My regular readers already know that my primary business is a web designer. Today I celebrate trading as a web designer for 25 years. As my first ever web project was my own, I can actually say that I have been a home worker for more than 25 years.
I started off back in 2000, hunched over a desk trying to master Microsoft FrontPage on the job and create a website that boasts that I know what I’m doing. All this and still holding down a full-time job. Of course push came to shove when I fell pregnant the following year and knew that I had to make this work.
The lure of homeworking has mainly been great. No more dealing with stroppy bosses, red tape or office politics. Working when I want to and still being able to attend school plays, reading sessions, and parent’s evenings. Having your own little space at home that you can easily put away at the end of the day so the kids can do homework and play their games, only to start again the following day.
But it has had a downside. A few relationships I have had to put on ice because home working to some people seemed to be misinterpreted as “stay at home all day so we can have long chats” or “oh you are a lady of leisure with a computer”. In the earlier days, twin that with dial-up internet where I used to get regular texts saying “get off the bloody internet, I’m trying to ring you!”
Another issue that needs to be addressed is loneliness. In that 25 years, I have had to deal with an absent partner, divorce, being single and being depressed. Pets make a great companion to deal with the loneliness. Like minded individuals and business owners on the other end of the phone helps. When I am working on a long project, taking the time to go to the local supermarket and speaking to the cashiers is sometimes the only conversation I have during the day and keeps my sanity.
When the first lockdown was announced, When Bumbling Boris told us we all need to work at home, I was so used to it, I just said “I’m doing that anyway”. I was more concerned for the children who were now both in school and college. Although they could sit in front of a computer for hours at a time, not having the escapism of interacting did hit them quite hard. They both got around it by being proactive, but joining online communities and embracing Zoom in a big way. If anything the technology we all had to rely on, brought my business forward by about 4 years.
I have learned many lessons, including discipline, motivation and creature comforts. On a cold day nothing comforts me more than a warm office with both dogs asleep on their beds next to me and the scent of chilli con carne cooking in the slow cooker below me.
I do sometimes use a hot desk but mainly because having client meetings at home with 2 dogs isn’t very professional as well as unsafe. Would I go back to working in an office all the time? Certainly not.
This is why I started HOP Solutions about 3 years ago. I have worked with standing desks for about 20 years. They seem to be readily available to offices from single desks to full on workbenches. But these are expensive and the ones currently on the market are a bit “set it and forget it”. Not very ideal or productive if you fancy standing for a short time!
Plus I am now 51 and give or take some shoulder discomfort and joint pain in very cold weather, I am in relatively good shape. I put this down to the comfort of having a chair that corrects my posture and a desk that I can modify for both my height and the fact I am left handed.
But this chapter of my life is an ongoing one as I am currently looking to improve on the products I supply on the shop. For that I will need your help.
What can you do?
Please, please could you follow me on Social Media if you haven’t already? I am going to start documenting my journey and for that, I need to rely on your interaction. This is going to include videos of my products and general advice.
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hopsolutionsuk
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hopsolutionsuk/
- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/hop-solutions/
- YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@HopSolutions
And if you have any questions about my desks or general advice for home working then please contact me.
