Pros and Cons of Having a Home Office as a Freelancer

A lot of people relish the idea of working from home. It has a lot of perks but also has a bit of a dark side. Over the last 10 years of being a freelance writer, I've experienced quite a bit of both sides of the spectrum.

Unfortunately, too many people only focus on the pros and kind of gloss over the cons. However, it's those cons that will be the most influential if you decide to work from home.

Pros of a Home Office

Having a home office has its benefits as a freelance writer. Though, I'm not sure if all of these pros outweigh the cons in my situation. Don't get me wrong, becoming a freelance writer was the best decision I ever made in terms of a career path. But it's not always glitz and glamour as some "experts" might have you believe.

No Commute Time

One thing that stands out to me is the fact that I don't have to drive anywhere to work. As I am prone to getting overly frustrated by other drivers on the road, it's simply less stressful.

Not to mention the fact that I spend very little on gasoline for the car every month. Probably because I don't really go anywhere. I'm kind of a hermit, to be honest.

I was social distancing before it was cool.

Master of Your Office Space

I can decorate my desk any way I want without staff or management getting into a tizzy. Though, I usually try to keep it a bit clean simply because I am one of those people who focus better without the clutter.

In any case, a home office means you're the master of your domain. I don't have a cubical, no blinking overhead fluorescent lights, and can install whatever I want on my computer.

More Time with the Family

One benefit a lot of family-oriented people enjoy is the ability to spend more time with the kids and significant others. When you're based from home, you're easily accessible. And if you have young ones who aren't in school yet, it's easy to take care of them without paying for a babysitter or a daycare facility.

Nowadays, my kids are all teenagers and living across the state. But when they were little, it saved us a lot of money by me working from home. Today, I'm the one who can take off whenever for virtually any reason if someone needs help or if I have to go shopping and don't want to deal with rush hour traffic at the end of a workday.

No One Standing Over Your Shoulder

In my home office, I don't have to worry about management standing around watching to make sure I'm at my desk working. This can be a bit of a stress reliever as some bosses can get downright creepy with their monitoring efforts.

If I'm not right at my desk at a specific time, I don't have to worry about being "written up" or docked pay because I was late. As I technically don't have a time clock to punch, I can get started whenever I want.

Can Work in Your Pajamas?

Now, a lot of people tout how you can work in your pajamas as a freelancer. And although this is technically true, I prefer to not. I still get dressed in business-casual attire when I start my day as I would for any business I worked for in the past. I don't wear slacks or a dress shirt, but I am presentable in the event someone wants to video chat.

It's simply a way to keep me in a professional mindset. When you start lounging around in your pajamas as a freelancer, you can get too accustomed to the attitude. As a result, I've personally seen several freelancers lose out on contracts because they developed a lackadaisical attitude towards working with clients.

I can't say for sure that wearing pajamas to work will inspire this attitude. But I prefer to view myself as a professional, even when alone working from home.

Cons of a Home Office

As I said, not everything is all hunky-dory when working from home. There are a few points of interest that make me long for having an external office space.

Though, keep in mind that some of these might not pertain to your situation.

Lower Social Interaction

Perhaps one of the biggest things I miss most about working in a traditional setting is being somewhat social. Sure, I live like a hermit now, but I used to enjoy talking with coworkers or going to company Christmas parties. I just don't have that when working remotely with a company that is primarily online and spread across the globe.

You can only do so much through Slack or video chats on, God forbid, Zoom.

Anyway, it's the personal interaction I miss most over the past 10 years. And I am finding it more and more a necessity as I get older. After a decade of being a freelancer, I only have a handful of people I can call friends. That's sad, really.

Paying Overhead of Your Home Office

When working from home, you're paying the overhead of your business. This means the extra costs of electricity as well as your water bill...if you have one.

For instance, when at a traditional job, I occasionally used the bathroom. This was water usage the company paid for unless it was rolled into their lease agreement.

Going to the bathroom once isn't anything of significance. But if you do it once or twice per day, the gallons add up over the year.

All of the electricity, water, and Internet usage comes out of your pocket. This is aside from paying for a home office to be added to the house or otherwise converting a spare room.

Right now, my home office is taking up half of my bedroom. This takes away from anything else I might want to put into my house.

What about vacation and sick leave? As a freelancer, you have to plan for those yourself because you probably don't have an HR department. This often means setting up a secondary savings account and strategically assigning some of your income to sustain yourself when those events happen.

Greater Level of Distractions

Sure, you'll get to spend more time with your family. But they can also be a massive distraction that can make you far less efficient in your day. Caring for my girls was great when they were little, but I often didn't get as much done because I was caring for them.

Not only that but you also have access to your television, streaming services, game systems, or the occasional family member who visits and wants to take you out to coffee or lunch when you should be working for a client.

It takes a certain degree of determination to work at home as a freelancer. Some of those diversions can be quite difficult to avoid. But if you don't, you'll greatly reduce the amount of money you make on any given day. Especially if you're working with content mills or businesses that need certain things at specific times.

No One Standing Over Your Shoulder

One of the benefits of working from home is also one of the drawbacks. While it may be less stressful to have someone hovering over you making sure your work gets done, not having that pressure can lead to a lack of motivation. When someone isn't watching whether you're working, you're more likely to get sidetracked with those diversions I mentioned a second ago.

In order to succeed as a work-at-home freelancer, you'll often need to find ways to keep yourself focused and on task. This isn't always easy, depending on the individual.

In many ways, working from home as a freelancer is far more difficult than maintaining a traditional job. So much rides on your ability to maintain a good workflow while offering a high level of professionalism to clients. And not everyone is a self-starter. There will be days when you get the "I don't wannas." It's how you adapt to those moments that will dictate success.

Poor Perception of a "Sanctuary"

Lastly, working from a home office can skew your perception of your home. A lot of people view the home as a "sanctuary" of sorts. It's where you can get away from the trappings of work and social life while relaxing. When you're constantly working from your own home office, that perception of sanctuary becomes affected.

You can start viewing the house with the same sense of dread as you did with the external workplace. It happened to me several years ago. At one point, I felt trapped in my own house, and it led to a myriad of physical and mental issues. However, there were a lot of significant circumstances that were happening at the same time.

Still, once you start looking at your home as anything less than a sanctuary, it's much more difficult to relax and unwind. Especially if you keep Slack running in case clients need anything and it continuously clicks all day long.

I Need an External Office

Over the years, I've come to the realization that I really do need an external office space for my work. Mostly for the reasons I mentioned above.

Since my home office is in my bedroom at the moment, I roll over and immediately think of work first thing in the morning. That's not conducive to viewing the home as a sanctuary. I would move it into a different room, but having kids and quite a bit of furniture makes this quite impossible at the moment.

I rarely leave the house unless someone stops by and talks me into leaving. I want to be more social, but right now, I don't know what's acceptable in my area because everyone is either masking up or standing six feet apart. Though, it seems fewer people are caring about the variants of COVID 19.

I would love a better background when recording the YouTube videos. A green screen won't fit behind me and my walls are not sound-proof. It kind of hinders the ambiance of being a professional when recording from my bedroom. However, it doesn't seem like my hardcore fans really care.

Being away from the house will greatly amplify the professionalism. I'm still working for myself, but the external office will just emphasize what I'm doing while keeping me motivated to keep pushing forward.

Having a method to get away from the home office mentality will allow me to look at my home as a sanctuary once again. That's perhaps one of the most important aspects to me at this point in time. Right now, I don't have anywhere I can call my own and relax without the idea of work just being a few feet away.

Do You Love Your Home Office?

Remember, this is all based on my personal experience over the past decade. Things that bother me may not be so much of a burden for you. Everyone is different. Just keep in mind that there are a lot of good and bad things that come with having a home office as a freelancer.

But as long as you can make it work and remain successful for the long haul, that's all that really matters in the end.