Pro's and con's of working at home

According to a recent survey, 76% of people living in this country would prefer to work from home, or at least three working days a week. This has already become a reality for around 2 million people in Germany, especially those working for big companies like BMW or Siemens. I don't work for any of these companies, but ever since I moved out here I have made a conscious choice to work from home as a freelancer. Does this mean I get to lounge around in my fleece pants all day? On the contrary! I need to be highly disciplined and organized, stick to a fixed work schedule and meet deadlines, especially since I don't have a boss breathing down my neck! Besides, clients are only one telephone call away and people tend to get up early over here. It's not unusual for a potential client to call at 7:30 a.m. Luckily, I'm an early riser and I do get most of the work done in the mornings. The advantage is I have the choice of focusing on my work wearing my fleece pants :) Another advantage is that no time is wasted with the usual gossip that makes the rounds in an office each morning. I used to work in an office with several other women. The only male we ever saw was the FedEx man and the janitor. The atmosphere was bitchy - and that's putting it mildly! I'm glad I'm not subjected to that anymore... So, what are the disadvantages? Obviously, it's the feeling of being cut off from the rest of the workforce. That's why I skype with others in my field. There's also the forgetting to take regular breaks. And weekends are weekends, although every freelancer I know will put in some extra work on Saturdays or Sundays, myself included. Here are a few things that are essential, if you want to work from home successfully: 1. a home office, separated by a door you can close and lock would be ideal 2. tools - telephone, computer with internet access*, a printer that also faxes and scans would be useful, external harddisk to store important data * my hubby surprised me with a beautiful flatscreen monitor today. I am so happy about it. There is so much room on my desk now. Thank you hubby! You're the best. 3. webcam is optional 4. a big sign above your desk with the words TAKE A BREAK ! Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend!

Technical thoughts on Monday

What have I done lately? Well, for those who have been reading along will know that I'm trying to set up my own website. I have been researching the internet and checked out some books on the subject, and have narrowed down the options available to me. Of course, hiring a company to do it was out of the question from the start! They cost from Euro 1.000 upwards and it's not guaranteed that you will be able to manage the content. Some companies charge extra for that. Another option would be to ask a friend of a friend of a friend who is a techie to set it up for much less than that, however I would have to make do with a basic design lacking any sort of originality. But you know me...just like this blog I have my heart set on a unique template that is totally me. At least I have done two important things on my 'to do' list. I have registered my domain name and I have secured web space. There are a few online sources that provide a complete package - template plus installing a programme that lets you have complete content management - for about 200 US$. You will need to learn how to use and optimize the programme by yourself via a handbook, which you can download for free. The programme most commonly used is Joomla, and I found out that they have a German version since beginning of this year - which is useful since I happen to live here and would mainly be targeting the German-speaking market. Hubby, who is much more adept at all things technical installed Joomla and a couple of other technical applications which are necessary for this programme to run. My next job will be to study the handbook and see if I can, in fact, create my own template. That's the challenging but also exciting part. The programme lets you do a 'test-run' before you actually transfer the data to your web space. So, I will be fiddling with that in the coming weeks, learning by trial and error as usual :) I will blog about my progress every now and then, and let you know what works and what doesn't. Hopefully, I will keep my sanity while I embark on this endeavour! Have a good week!

Dear Mom,

thank you for always being there when I needed you most. Happy Mother's Day ♥

For some reason there are very few photo's of me and my mom together. This is one of them from way back in the 70's at Christmas - I just adore that dress my mom's wearing; wish she had kept it. I could have worn it now - so vintage!