The Office

On Monday I met with a colleague to talk about marketing. Not just any kind of marketing but marketing on social media platforms. Whilst having breakfast together and chatting about hashtags she told me she rarely came to the office because it made her feel somewhat inadequate – not successful enough, not busy enough, not hardcore enough. I laughed and told her that I only pop in at the office once or twice a week too. She was somewhat surprised as she had been thinking I spent my days at the office being a super productive super broker to be.

I told her that I rather work from home. I make a cup of coffee, have Martha curl up in my feet, light a candle and start. Emails, listings, blog posts, phone calls, marketing plans, eLearning classes and webinars – yes, keep learning sort of thing. And once the coffee gets cold or the cup is empty, I’ll make another cup of coffee. Working from home doesn’t mean I’m less productive than I would be at our Redmond office, quite contrary, while in the office I find my self socializing instead of getting work done and for this very reason I tend to limit my time at the office even if I have a nice desk there with pictures of my children and office supplies and printers and you name it.

Many of my friends have trouble working from home. They say it’s too lonely, that they feel isolated or too tempted by everything their house has to offer. They’d way rather go to the office. My friends are not alone as cities like Bellevue and Seattle are filled with office hotels, shared working spaces, and coworking spaces of all sorts for people whom don’t have the luxury of having an office to go to. These spaces are offices created for those without an office. I’m a tad of an odd ball as for me undone laundry or the dishwasher waiting to be emptied don’t qualify as a distraction, neither do I find myself reading a book or watching tv instead. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m introverted, I enjoy my own company and I need my alone time. For me socializing is somewhat learned behavior and in order to complete anything, I need an environment without watercooler conversations, constantly ringing phones or people coming or going. I crave for solitude and quietness to be able to create brochures, marketing plans or anything even slightly creative. As the complexity of the thing I’m working on the less distraction it must be.

My home office is in our living room, a desk that is often too messy for my husband. A desk covered with sticky notes, client files, pencils, my planner, a candle and fresh flowers. Always a candle and flowers. Behind me is a large window and sometimes I watch people passing by on their walks, moms with strollers and dogs, grandparents in their walking groups and runners. I hear the clock on the wall and the ice maker in the fridge. After I’m done I’ll drive to Redmond to have a conversation.