Back when I lived in Hollywood, I spent most of my time working from home. The boss-man didn’t want to incur unnecessary overhead, so in exchange for picking up the cost of my phone and internet, I never had to commute more than 10 steps from “home” to “work.” For the most part, it was pretty sweet. But I noticed that when my office was the kitchen table, and the living room was my conference room, it didn’t lead to much in the way of productivity. I used to joke that it took me 12 hours to work an 8 hour day.
Lately, I’ve been commuting to my office in Framingham. It’s set up nicely — desk, monitor, printer, phone, and a bar. Hey, it’s the music biz … don’t judge. Anyway, it functions perfectly for its intended purpose except for one small, nagging fact: it’s 35 miles away. And the traffic is awful at the typical “rush hour” times. So on average, my commute to work is anywhere from 60-90 minutes. And with the nastiness of winter weather, I find myself driving a Jeep instead of my über-efficient Scion. The weekly commute (if I go to Framingham every day) is 350 miles and roughly 1.25 tanks of gas which costs on average around $75/week. Not fun, and honestly, not at all practical.
Last week however, things changed. As an eighth grader, I had an interest in photography. That led to building a dark room in a corner of the basement. We added a standing counter as well as one at “desk height.” There were some shelves, and even a huge old steel desk. The room was fully enclosed, and most recently had been used to store a bunch of my junk.
Realizing that I could either continue spending too much money on gas/tolls — not to mention the “let’s go grab lunch” that always seems to pop up, I set about converting the darkroom into a working office.
Since my previous work from home experiences weren’t that productive, I wasn’t sure what’d happen if I actually had a dedicated work space that was separate from the rest of the house. But with a couple days of effort, and a trip to Petco and Jo-Ann Fabrics, I was able to come up with a space that works far better than I could’ve anticipated.
Once the physical work was done, it was time to make sure the technical stuff was in order. Being in a basement, in Massachusetts, in the winter can be a bone-chilling experience. I bought some lined curtains that seems to keep most of the cold where it belongs, and a space heater takes care of the rest. In addition, the wireless internet seems to work just fine, and I’ve got outlets everyplace they need to be.
The goofy bonus is that there’s a rotary dial phone on my desk and it works. It was a strange feeling to be dialing a number and realizing that you had no caller ID, and no redial, and you actually had to know the number — no stored contacts here! Interestingly, the actual connection was very clear and sounded better than the iPhones and VoIP lines I’m used to.
But for the rest of the calls that I wasn’t going to dial out, I had to figure out a way to boost the iPhones lacking basement reception. Not to mention my office line in Framingham that had to be re-routed to ring here. Enter Google Voice.
Since its launch, Google Voice has worked out the slow connection and shaky audio problems it had. Even better, I can dial any phone number from inside my Gmail screen. The audio comes through my computer, and the MacBook’s internal mic picks me up perfectly. The functionality has been there for a while, but Google has done a solid job of updating the technology. It’s perfect.
This week I’ve spent 4 consecutive days working in the new office, and I’m impressed by how much I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m not limited by anything, and unlike the old days, I’m far more productive because the workspace is being used as intended. It’s not my living room/office, it’s my office.
Soon I’ll branch out. Maybe a corporate retreat to the living room. Or a company lunch in the dining room. The empire grows slowly, and this army still travels on its stomach …
