[Shawn Collins]

I was just reading a post from last year by Ian Fernando about the pitfalls of working form home.

Quote

This year alone I have realized many things about myself and my business. I can honestly say that working for yourself is so played out. The reason I say this is because it bothers me that people that I talk too say I am lucky to work from home or have my own business or never working at a job, etc. The problem I have with that statement is – it sucks working form home.

While other entrepreneurs are either married, have a team to work with, or partners that meetup – I work on my own. I wake up go to the gym and then I go to my pc or now office. The interaction I have after the gym sucks. I talk to no one and this is the flaw of working for yourself. I feel that working on your own just creates social anxiety or depression.

I've been solely at home since 2004 and can't be happier with the freedom, ability to concentrate, etc.

But it's certainly not for everybody.

Please answer the poll here - I'm curious how it breaks out in affiliate marketing for working from home vs. going to an office.

I've thought about renting space or joining up at a co-working space, but I love having all of my stuff in one area and being able to access it 24/7, for better or worse.

[IANternet]

I work at both my home office and my co working office. Depending how I feel and how much work I have to do.

yea you are right it really isnt for everyone. I guess the thing that sucks is I cant collab with anyone. It is one of the reason why I travel so much that freedom is great, if there were more entrepreneurs in NJ or affiliates I think I would be better off, plus I am young I need to be out more than in my house for 6 days a week.

the freedom is great, I just think personally I miss hearing noise

[ExperienceAdvertising]

I like going to my office to work because of the people there, but I get more actual work done at home when I can focus without distractions...

[Deborah Carney]

I'm with Shawn on this, I *love* working from home. But I have had a need to (taking care of physically handicapped children) or have wanted to for very personal reasons. In between times I have tried working for corporations (that were a really good fit, and with people I respected and admired) but in the long run I am someone that needs to set my own schedule and follow my own beat.

Before I met the man I live with now, I had been happily working from home for several years. When I wanted to be around people, I left the house and went where people were. To be fair, for a few years I lived south of Las Vegas and I could find lots of people anytime of the day Another couple of years I lived in NYC, again, easy to find lots of people any time of day.

And a few times a year I went to conventions and conferences which gave me all the interaction I needed. Then between conferences there is skype and the phone and email. So I got to work on my own schedule, on my terms, with who I want to.

There are other people that require structure to be set for them, they need interaction from co-workers and I understand that too. But for a large number of my friends and "co-workers", we work at home because we want to and need to.

We have friends that are work at home moms, work at home dads, work at home cause they wanna's

[Shawn Collins]

IANternet, on 02 February 2011 - 03:19 AM, said:

if there were more entrepreneurs in NJ or affiliates I think I would be better off

That's one of the reasons I moved from there - Austin has a ridiculously large population of entrepreneurs.

I was getting frustrated in NJ that I had to go into NYC to meet up with people.

[IANternet]

work at home moms and work at home dads is totally a diff demo. I can understand why its easier for them to be and want to work at home. there is already influence.

seeting your own schedule is great. I wouldn't say structure its more of who can I share an idea and let someone tell me why its a bad idea. I have weekly mastermind calls and monthly mastermind meetups - they help to an extent but where is the social fun in it? I think its more like I can randomly just throw out a conversation that doesnt have to do with business and talk about what clubs with the most girls are the best to visit.

@shawn I was in NY today 3 meetings. and always traveling to NY is and does get cumbersome. SXSW Im stopping by your house!

[Shawn Collins]

IANternet, on 02 February 2011 - 03:40 AM, said:

@shawn I was in NY today 3 meetings. and always traveling to NY is and does get cumbersome. SXSW Im stopping by your house!

You're coming out for SXSW? I'll definitely get you out here to my place. You'll want to move here then, though.

You can get a place out of Cribs here for the price of a fixer-upper in NJ.

[IANternet]

thinkin about it that or Leadscon since I never been to either or.

[KarenGarcia]

We love working from home! I'll be the first to admit, the first six months were a bit of a chore since we each had our own way of doing things (I'm a perfectionist and he's totally zen) and our little habits would irritate the heck out of the other person. We've been working at home in the same office now for six years (SIX YEARS!!) and we love it. Most of the time, we have on music (we take turns) or in our late night work sessions, we'll put something from Netflix on each of our second monitors and one of us will run the sound, so we can both catch up on the little mundane things, but still feel like we're watching a movie together.

Is this sort of arrangement ideal for everyone? No...but for our kids and for us as a couple, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Buck Woods]

It is not only Affiliate Marketers who work from home. As a consulting engineer, I have spent most of my life working at home. Always have one room set up as a work area.

I have worked in other offices and also offices of my own companies enough to know that I can do if needed..............But......I like working in my jammies or less..............

If I need company, I can always walk down to the mall and mingle with the crazzzzies..............

[Eric Nagel]

I have a desktop + netbook set-up, and when I'm away from home (travel, or even at a coffee shop) I can't work the say I can while in the office. That's the biggest thing that's keeping me from going into a co-working environment. However, when the kids are home from school, I either have to put on my headphones, or just put up with the fact that I'm not going to get much work done.

And on days like today, I like my "commute"

[Pingo]

With 2 days of 10 inches of snow in Boston and expecting a baby any day now. Its nice to have the flexibility to work from home. But I feel guilty for not being in the office and walk by the fridge to way to many times in the day for snacks.

- Brian Hawkins
Internet Marketing Manager
Pingo.com

[Sunshiner]

I think it definately takes a certain individual to work from home. You have to driven and self disciplined or you won't get anything done. Its easy to be distracted, especially for those of you that have kids. I just have pets at home so its not so bad.
I think another factor is whether you work at home for yourself or for someone else. You need to be sure that you are giving your job 100% if you work for someone else and not just pretending to work. When you are both physically in an office together, they can see you working (or not working) but from home, they sort of just have to go by whatever progress you are showing them.
I do think that going out for lunch occasionally or going to the gym or engaging in some activity to help break up your days are a great idea.

The down side...even at 11:00 at night I'm checking emails and reading forums and that sort of thing to see what is going on and to be sure not to miss something. You can get swept into an extremely long work day if you aren't careful.

[IANternet]

... seems like everyone that responded is older than me by several years and have a family ...

[Daniel]

Are there any published stats about the average age or family status of people in the industry? Curious.

My first article for FeedFront was about finding the balance between work and family when one works from home with kids. It's definitely a challenge, but I wouldn't trade it.

[Deborah Carney]

Sunshiner, on 03 February 2011 - 12:45 AM, said:

I think it definately takes a certain individual to work from home. You have to driven and self disciplined or you won't get anything done. Its easy to be distracted, especially for those of you that have kids.

I agree with it takes a certain type of person, but not the easier to be distracted if you have kids. If you are working it right you work around your kids schedules and are happier and more productive. It isn't like you have to punch a clock. I also know people that have worked at home since their kids were born (or young if adopted) and they have found the ideal balance of work and parenting by working while the kids are in school and turning off the computer when their child (or kids) walk in the door after school.

Others homeschool and use the freedom to visit museums, do activities and travel as part of their teaching and daily routine. This may sound strange but I feel like we learn all the time and work should be something that is part of your life and not just "something you do" to pay the bills.

Ian I've worked from home most of my adult life, when I was a young mom (I married at 19, had Liz at 20) I was a professional wedding photographer. That meant I could meet potential clients in my home, then only was away from home on weekends, usually just Saturdays. I got to choose when I wanted to work and when I needed time off by booking weddings when I wanted to.

Liz hasn't chimed in here yet, but she has been a work at home mom for several years. I also am friends with a family that not only works from home, they work all together and RVed full time for 3 years.

What I love about what I do is like others have noted, I can pick up a laptop, netbook or even my droid and go out of the house to work from where ever I want. I want to fly to Vegas for a week? No problem, most of my clients won't know I left home. Want to go to a NASCAR race and stay over because of a rain delay? No problem.

Lots of people that do what we do have health issues or are nonconformist or just are good at doing what we do, and what we do doesn't require an office.

I can safely say that after I left CafePress I realized that I would never work IN an office again, my office would be where I am.

Ian, I'd say that if you can work out the social part you will realize that you are creating a work ethic that will stay with you. You are creating a lifestyle, not working at a job.

[Shawn Collins]

Daniel, on 03 February 2011 - 05:56 AM, said:

Are there any published stats about the average age or family status of people in the industry? Curious.

I haven't seen any, but we're going to collect data for the next AffStat report soon, so that would be some interesting stuff to add in.

[Bill]

Shawn Collins, on 03 February 2011 - 01:05 PM, said:

I haven't seen any, but we're going to collect data for the next AffStat report soon, so that would be some interesting stuff to add in.

I know on which end of the curve I will be.

Working from a home office is great. We have two homes and I only have to carry a loptop when we "migrate" from one to the other. I can even "work" while playing. Here's an example: This afternoon I'm heading to the airport to check on some restoration being done on my antique airplane. Then I'll have about two hours to kill before meeting a friend for dinner. The lounge has WIFI - so I can catch a productive hour or two.

Gotta disagree a bit with Sunshiner, however. She said, "You need to be sure that you are giving your job 100% if you work for someone else and not just pretending to work." I figure it may be even more important for us to be giving 100% - we only get paid for the work we do...

[IANternet]

yea stats would be great on that... cause I was looking back at that post and looked at the older comments and a lot of people are on my side, again most of my readers are CPA/CPL base, plus a diff age group.

so it def plays a role I think

[Shawn Collins]

IANternet, on 03 February 2011 - 04:16 PM, said:

plus a diff age group.

Hey - you saying I'm old?

I was just reading an article I wrote in 1999(!) about Who's Who in Affiliate Marketing.