Home Office vs. Outside Office

The time has come to lease outside office space. I’ve seen clients out of a home office for nearly a decade. I set it up that way on purpose. When we were looking for a house, we chose a certain layout so I could see clients in a home office. On the whole, I’ve enjoyed it. There are ups and downs though. The upside is that I have no commute, I can wander into the kitchen for lunch and I can still work in my office when my son is home (though he is gone during “client days”) The downside is that we have to keep the house looking neat, it requires a larger house, and I finally seem to be losing some of my work-life boundaries. I’m big on boundaries, and for years I simply shut the office door at 5pm. But the Women’s Earning Institute is growing so fast and there is so much to do! I seem to be working all the time. If I’m not with clients or my groups, I’m with subcontractors working on various projects. And I am renting a lot of outside space to run all of my groups, which is getting expensive. (I’m paying $20/hour to rent “conference space” at various places in Seattle.) A home office can no longer contain the Institute. So I’ve put the word out to my network. The dilemma is that I need full time space. A lot of people are subletting space a few days a week. I’m already beyond that. And people have advised me to “look around” in the neighborhoods where I want my office. Yes, in my spare time, I drive around the city…. I should have tuned into this need sooner, really. I need outside/larger office space three months ago! The launch pad doesn’t even fit in here! Stay tuned. Arg!

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