not discouraged, however, and have been consistently improving on when I begin my daily commute up the stairs, when to pencil in nature's call, and how to organize my tasks. Eventually I'll have it all down pat, but for now I feel like I'm just working constantly. I have even started to DREAM about my projects! (consequently, I'm considering billing for a portion of my REM time as well as any other miscellaneous technical meditations).
So, working for myself so far isn't the life of luxury and ease I thought it would be. On the other hand, however, I do get to choose which robe I will wear to work on a given day and shaving is an option (as long as I do it before Jen gets home).
I do realize that there's always going to be a "settling in" phase where I get into a routine, learn my way around a self-employed day...stuff like that. But man, I've got to tell ya, at this point I find myself LONGING for a regular day job again! Ah, the comforts of being salaried! The peace of earning money even while "seeing a man about a horse" (colorful metaphor my ex coworker used when referring to quality restroom time)! These days the old truism "if a man will not work, neither shall he eat" holds absolutely valid, as my livelihood is dependent on precisely how many billable hours I can churn out in a day. But no matter how hard I try, it seems I always come up just a bit shy of what I hope to accomplish. I am not discouraged, however, and have been consistently improving on when I begin my daily commute up the stairs, when to pencil in nature's call, and how to organize my tasks. Eventually I'll have it all down pat, but for now I feel like I'm just working constantly. I have even started to DREAM about my projects! (consequently, I'm considering billing for a portion of my REM time as well as any other miscellaneous technical meditations).
So, working for myself so far isn't the life of luxury and ease I thought it would be. On the other hand, however, I do get to choose which robe I will wear to work on a given day and shaving is an option (as long as I do it before Jen gets home).