Today, I’m going to answer a question that might be bothering you for a while now. Maybe you’re just planning on starting your first business or you’ve been an entrepreneur for several years, and now with the pandemic and everything, you start thinking differently.
What we’re going to do in this video is that we’re going to list the main pros and cons for both working from home and having an office. And after [that], we’ll go through this list, we’ll get some conclusions that will help you decide what’s the right decision for you.
Should you stay at home or should you work from an office depending on your personality, depending on the business that you are currently running?
As someone who started several businesses, part of them were from home, other parts were from an office.
And right now, my business has actually occupied quite a lot of office space. Well, personally I still really much enjoy working from home. I think I’m very qualified to help you make this decision.
Working From Home
So let’s start with discussing working from home.
What are the main advantages of working from home?
Why do so many people find it so appealing?
The biggest dream of all is that you are going to have more of a work life balance, that you can take breaks in the middle of the day to go to the gym and exercise or prepare a healthy meal, [and] do something with the kids. And while it isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to achieve for most people, it is absolutely achievable.
If you can manage yourself, if you can manage your time, you can make an amazing schedule. You can create amazing days by saving that transmute time which is the second advantage.
Actually as you grow your business as your time becomes more scarce, the idea that you need to save time on different things is going to multiply. And so working from home demands less transmute time – actually no transmuted time. And that time can be used to further expand and develop your business or simply be invested in your own personal stuff: your hobbies, your family, and stuff like that.
The third thing that, I think, is the biggest reason that most first time entrepreneurs are actually staying at home is that it’s completely free. You don’t have to go and find and pay someone to rent an office or space. All you have to do is work in your living room or in a room that you already have.
The last thing which is also in my opinion, part of the working from home dream is actually coming not from working directly from home is having the freedom of working from different locations. Like going to a cafe or working near the beach or something like that. And those things actually deliver value for you as an entrepreneur. They can spark creativity and they can provide a lot of variety.
On the other hand, there are so many reasons that people actually pay for office space and pay to get out of the house to work.
Disadvantages of Working from Home
Get distract easily
The two main disadvantages of working from home is, one that for so many people it’s extremely distracting.
They cannot focus as well as they would if they would have their own office. And so the dream of work life balance becomes the nightmare of constantly working while constantly doing housework that you cannot wake up from.
So it’s harder to focus at home or in the living room, but so many people are going to do it that they’re going to find a dedicated place at home for work.
Don’t have the dedicated place to work
And then comes the second disadvantage.
Well, if you have a dedicated place for work at home, then you could very well just have the same habit like in an office.
Because if your house does not have this place, you would have to rent a bigger house or buy a bigger house, which might be more expensive than renting an office.
Why companies prefer offices?
So why are so many companies actually going out and renting offices?
What are the advantages of having an office?
Well, first of all, for so many industries, for so many types of professionals, having an office is something that creates credibility. If you are having your sales meetings, if you are meeting clients and stuff like that, and you are bringing them into an office, it conveys some level of professionalism. And if your office is designed to create this aura of credibility, it can actually be incredibly effective.
The second thing is that for so many people it’s so much easier to focus when you’re out the house. You don’t have all the distractions, the children, the refrigerator, everything you have in the house that can distract you, simply doesn’t exist.
Human Psychology
Another thing is that as human beings, we have this psychological mechanism that we tend to feel different feelings in different locations. We tend to get into different moods and mindsets based on our physical location.
Imagine that you’re entering the house you grew up in, it instantly generates a certain set of emotions for you, be it negative or positive, it has those emotions. So creating this separation between work and office can be very valuable as when you get into the office, you put on your office mode, office emotions. And when you get home you can put on your home mode and home emotions.
Another very valuable thing that is often overlooked is that when you have an office usually in an office building, there will be other businesses around you. Other businesses that simply being around them can actually lead or create all sorts of corporations, all sorts of business opportunities that would otherwise be missed if you would be just sitting there on your own at home.
The last thing would be that even though it might be part of the working from home dream, as an entrepreneur even if you have an office, you can still work from a cafe. You can still work from various locations and get those sparks of creativity and get those shots of variety into your system. Personally, I come to the office several times a week. Other times, I simply work from a cafe. I simply work from other locations that will make me feel more creative.
Downsides of having an Office
The two major downsides to having an office is that one, it might be depending on your location, very, very expensive. And the second thing is that it would be harder for you to take breaks in the middle of the day. Even though again, it will be possible depending on how you arrange your schedule.
So for what kinds of people and businesses would working from home be a great idea?
If you’re the kind of person that it’s really easy for you to focus, you can easily shut down, put down your headphones and simply focus on your work. Most of your work is done online and unnecessarily with meeting new people and making sales maybe as working from home will be a great idea. And if you like the variety of working from different locations once in a while, it might be a great fit for you.
On the other hand, if it’s harder for you to focus in an environment that’s full of distractions, if your work tend to require a lot of equipment and tools, or if you simply have a lot of work that has to do with meeting other people, making sales, making meetings, maybe having an office will be the best choice for you.
And as I mentioned throughout the video for many very, very small businesses like one man army entrepreneurs, there is the hybrid way as well. Maybe you can find an office that you can share with someone or maybe you can hire an office for the hour. And so you will have the days you will spend in the office and the other days you could work from home or from various locations and then you can enjoy both worlds.
Hey, it’s Gal Tzhayek. Thank you for watching this video. If you liked it, please press the thumbs up button. And you can also subscribe to the channel. Make sure you get notified each and every time a new video is uploaded. I’d like to hear your questions and your reviews in the comment section below. And I’ll see you in one of those new videos.
