Working from Home. Heaven or Hell?

Hi Everyone

Working from home is just great. There are some really good benefits but you have to be so focussed and selfish you’d not believe. If you slip you’ll find you can be crushed by the outside forces and the inner torment that can just destroy you.

I’ve worked from home for over 25 years apart from some short spells and I’ve gone through the best of times and worse of times. So here are some of the hurdles you’ll find on the path to home working success.

Work/Life balance

Working for a company gives you the structure that separates your life into segments. You get up, dress and groom yourself, travel to work for a set time, finish at a set time or work agreed overtime and then leave and go to your home life. Sometimes you might take work

home but usually you can stop working when you leave the office and not start again until you arrive next morning.

Working from home means you probably never stop working. You might have a home office but its usual to work on the dining or kitchen table in the evenings and even as soon as you get out of bed. It’s like an addiction. Whether you love it or hate it, you just can’t get away. You are tied to your business, probably your laptop which is constantly always switched on.

Mealtimes go out the Window and you famine or feast

Remember when someone yelled out “Anyone for a bacon buttie?” and there was a rush to pay the guy who was going to the sandwich bar to pick them up. Lunchtime comes and you go out, eat in the staff restroom or even work at your desk, but at least you ate at regular times.

Now you are working on that priority project or just get carried away and forget the time. Suddenly it’s 4 in the afternoon and you haven’t eaten. So you make a sandwich or grab a ready to eat snack. Then just a hour later you have a family meal but aren’t very hungry. Or you are drinking coffee with 2 sugars and snacking continuously during the day. Then wonder why your clothes don’t fit!!

You become isolated

You worked with others and that had its ups and downs. But in the main you have an office social life where you interact with others. Might be small talk about what you did last night, the TV or football. Could be office meetings or discussing work. But you are talking to others usually in an informal way with people you are familiar with. For some, the office life is their life where they are maybe unhappy or lonely at home.

Now compare that with working at home. You are working alone, either in your home office, or on the kitchen table. Or perhaps making a video, but still alone. The radio may be on but there’s nobody to talk to. The phone rings and it’s a problem. You have to face up to everything on your own, nobody to sit down with and discuss what to do. OK! There are internet forums and support but these are remote and you can never be absolutely sure of

the people you meet online.

So you finish up becoming quite isolated. And that might have an effect on your personality and your relationships with your family. And it certainly can add stress and uncertainty. Do you begin to prefer your own company, do you start talking to yourself! Do you start talking to your pet goldfish.

Social Media becomes your Social Life

Being alone you stop for a while and hit Facebook. That’s when your troubles really begin because you either start surfing within Facebook as one connection leads to another.

Or . . . your life starts to revolve around Facebook and you sink into the fantasy world of what everybody else is doing. And begin to lead your life on theirs. And you may start texting or adding posts to these “friends” pages whom are really at best just acquaintances and often almost strangers. And this can lead to you not only wasting time but also getting trapped in situations you just don’t want.

So . . . basically your social life just vanishes into thin air, to be replaced with a fantasy world.  We all need to socialise but you’ve cut yourself off.

You can’t have a Sick Day

Working for yourself means you usually can’t afford to take a sick day, or snowed in day when you just can’t get to work. When you just need to roll out of bed and slouch down to your work area there’s just no excuse.

So not only do you miss those days which could be spend out snowballing or just having a bit of fun. You stay alone, working. Outside you see Mums and Dads having fun with their kids. You aren’t paid by the hour. You have to complete to compete.

Are you busy? Can you just . . . ?

And you know what’s coming next. Nobody thinks you work. Your time is almost your own. But on second thoughts it not. Your time is everybody else’s.

“Sorry to bother you but can you just drop Mary off at college. She’s late and it’ll only take you 10 minutes”  Yes!. Suddenly that 10 minutes is 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back. “And whilst you are out we need some milk and a loaf of bread. Can you just stop off and get it? Oh and don’t use the corner shop, they are too expensive.” So you go out of your way to the supermarket. The total time is now over an hour!!

Then there are the friends who drop in or call you and want to tell you about their latest escapade with the car parking in town. And that’s another hour gone. So you decide to clamp down on this and tell everyone that you are working and not on a sabbatical. That works for a couple of days then back to the old routine.

Working in an office and nobody calls you to do a pick up! Everybody respects that you are working.

Your Neighbours wonder what you do

What does Jim do all day? He doesn’t seem to work and when he goes out he looks so unkempt. Maybe he lost his job. Maybe he’s an alcoholic. He’s always in old clothes. Strange man isn’t he.

And suddenly you are being accosted when you go out and asked some strange searching questions  . . .  or you are ignored. So once again you are losing that social interaction and get strange looks. So you are talking and drop into the conversation that you write courses online. And you get those funny looks and you can almost hear the gears in their brains clinking into action “What does he mean? I don’t really like to ask because he’ll think I’m stupid”

Looking Good

Remember when you wore a suit every day? Those were the days. Looked good, felt good. Knew you were the smart guy. Always a sharp dresser.

Working from home it’s sloppy joe time. No need to dress up. Old jeans, trainers and a sweatshirt. Fine. You feel comfortable. Some-one had told you that when you dressed well and felt good then your work was better. But you just can’t be bothered. And your work does probably suffer.

You look at yourself in the mirror and suddenly realise that you need a shave if you’re a guy or haven’t used make-up for days as a woman and you look like you are recovering from a hangover.

Office Parties a thing of the past

 Remember those office parties? Xmas or some other celebration like a birthday or leaving. Any excuse. Leave work, head for a bar or go for a meal and have a laugh. Get to know everyone better and let your hair down. It’s time to relax.

But working alone you have nobody to celebrate with. You could go down the pub and sit in the corner. No. Just forget it. You can’t even reclaim the tax on a Christmas dinner. Ah well. Better get on with work.

Getting some exercise

I worked in an office some years ago selling conservatories by phone. This was about 1998. We used to do the whole sale by phone. No salesman visiting to close the deal. It was hard but rewarding. But my point here is that every lunchtime a couple of us would go out and just walk for about 30 minutes. It was an industrial estate so nothing particular to see. But we used to get back to work and be active in the afternoon whilst everyone else began to get tired. I also rememeber that I was pretty fit.

Working alone you’ll keep going all day and then wonder why you are tired in the afternoon. You’ll have forgotten what fresh air smells like and you will become lethargic. Life will be work, work, work.

But it’s not all Bad

I’ve listed out the bad things about working for yourself from home but there are some great advantages.

You don’t have to slop around the house or feel isolated. You can have a work/life balance and be respected by your friends and neighbours. You just need to bring that discipline you have in working for a company into your life. It does mean self discipline but you just need to get some new habits into place.

The main benefits, however, in working for yourself is that you can achieve what you want. Whether you want money, fame, satisfaction or anything else, it’s possible. If you work for yourself now, you’ll know this is true. There is nobody else you need to rely upon. Just yourself. 

Be positive. Take Action 

Actions Speak louder . . .

Hi Guys

Taking Action is the seed for everything. For without action there is no future.

 Take a look at this very short video I made in January, last month. Not raining for a change but was it windy. But I had to do it. If you put off actions because of circumstances you'll never get anything done.

So coughing liked an old man (ok no jokes please!) I set off for the beach. Wrapped up warm I was still cold as the wind shook me. I felt that although the wind was spoiling the true sound, it was important to carry on. And in fact I think the wind adds a new dimension, and you can hear me clearly.
We all need to dream but then we must turn that seed of a dream into reality. Just think about seeds for one moment. I used to grow vegetables in my garden and greenhouse and kept back some seeds each year. Now most seeds are better bought because they are cultivated by the seed suppliers to be genetically good to succeed. Sometimes you take your own seeds from your produce and they turn out to be bad and either don't grow at all or are disfigured. In the end the only seeds I kept were from my runner beans and the originals had been given to me by an elderly neighbor who, in turn, had been given them by her neighbor many years previously. And every year they grew consistently good. Every year they gave a bumper crop of delicious beans. So many in fact that we gave many away to friends and neighbors and still had enough for our daily needs plus sufficient to freeze and give us many more meals. By the way there are two points here. First, be kind and generous to friends and neighbours, secondly without me taking action every year we would not have had delicious beans freshly grown. I used to pick them, top and tail them and then straight into a pan of boiling water. Minutes later drained, butter added and onto the plate. 

I read last week that over half of the population spend more than an hour a day think about their future and dreaming about what they want. And many of these dreams can be turned into reality by just taking the first step. OK! So its going to be a struggle to be an astronaut if you haven't had a reasonable education including (probably science) and a university degree. You can't fly without wings. But . . you could start looking for your dream job. You could take a course in something you are interested in, you could take driving lessons, take a second job and start saving for that new house or holiday or car. 

If you really want it you can do it. Remember! There's no gain without pain. Most times it is uncomfortable starting to work towards your dream. But try to forget that pain and just do it.

And when you start leave a comment here. I really want to know what you are doing.

Watch your Manners. Learn with us - here

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi Guys

My new course "Manners maketh Man & Woman" is now completed and available. As a special introduction to this and my other courses I am offering it free for 2 days only. This offer will finish on Thursday 4th February at midnight GMT.
 

To get immediate free enrollment copy and paste this link http://tinyurl.com/zzweqzn   Please share this link whilst it lasts.

All my courses include lifelong access so that you get all future updates and additional content. All these courses are being continually updated: for example I have just added 5 new videos to "The Complete Guide for Overseas Students in the UK" covering how to get a part-time job during studying and full-time job when graduated, plus new videos on English manners. 

There is a huge market for online courses and I am very pleased to hear from you if you would like to create a course to go on my site. I can give you all the help you need to produce this and you'll not necessarily have to appear

yourself. There are alternatives such as Powerpoint presentations, animation, using an actor (through a low cost agency) and more. I can show you how to set up a home studio in a small space such as a bedroom or living room, enhance the audio, edit video and much more. Interested? Leave a comment or e-mail me personally at ask@mikeleahy.comask@mikeleahy.com

Not only will you be sharing information and helping others but you'll make some spare cash too. This is a great opportunity. You probably have a skill or knowledge that you haven't thought about. Maybe you are a keen gardener, cook, keep fish, have a second language, have coding knowledge, photographer, are a good dresser or can do brilliant make-up. Maybe you want to create a religious course, meditation, losing weight or keeping fit. One course I saw was a man training in his living room. He started making video when he started his workouts. It was remarkable how he did turn from a weak frame to muscular and because the course followed his progress it was seen as genuine and sold well.

And you don't have to be a genius. So long as you know more than the average person about your subject then you can create a course. I'm happy to work on joint ventures too, so if you have the knowledge we can work together if you wish.

Many people say that they can find everything fee online, and yes you can. But courses are better because everything is together and there is a 30 day full money back guarantee on all courses on my site so you can depend on the tutor as being reliable and good. Courses are usually inclusive, by which I mean that you have everything in one place. 

It doesn't have to be a paid course. Some people like to just share their interest and run free courses. That's fine with me. The Learning Centre is a general resource that is growing.  

So to recap
Enrol in my manners course for free CLICK HERE 
If you want to create your own course contact me.



Have a great life. Watch this space. Please follow me.

Be an educator
Be a learner
Get the knowledge

Learning from our Fathers

Life should be full of fun. OK. Maybe a few problems thrown in. That's life. And I've a message for you today not unrelated to learning.

I guess the message is that we have benefited from the hard work and creativity of our past generation, well those over 65.

Many have given their life to bringing up a family, giving their children opportunities they never had, and encouraging them to better things. Some parents didn't have that attitude and their children didn't have the best upbringing, but that doesn't mean they didn't try, maybe they had problems of their own.

My point now is that this generation are often being neglected and I was really sad to hear about the elderly couple who dialled 999 because they were lonely and isolated. The local bobbies who called expecting an emergency realised the situation and stayed for a cuppa. The article written by Dr Max Pemberton in the Daily Mail on Saturday 14th November talks about loneliness and the fact that it is estimated that about one million people go without talking to another human being in over a month, and that this has both a psychological and physical profound effect. We all know that their used to be a community spirit around but this has gone. Now we don't often know our next door neighbour.

Christmas is the time when the appeal goes out: Look out for your elderly neighbours and why not invite an elderly neighbour in for Xmas dinner. This is all very good but this should be a round the year effort. I delivered meals on wheels for a year finishing a few weeks ago and was staggered by the number of older people who never see anyone, and often have relatives no too far away who don't bother to call. I was actually losing considerable money offering this service but I didn't stop because I felt I couldn't dessert my customers. Finally I was forced to stop. Whether I was right or wrong is immaterial. What matters is that we can all finf an hour a week and there is just no excuse for not seeking our a lonely neighbour.

Yes! Some will be cantankerous and grumpy but stick with it. You may be surprised and certainly you will get a new outlook on life. And these older people all have amazing stories about a life long gone. PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY.




Some of the skills that many of us have lost are knitting, sewing, darning, gardening and creative hobbies. My mother taught me to iron shirts, clean shoes so they gleam, sew on a button, knitting a hat and how to cook well. I learnt great gardening techniques from my father who always had fresh vegetables ready for the table. In fact on a Sunday we always picked vegetables and fruit and dug potatoes ready for lunch. And to get good crops I learnt how to prepare the soil and grow from seed. I'm sure these skills aren't being passed on nowadays. How do you feel about this?

I hope you have something to think about in this post. I hope I've encouraged you to take some action. Make a comment.

 

Socialcam gone Native Video on Facebook and Twitter is here

Hi Guys

Socialcam is dead. It's official. Or it will be on Friday 29th October 2015. It was founded by a small team of 4 people and was a spin-off of JustinTV. I will miss it.

Socialcam was launched in March 2011 and on 17th July  2012 was acquired by Autodesk for £60m. went from zero to ths staggering amount. So in just 551 days Now just 3 years on it gone.

If you are over 40 you'll remember the days of the first computer game with the ping-pong ball. Days before digital cameras, let alone smartphones. Now video is beginning to rule, particularly with the advent of Native Video for Facebook and twitter.

Just to remind you, native video is dropped straight of your smartphone onto Facebook or Twitter with no interface such as YouTube or Vimeo. This has just recently been launched and you may not have noticed but there is now a tab on Facebook for your videos. With

editing apps it's now not just possible but downright easy to edit in-phone and add effects too. Take a look at your Facebook page and check out the menu: Timeline - About - Friends - Photos - More, Click on More and the top item is Video, That's where all your videos go. Now I don't expect many of you have much there but this is the future - and you will.

So to download just bring the video up as you do with a photo and look for the "Share" sign. Click and it will bring up a variety of possibilities. Click on the Facebook symbol and its done. Add some text, post and its done.

I used to take the video and upload onto Socialcam, this was programmed to relay to Twitter wwhich shared with YouTube and Facebook. So for minimal effort I would be on all 4 within 20 minutes or so. Now if you want to be ranked and found on Google you must download onto YouTube because Google doesn't pick up anything on Facebook.

As a bonus I just found this video on YouTube of Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak "Woz"talking not just about how he met Steve Jobes when he was a student and Jobes was just 16 years but how the two worked closely together, Woz being the creative guy and Seve being the marketeer, and how well that worked.

But interestingly he went on to talk about how to become the best at anything. I have the same ethos. If you dig deep and learn everything you can about anything you'll become an expert. I've always said that if you read a book about your subject for an hour a day, you will become an expert in 3 months. Obviously we aren't comparing this to a university degree but in my experience an enthusiastic positive approach will take you much further that any disinterested person with a higher education.

Take a look at this video that was with a 14 year-old. Woz is very open and gives some good advice.

Make your future. Invest your spare time now and make a better life.

Is a university degree worthwhile?

Having a university degree seems important today, with a high intake recently. Although I'm not totally convinced. 

I see so many graduates who have their degree but are working in low paid jobs that probably don't lead anywhere. Graduates that are working in shops or cafes when they have a good degree in law, marketing or geology. And although universities train students to think and create this is only happening with a minority. Sure we all know graduates who are doctors, lawyers, teachers and nurses, and who are successful and settled in a career. But these are a minority.

I personally feel that the old system of layered education was far better. There was a place for all. Universities for the brightest, colleges for the majority who wanted to learn skills over a shorter period and to a lower standard, and apprenticeships for those wanting to specialise in manual skills such as mechanics, plumbers, electricians and brickies. Ok. So there are some apprentices around and colleges too, but not enough of the former and not enough discipline in the latter. By discipline I mean ensuring students attend, behave in a socially acceptable manner and learn. I've been in colleges recently where this just isn't happening. I gave a course on entrepreneurship a couple of years ago in a college and only 7 out of 23 students bothered to turn up. Two were totally disinterested and one fell asleep. Now I'm not a trained teacher but I do put my message through with enthusiasm and was surprised. The tutor told me that this was common, and incidentally they left a year later.

We are now in a world of insecurity with jobs, and the need to change. So life-long learning is really important from a jobs perspective. Learning new life skills can open up  big opportunities for anyone who continues to learn.

Now it's true that you can learn anything on YouTube for free. But online courses offer so much more. Firstly they offer a comprehensive course in one place, then they are structured so that you learn through a system, usually tutors/lecturers are available to talk over particular issues but there is usually a a discussion board so that both students and lecturer can cover points in depth. And you can learn anytime, anywhere where you have an internet connection, and any topic. 

That knowledge you gain can help you at work but also throughout your life. And if you have some knowledge about a specific topic you might even become a lecturer with your own courses. It's not difficult. 

Meanwhile watch out for more