Need an office or not? From the point of view of the programmer and the former freelancer
So, colleagues, I am ready to share my impressions about the long abstinence about renting my office. As usual - to the point. First, I want to consider theories about whether an office is needed for an entrepreneur / freelancer or not. “Theories”, I emphasize, mean that all data are “processed” without practical experience. And after - my practical experience, which is why I wrote a post. As far as I can understand, the question of working in one's own (important!) Office usually remained unresolved. All posts about the creation of their firms considered this stage insignificant. But for someone it is important to know everything in detail, for example, as for me. I would like to understand what awaits us before doing this.
The article will be useful to those who want to rent an office, but still do not know whether it is necessary or not. It will be useful to those who are trying to weigh the "pros and cons" without practical experience. Climbs into the water, not knowing the ford. I myself "settled" in the office about a few months ago, so the impression is quite fresh.
')
I warn you right away - I wrote the way I feel. I see my task as conveying the truth to people, and not overcoming events and not blocking myself. If you [suddenly!] Think that the sky is green - I will try to explain that it is blue and maybe it would be better to be green, but everything is as it is.
In theory.
Pros:
1. Office is good! There's nothing else to do.
2. Payment office motivates to work.
3. You can bring clients to the officeand not look like a sucker , and not communicate with them via ICQ.
Minuses:
1. You have to pay for the office.
2. You have to go to the office, it's more comfortable at home!
In principle, all this is “so clear,” problems begin when you feel all these pros and cons in your own skin. By the way, the conclusion I will allow the reader to do on his own, so that for someone the pros and cons can be interchanged, and now I’ll just write my experience.
On practice.
Now there is some Anal Karaniya theoretical base.
Pros (and their disadvantages):
1. Office is good! There's nothing else to do.
This is the main problem. What, besides work, you can do in the office? First, a lot of smoking and run out into the street every 20 minutes. Secondly, freeze after the street and warm coffee. For those who do not smoke, you can just drink coffee every 20 minutes, and this, I'm sorry - you still need to heat the water to the boiling point, wash the cup (optional), put all interesting things into the cup, stir, taste. In short, 5 minutes it will take. Every 30 minutes for 5 minutes, here and count.
Secondly, no one forbids a computer (your office is!) To put Quake 3, LineAge, World of Warcraft, and even better - all this at once. Chef cuff will not, because chef - you. Well, yes, at home the computer is more powerful and lags not so much, and this is already the desire to go home “to complete the level”.
Farther. Dinner. I did not know that this is so ... bad. And the thing is this. First, you need to warm up the food (if there is where) or buy a ready-made lunch in a cafe. Cafe at the same time can be 200 meters from the office. You need to order / reheat (+ time to do-nothing), eat (plus 20-40 minutes), plus return. And then be sure to smoke and drink a cup of coffee.
And here it turns out that you have already relaxed and do not feel like working somehow. You start looking at your watch when you can “officially” leave there to say to yourself in the evening - “I was at the office all day, I wasn’t messing around!”
If you are serious, the work still slows down. A well-fed, tired organism would not mind taking a nap. And then there’s some kind of work, and you also have to think about it ... It makes sense to arrange lunch closer to the end of the working day, but it still doesn’t help much - it is lost for about an hour due to full slowness.
The other is not an obvious (seriously, you can't see with your eyes) moment, it is “time for lunch”. I mean a period of time. Say, lunch from 13 to 14. But who would have followed this! It is quite reasonable after lunch to write a blog post or, say, pump one more level in the line. Total: lunch was delayed for half an hour more than planned.
2. Payment office motivates to work.
For the first couple of months, the enchanting-wrong feeling “I have my own office” does not let go. But then comes the understanding of the above facts, and it turns out that a person thinks - is it necessary? By itself, the payment office does not motivate. From the office you can just as well refuse if it seems that working at home is just as productive.
3. You can bring clients to the officeand not look like a sucker , and not communicate with them via ICQ.
Personally, my experience has shown that although customers are now from the same city and there is an office, communication still takes place via electronic mail somewhere by ... 90%. At the same time - also delayed, and seriously. Why? The fact is that the customer is much more comfortable if YOU come to him than he comes to you. At the same time, often you deliberately want to come to him, because Your office may not be as presentable as you would like (with the cost of renting up to 10 thousand rubles).
Of the benefits, I can also note the following: yes, in fact, work in the office is still more productive about 25%. But they are destroyed by the fact that when you come home at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, you already “legally” do not even want to look at the keyboard. And why? Well I worked all day!
Now for the cons.
1. You have to pay for the office.
It is a fact. And that's it. Want office and do not pay - you do not have office. Do not want an office and pay - spend money. And the other 2 options. In any case - additional expenses, which often make up 30% of the income. And personally, I have (from us) from time to time and so that all revenues go ... to expenses. At the same office, internet, coffee, travel and food. And you could have put it in your pocket if you worked at home.
2. You have to go to the office, it's more comfortable at home!
I agree. And here comes personal motivation again. For example, I often dynamite an office, because I work faster and more conveniently at home (due to familiar surroundings and faster computer). Plus, I need money for travel (which affects not bad; for example, I need about 3-4 thousand rubles to travel every day, or a travel card).
Unfortunately, there are no pros cons.
Total.
I was convinced from my own experience that the office is not a panacea. I can only draw one conclusion: if a person is not able to motivate himself to work, neither the office nor the naked Pamela Anderson will help him (she will not help at all, well ... with work). Motivation must come from within. Then it will not matter to you whether you have an office or you work at home. Work will be done, and the result will be profitable.
The only case when the office really makes sense to rent - you are not working alone. Then live communication, firstly, saves from isolation (and it leads to depression and low efficiency), secondly, it allows you to keep yourself abreast of all matters (if there is a division of duties), thirdly, it makes discussion of projects and issues very fast, 100 GB per hour. :)
My conclusion is final. You work alone - the office is not needed. You work with someone - you need an office. But to achieve something in this and in another case can only be when you yourself know what you need to plow, you need to work, you need to tear some place, so that you have the money. Unfortunately, yes, we returned to the topic of the motivation of a loved one. Understand - this is the cornerstone. Dead end. If you do not want to work, nothing will help and you need to deal with the problem “I do not want to work”, and not with external factors.
And, yes, do not think that if you work with someone, they will do all the work for you, even if you are a “boss” and “chief”. They act like you - trying to shift work to another, work less, and run out to smoke more often. Thank.
PS And I will not tell you anything about prolonged abstinence! :)
The article will be useful to those who want to rent an office, but still do not know whether it is necessary or not. It will be useful to those who are trying to weigh the "pros and cons" without practical experience. Climbs into the water, not knowing the ford. I myself "settled" in the office about a few months ago, so the impression is quite fresh.
')
I warn you right away - I wrote the way I feel. I see my task as conveying the truth to people, and not overcoming events and not blocking myself. If you [suddenly!] Think that the sky is green - I will try to explain that it is blue and maybe it would be better to be green, but everything is as it is.
In theory.
Pros:
1. Office is good! There's nothing else to do.
2. Payment office motivates to work.
3. You can bring clients to the office
Minuses:
1. You have to pay for the office.
2. You have to go to the office, it's more comfortable at home!
In principle, all this is “so clear,” problems begin when you feel all these pros and cons in your own skin. By the way, the conclusion I will allow the reader to do on his own, so that for someone the pros and cons can be interchanged, and now I’ll just write my experience.
On practice.
Now there is some Anal Karaniya theoretical base.
Pros (and their disadvantages):
1. Office is good! There's nothing else to do.
This is the main problem. What, besides work, you can do in the office? First, a lot of smoking and run out into the street every 20 minutes. Secondly, freeze after the street and warm coffee. For those who do not smoke, you can just drink coffee every 20 minutes, and this, I'm sorry - you still need to heat the water to the boiling point, wash the cup (optional), put all interesting things into the cup, stir, taste. In short, 5 minutes it will take. Every 30 minutes for 5 minutes, here and count.
Secondly, no one forbids a computer (your office is!) To put Quake 3, LineAge, World of Warcraft, and even better - all this at once. Chef cuff will not, because chef - you. Well, yes, at home the computer is more powerful and lags not so much, and this is already the desire to go home “to complete the level”.
Farther. Dinner. I did not know that this is so ... bad. And the thing is this. First, you need to warm up the food (if there is where) or buy a ready-made lunch in a cafe. Cafe at the same time can be 200 meters from the office. You need to order / reheat (+ time to do-nothing), eat (plus 20-40 minutes), plus return. And then be sure to smoke and drink a cup of coffee.
And here it turns out that you have already relaxed and do not feel like working somehow. You start looking at your watch when you can “officially” leave there to say to yourself in the evening - “I was at the office all day, I wasn’t messing around!”
If you are serious, the work still slows down. A well-fed, tired organism would not mind taking a nap. And then there’s some kind of work, and you also have to think about it ... It makes sense to arrange lunch closer to the end of the working day, but it still doesn’t help much - it is lost for about an hour due to full slowness.
The other is not an obvious (seriously, you can't see with your eyes) moment, it is “time for lunch”. I mean a period of time. Say, lunch from 13 to 14. But who would have followed this! It is quite reasonable after lunch to write a blog post or, say, pump one more level in the line. Total: lunch was delayed for half an hour more than planned.
2. Payment office motivates to work.
For the first couple of months, the enchanting-
3. You can bring clients to the office
Personally, my experience has shown that although customers are now from the same city and there is an office, communication still takes place via electronic mail somewhere by ... 90%. At the same time - also delayed, and seriously. Why? The fact is that the customer is much more comfortable if YOU come to him than he comes to you. At the same time, often you deliberately want to come to him, because Your office may not be as presentable as you would like (with the cost of renting up to 10 thousand rubles).
Of the benefits, I can also note the following: yes, in fact, work in the office is still more productive about 25%. But they are destroyed by the fact that when you come home at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, you already “legally” do not even want to look at the keyboard. And why? Well I worked all day!
Now for the cons.
1. You have to pay for the office.
It is a fact. And that's it. Want office and do not pay - you do not have office. Do not want an office and pay - spend money. And the other 2 options. In any case - additional expenses, which often make up 30% of the income. And personally, I have (from us) from time to time and so that all revenues go ... to expenses. At the same office, internet, coffee, travel and food. And you could have put it in your pocket if you worked at home.
2. You have to go to the office, it's more comfortable at home!
I agree. And here comes personal motivation again. For example, I often dynamite an office, because I work faster and more conveniently at home (due to familiar surroundings and faster computer). Plus, I need money for travel (which affects not bad; for example, I need about 3-4 thousand rubles to travel every day, or a travel card).
Unfortunately, there are no pros cons.
Total.
I was convinced from my own experience that the office is not a panacea. I can only draw one conclusion: if a person is not able to motivate himself to work, neither the office nor the naked Pamela Anderson will help him (she will not help at all, well ... with work). Motivation must come from within. Then it will not matter to you whether you have an office or you work at home. Work will be done, and the result will be profitable.
The only case when the office really makes sense to rent - you are not working alone. Then live communication, firstly, saves from isolation (and it leads to depression and low efficiency), secondly, it allows you to keep yourself abreast of all matters (if there is a division of duties), thirdly, it makes discussion of projects and issues very fast, 100 GB per hour. :)
My conclusion is final. You work alone - the office is not needed. You work with someone - you need an office. But to achieve something in this and in another case can only be when you yourself know what you need to plow, you need to work, you need to tear some place, so that you have the money. Unfortunately, yes, we returned to the topic of the motivation of a loved one. Understand - this is the cornerstone. Dead end. If you do not want to work, nothing will help and you need to deal with the problem “I do not want to work”, and not with external factors.
And, yes, do not think that if you work with someone, they will do all the work for you, even if you are a “boss” and “chief”. They act like you - trying to shift work to another, work less, and run out to smoke more often. Thank.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/87927/
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