| Q |
What do you do? |
| A |
First and foremost I am a mortgage broker, though I also write short stories in my spare time. I tend to write during the evenings not spent meeting clients. |
| Q |
Where do you work at home? |
| A |
In the spare bedroom – guests sleep on the sofa! |
| Q |
What is the best thing about working from home? |
| A |
Being able to watch pictures of rush hour traffic on breakfast television – I used to be in them. |
| Q |
How do you cope with distractions at home? |
| A |
Better than most - there are no pets or people competing for my attention and daytime television has limited appeal. It is much easier to waste time in an office through pointless meetings and frequent coffee breaks. |
| Q |
How do you cope with the isolation of working at home? |
| A |
Mainly through e-mail, but the phone is always there when I feel the need for a friendly voice. From a writing point of view, some degree of isolation is essential. |
| Q |
Do you manage to keep your work and home life separate? |
| A |
I’m much better at it now. The more productive the day, the later the dishes get done. |
| Q |
What are the negative points about working at home? |
| A |
I miss the special bond that can develop between work colleagues. |
| Q |
What was the deciding factor to help you to decide to work from home? |
| A |
Finding a suitable opportunity. I had thought about it for a while but realised that without the right opening, one set of problems would be substituted for another.
I was certainly attracted by the thought of spending two hours a day writing rather then commuting. |
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| Q |
Does your homeworking pay the bills? |
| A |
Yes. My income can fluctuate from month to month but the bills always get paid.
I don’t charge any fees so tend to get most of my business through recommendations.
Any income from writing I try to devote to holidays, or more books! |
| Q |
How did you manage financially when you first started working at home? |
| A |
It was tougher than I thought. I’d been planning it for a while and had a few clients in the pipeline, but the commission cheques didn’t arrive as quickly as I envisaged! I got by because my start-up costs were fairly low - I’m not sure that I have the mentality to invest beyond my means in a fledgeling business. |
| Q |
What sort of work did you do before you worked at home? |
| A |
After leaving university I worked as a sports journalist and then ran the direct marketing department of an I.T company. |
| Q |
How do you manage your time? |
| A |
I generally spend the daytime hours at my desk liaising with lenders and keeping tabs on the mortgage market. Clients usually prefer me to visit during evenings and weekends. I like to spend my spare time writing short stories and it is much easier at the end of a productive day. |
| Q |
What advice would you suggest to someone considering working from home? |
| A |
- Make sure that you wait for the right opportunity – don’t let the appeal of homeworking blind you to an impractical idea.
- I have found that wearing a shirt and tie increases my productivity, though I know that some people like the idea of working in their pyjamas!
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