8 March 2011

Miscellaneous

Working In My Pyjamas Doesn't Appeal To Me

I read an interesting article about virtual businesses this morning while I was doing my usual daily news browse on the BBC News website.

These days we are able to access most things on the internet. Since the boom in fast broadband connection and cloud computing (which focuses on putting your material out there in cyber space and less on PCs or servers that a business runs for itself) working at home has become easier.

I have never worked from home as yet, but I do know that when I was studying I always found it easier to concentrate in a working environment like the university library, rather than working from home at my own desk where I could be easily distracted.

The aforementioned article is about two friends who met at university and went on to work in the financial services industry after graduating. After some time working in these areas they decided to pack in their jobs and create an online company that required no office and no employees. When they needed expertise they hired freelancers,  and they all had the added bonus of being able to work from home in their pyjamas.

I enjoy working and I like the routine of working in the office Monday to Friday and being focused on work while I am here. I know that if I was to work from home I would need a specific, quiet place - I couldn't just sit on my sofa with my laptop as I would spend more time watching the interesting stories on Jeremy Kyle than cracking on with the work at hand.

It's a situation of swings and roundabouts. There are many benefits to working from home: taking your own breaks, having the solace of working on your own rather than in a busy office where it can be hard to concentrate.

From a business perspective, running a business strictly over the internet saves thousands of pounds and the example in the BBC article made the point that if it wasn't working for these guys virtually then the company wouldn't have left the ground.

I can definitely see the appeal in working from home, but until a really valid reason comes along, I will stick to working in the office.

Have a read of the article if you get chance, it's a really interesting story.