Work from home a friend advised, and I thought it was a great idea as I would finally get the chance to live the life of a boss.
I need not have to follow a schedule and could work at my own pace after working for years and years for someone else, I told myself, getting all excited about having a blissful time at long last.
No one will be looking over my shoulder and telling me to ‘wrap it up fast’, as I would be accountable to only myself, I told my wife.
“I know I married you and all that, but having you in the house 24/7 would be a bit too much,” said my wife and advised me to get my own office in Ras Al Khaimah instead.
I wondered what she was talking about and Googled and found the emirate was offering visas for freelancers and that I could work on my own for a small fee, and that they also threw in a small, boutique office.
It seemed like a good idea and I hoped the RAK Free Zone was next to the beach as I could laze on the sands after a day’s hard work of tapping on my keyboard.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be in anyone’s way,” I said nixing that idea as the commute would be killing. The morning drive to my former office took 15 minutes. The trip home was, however, excruciating and took 45 minutes of sitting on a flyover just two minutes away from home, behind a long queue of cars.
I leafed through the Ikea booklet, trying to get ideas on how to set up a home office in our not-so-spacious Scandinavian bedroom.
‘Productive and focused’
An innovative thinker on LinkedIn, the professional social network, said it was not necessary to have an elaborate home office with a laser printer, scanner and music system-in-one, but to get a comfortable, ergonomic chair, since I would be sitting on it for long hours.
I had set up a temporary office on my dining table after everyone had left home for the morning and was working in my pajamas when I heard the doorbell ring, through my earphones.
“Dress for success even when you are working from home,” said Bruno Duarte another professional on the social network. “You should dress as if you are still going into an office,” he said. “This allows you to be productive and focused on your work.” Duarte is the owner of a website that gives advice on setting up your own business.
I looked through the peephole and found it was the guy who replenishes our bottled drinking water. I hastily changed, pulling on my jeans and opened the door. A little while later, the maintenance guy rang the bell as he had to change the torn window mesh in the kitchen.
After brewing a pot of herbal tea, I finally sat down and typed my byline on the article I was writing for a freelance assignment, when the phone rang.
Another professional warned that I should keep away all distractions. Do not browse on the web when working, she said and pointed out to an app that will shut down the internet for an hour or so for the duration of the daily grind and to also put my phone on silent.
Setting up shop at home was not that easy I told myself, walking through the mall the other day. Then I saw some cool dudes sitting in a coffee shop and conducting their business over a laptop, surrounded by quiet people, some of them reading a book.
I don’t like coffee, but the WiFi is free and no grocery delivery guy ringing the doorbell, I thought to myself standing there and looking at my future office.
Mahmood Saberi is a freelance journalist based in Dubai.
