As much as people are on the go and reliant on their mobiles and tablets these days, there are also an awful a lot of people (including myself) who tend to work from home much of the time and still need excellent broadband and phone packages to stay connected to clients, friends, family … the world. Heck even all the “on-the-goers” and office dwellers require some sort of connection to the internet as well as land lines at least some of the time.
Working from home offers a great sense of freedom and – if the money is sufficient – the sort of lifestyle everyone dreams about. Yesterday, I spent the entire day sitting across the kitchen table from my girlfriend. She’s a freelancer like me. Of course, we were both buried up to our eyeballs in our work and hardly had time even to acknowledge each other. Still, it was really nice being able to take a few breaks together, share lunch and basically just be around each other.
No situation is perfect though. Getting the work/life balance right can be tricky. Doing your own admin, not having an IT department to moan to when there’s a technological meltdown and all those built-in conveniences of having a typical job are stripped away. You’re out there on your own, vulnerable and isolated – and this can be a very overwhelming experience.
At least for me, the pros of working from home outweigh the cons. But there is a trade off. I was telling someone the other day that I’ve bee freelancing for so long that I think “I’ve gone feral.” But actually, I spend so much time at home I think I’ve domesticated myself.
