Thinking about working from home? Take this short quiz to find out if it’s for you:
- Do you want to work from home?
If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, then working remotely is right for you. The following steps will help you find success in the virtual work world.
Step 1. Convince your employer it’s a good idea to let you work from home
Most people make the mistake of giving a presentation showcasing why working remotely is more productive than working in an office setting. All this does is convince your boss you hate her by forcing her to lose minutes of her life listening to your boring pitch. I prefer the Liability Method wherein you sprain your thumb in a freak copier accident, or sexually harass yourself in front of others. Legal will be more than happy to keep their “lawsuit on legs” out of the office.
Step 2. Set up you work area
The right tools are essential in getting work done. Visit your local Ikea store, and purchase the latest Jackenoffer coffee table, and Masturbaten couch. Place both in front of your 190” LCD television, and turn it to one of the 47 Law & Order: SVU marathons as watching television while working has been shown to increase productivity by -7%.
Step 3. Vow to use the time you would’ve spent in the office doing better things
You’re going to work out before you clock in! You’re going to cook yourself healthy meals on your lunch hour! You’re going to do laundry on your breaks! You’ll do these things for the first couple of weeks, and then your time-wasting twin will take over. You’ll find yourself searching homemade detergent recipes on Pinterest, and catching up on episodes of Real Housewives of Sheboygan instead.
Step 4. Dress for success
Offices require the kind of attire only defendants in murder trials wear. Polyester was meant to be worn in discos while tripping on acid, not in a meeting room full of people you’ve wished diarrhea on several times. Being at home allows you to put the “casual” back in Business Casual by ditching your bra, pants with a button waist, and your dignity. You may lose the ability to dress yourself without the help of Garanimals, but not having twill pants giving you 17 different kinds of camel toe will more than make up for it.
Excuse me, but did you know that your ass is eating your pants?
(Credit: Ugly Outfits New York)
Step 5. Network, network, network
One of the best parts of working in an office setting is the camaraderie; unfortunately, you lose this when you’re working from the comfort of your home. This is why it’s important to get out of the house and interact with other people. Just last week I cornered my postal carrier, and told her about the time I almost shit my pants at a party after mixing tequila, baby quiches, and too much dancing with someone who was either a very short man, or a very hairy child. I haven’t seen her since then, but I’m sure she enjoyed the laughs as much as I did.
Step 6. Work it out.
Whether you’re in the office, or at home, work must be done. If you don’t think you can do this, your only options in life are:
- Going off the grid
- Winning the lottery
- Becoming Larry King’s latest child bride
Unless you are skilled in wilderness survival, or have the ability to predict winning numbers, I’d recommend just doing the work. I don’t have anything against Larry King personally, I just don’t think anyone should sex up a skeleton wearing suspenders.
There you have it, six easy steps to virtual work success. Do you think working from home is for you?
The Official How To Blog 
Jen,
I like Hangout personally when working from home, and having to meet clients and/or workers. And functional laptops and/or PCs. And I don’t like the balloon theme from WordPress.
Le Clown
PS: Penis.
But now that we know it was meant to be for balloon porn, I don’t mind it so much.
You’d think that Le Clown would like the balloon theme a lot more considering he’s a, well, CLOWN FOR FUCK’S SAKE.
The answer to all of life’s questions is always penis.
That’s what I’ve always found. And regarding #5, I would love it if you would share the “almost shit your pants story” with all of us sometime!
Reblogged this on Speaker7 and commented:
The lovely and talented Jen Tonic is blogging at The Official How To Blog today.
Emphasis on the “dead sexy” part. Oh wait, that wasn’t one of the adjectives you used?
I”m going to work from home as soon as I win the lottery. Tonight. Or tomorrow night or maybe next week. Thanks for the suggestion.
There’s always the Larry King option.
You are so freakin funny! Related, I think 17 kinds of camel toe would make a great follow up post. I’ve probably experienced at least three of them and I’m so glad I don’t have deal with those pants and hungry butt anymore. Or thongs. Mostly thongs. Great post!
That’s an excellent idea for a post. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of photos I’d have to use for that. “Hungry butt” is a term I’ve never used before, but is now going to be inserted into every conversation I have from now on.
Me: Hi mom.
Mom: What are you up to?
Me: Nothing, but my ass is so hungry!!!!
Mom: Are you on drugs?
As you know, I relate to ALL of this post. ALL OF IT. I’m sitting here right now in a ratty t-shirt and shorts with no bra and a cat trying to sit on my laptop. But my favorite part of this was “17 different kinds of camel toe.” Seriously, there is NOBODY ON EARTH who can wear that twill shit without the camel toe.
And right now I’m watching yet another 48 Hours Mystery type thing on the ID channel. So busy. Just so, so busy.
I don’t understand dress pants. I do believe it’s a ploy by employers to see if workers are willing to put up with that shit in exchange for a paycheck. The number of times I picked wedgies daily when working from an office was 20+. Know how many I pick now? NONE because I don’t wear underwear anymore.
I tried working from home but nobody gave me a damn paycheck. Maybe I should have told someone in management about it. Now I just phone it in from the office.
It’s important to let management know that you expect to have money deposited into your account while surfing porn, and finishing expense reports.
This is so my life!!! And careful with postmen… mine used to chat me up (and we’re not just talking a bit of amusing banter, urgh), and one day, over coffee with two fellow home …erm… ‘workers’, we discovered that he did that with all of us. One manage to wheedle a bottle of wine out of him, lol.
Wait, you mean there’s a possibility that my post lady is just talking to me because she has a crush on me? Well, I guess that explains why she hand delivers my mail every day.
I wouldn’t discount the possibility…. 😉
I wish you people would stop hiding those cameras in my home while I am working. Now I have no choice but to win the lottery!
Sorry. I’ll make sure to also delete the footage of you singing Justin Bieber’s “Baby” in the shower.
Oh, the horrors!!!
My main motivation for working from home (which I do a couple times a week) is because Hugo comes by on my lunchbreaks. He likes those pants I wear. You know the ones. You put a picture in this post.
(Oh. Man. The first bullet/question KILLED ME!)
I always knew Hugo was an ass man.
Well, you always want what you don’t have, right?
I’m having a problem with #1. My company is not in favor of telecommuting. I think I might have to just start doing it, and not tell anyone.
They aren’t in favor of it? Your company is obviously from the Stone Age, and only Fred Flinstone should be working there.
Sexually harass yourself! ah hahahah
Seriously, do you know how long you can watch Frasier and the Golden Girls before you decide to do some work and then realize Murder She Wrote is on?
I KNOW! What’s insane is that, if you stay up long enough, you can see them on at midnight as well. It’s a perfect combination for me since I’m 31 going on 78.
I am right with you. I just found Quincy on Netflix. Derwood is curious.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO US?!
Jen, I can’t speak for you and I am 17 years older than you are but I know I am this way because I was raised watching Columbo, Ironsides, Quincy, etc. with my mother and started reading Agatha Christie at a very young age.
And more to the point, I prefer to live in other realities. I’m just healthy like that. And um, next time I am childless, you need to come over for a drink on the deck! We are having the perfect summer for my backyard.
This is the best summer ever. We might actually get more than six weeks of pure sunshine. Of course, it will probably be hot as hell during that one week in August when things really suck around here.
It has been a long time since we have had this much niceness in June. I will be bitching in August no question. They’d pull my Oregonian card if I didn’t.
Reblogged this on Sips of Jen and Tonic and commented:
Just a little somethin’ somethin’ I wrote on The Official How To Blog. Now you too can look uber professional while wearing a White Snake T-shirt, and pants with a rip in the inner thigh.
Lol, you’re silly. I’d love to work from home, but I fear the wife would make the kids stay with me and then I’d only work on plans to kill myself which is unproductive.
I don’t know how people stay at home with their kids for a living. Imagine never getting a break from your boss. You wake up, he’s there. You eat lunch, he’s there. Take a Taco Bell kinda dump, he’s there. It’s insanity.
So after reading this, my best option is to win the lottery. Thanks for the advice!
I don’t know, I think you’d look kinda fly with Larry King.
You’re too kind. I assure you though that he’s all yours.
I believe the only thing you’ve left out of this tribute to writers’ suicides is the kitchen sink… or Sylvia Plath’s oven (What, STILL too soon?!!). Either way, I’m glad to know that as I sit here… at home… submitting a payroll report to the corporate office (while checking my Klout score and clicking “like” on 37 random Facebook memes), plus simultaneously commenting on your post over morning coffee, that I can skip this week’s shower and start planning my quarterly Costco run.
I need fresh underwear.
If you’re still wearing underwear while working at home, you haven’t truly adjusted to the lifestyle.
FREE BALL!
I plan to network with this fella here named Jack Daniels.
Mind if I tag along with my colleague Jim Beam?
Sounds swell! I think they’re already acquainted!
I worked from home once. It was a Tuesday in March in, I think, 1987 or 2002. Maybe it was November. I remember it well.
It sounds like it was incredibly meaningful to you.
I like playing Russian Folk music for my working colleagues and wearing my PJ’s to the office. It works well for me.
Well, I guess we know who the office party animal is.
*looking around*
Funny, funny. I could get into the lounging part a little too easily. I think it’s the lottery for me, too!
The lounging part is very tempting, trust me. Eventually you get disgusted with yourself because you realize that you’ve worn the same pajama pants for a week straight.
I’m already having a hard time working from work – can we say, blogging? If I tried it from home, without any constraints to keep me honest, I’d be forced to go with Life Option #3 inside of a week. Anyone got the number for Shady Acres?
I need you to think long and hard about choosing option 3. Once you see Larry King naked, it’s not something you can unsee.
I think once I see Larry King naked the whole concept of “long and hard” will have been driven from my brain. http://tinyurl.com/2qr8dv
Oh, the bit about shitting your pants after too much tequila and baby quiches made me almost shit my pants. Who WOULDN’T shit their pants after such an evil concoction? It’s a recipe for biological failure and social shunning.
And working from home is nigh on impossible. How are you supposed to get any work done when you have a FRIDGE and YOUTUBE??
I can’t turn down a dare. Someone dared me to eat one baby quiche for every shot I took. So I took five shots and ate five baby quiches. I am here to tell you that FOUR is the limit, and five will send you into the “get me a new pair of underwear” zone.
My desk is right in front of the fridge. My roommate can no longer cook because I’ve taken up all the room, but I have easy access to cold pizza and leftover cheesecake. Basically, my diet kicks ass.
Hilarious! Working from home with kids during summer vacation takes the whole gig to a completely new level. Litter working area with Legos, crusts of sandwiches, and blast obnoxious cartoons on the TV…that’s getting closer. 🙂
Wait, you work when your kids are there? I demand proof because I can barely concentrate when the birds are chirping outside of my window.
I have worked at home for a while. For twelve years in fact ** before it was even fashionable ** I am currently unemployed at home, but the results are the same (minus the paycheck) Since 1995, I wake up, put on my shorts and t-shirt, put my hair in a pony tail and go into the office/spare bedroom. If I put on a pair of LONG PANTS, the dogs are “alert” but I could just be walking to the mail box. If I put on a BRA, that’s it! BRA means CAR and they are hell-bent to go.
Putting on a bra is a MAJOR win for me. I also have a Pavlovian response when I do it: I know it’s time for human interaction.
I always find that when I go to the office, work gets in the way of my day. Somehow I am so much more productive at home without all those distractions and emails and coworkers to talk to. Plus there is the heavenly manna of wearing your pajamas to your computer where no camels are harmed.
That should be in my e-signature: “No camels were harmed in the making of this e-mail”
Who would want to work from home if it means having to deal with my kid? Honestly, I wish I had a job outside of my home just so I could get a break from the whining, and the “I’m bored!”, and having to create play dates, and try to figure out something nutritious that my kid will eat, other than Annie’s Mac N Cheese. He’s an extremely picky eater with neuro issues, who melts down at least once a day. He’s 10. Don’t get me wrong, he has his awesome points, but I crave school starting up again.
My grandmother used to take care of me, my sisters and my cousins after school and during the summer- five kids all under the age of 14. How she didn’t strangle us, I’ll never know.
Hilarious post, and so helpful! I haven’t worn twill pants in I don’t know how long, and all the camels are grateful, believe me.
I left the office life nearly a year ago, and have spent this past year adjusting to being at home, getting up when I feel like it, and slogging all the way across the room to my computer to ‘work’. The treks to the bathroom and the kitchen are, while frequent, still quite exciting – the dog and the cat leave all sorts of obstacles to be found and dealt with. It’s amazing how one can hurt oneself tripping over an unstuffed stuffed raccoon in the middle of the night.
Your vag doesn’t know what to do now that it doesn’t have a pair of pants constantly trying to sneak inside of it! If I had pets or kids leaving stuff around the house, I’d probably kill myself. I have a hard enough time navigating around the four foot couch that hasn’t moved an inch since we moved in here.
Not sure if working at home is right for me. I’d miss all the assholes at work that piss me off and I’d have to take out my anger out on my family instead,
I’d like to hear the story about when you almost shit your pants too.
Penis.
Your family should be getting your coworkers presents for acting as a buffer between them and your anger.
Wise advice there. And hilarious too. What boss wouldn’t want to improve productivity by -7%? As for networking, networking, networking, isn’t that what social media and blogging is for?
When I ask for a raise I’m going to say to her, “The average employee improved their productivity by -7%, but I improved mine by -9%.” She’ll cry at the thought of being able to manage someone as awesome as I am.
I don’t know what other people use social media and blogging for, but I use them to feed my growing ego.
I love this! I work from home on Wednesdays and I call it my mini-weekend. Hair in a ponytail, yoga pants (w/ or w/o rip) and dinner gets thought about but not actually made. Hysterical! I’ve been too afraid to blog about it afraid I might jinx my karma! Well Done.
It is like a mini-weekend! Basically, it’s working in the type of environment that would make your boss sick to think about. Somehow, we still manage to be really productive!
things to practice today: outraged response to me sexually harassing myself. once i’ve got that down, the world is my mollusc! great post 🙂
I find that the first step in preventing self-sexual harassment is to take down all of the lurid images I have of myself hanging around the house.
Haha this was a great read, and very funny. Yes, it really is important to dress from success because it helps us get in the right frame of mind subconsciously and such. http://mcanetworkacademy.com/jasminepenn/2013/06/24/tips-on-how-to-work-from-home/
Actually, that’s true! Getting dressed and putting on makeup makes me feel really professional. Other days I feel like a teenager who has been given a fancy computer and too much responsibility.
That sounds pretty much like what I do most of the time. Though I’m kept sane by going out and meeting clients!
A note about the wardrobe – you tend to forget yourself so much that when the meeting actually comes up you have no idea what to wear… prepare two or three foolproof outfits and you’re saved 😉
You get to meet clients? How do you manage to stay socially savvy? I’ve found that my ability to mingle with people has seriously dwindled.
Haha, well yes, and quite a lot, so my working from home simply means not working in the office – but I’m either here or out and about. That’s why I haven’t gone crazy yet! (not saying you are :P)
Some thoughts:
1. Apparently I’ve been doing that before-work autosexualharrassment at the wrong time.
2. Army clothes are eerily similar to Garanimals *squinty, pissy look*
3. Penis, because Le Clown said.
4. Free ball!
5. What in the wide, wide world of sports do people have against Nickelback?
That is all.
1. That’s a good way to start a day!
2. Who needs the hassle of picking out an outfit when you get up at the crack of dawn?
3. Penis.
4. Free vag!
5. Their music makes me wish I didn’t have ears.
Oh.
The first thing I thought of when it comes to working from home.
The problem I’ve found is that it’s much harder to do one’s job from home when you don’t have a job.
The prequel to this post is titled, “Job: Get One”
Oh my gahhhhd. Hilarious. As always. I do want to work from home, and work out, and make healthy meals. Actually I’m just rather do that than work. I think I could successfully pawn off my work onto other people for 37 weeks before I got fired. Maybe I should try that. Thanks in advance for ending my career.
Does this mean that I’ll need to send you unemployment money? There should be malpractice insurance for writers.
Hahaha – maybe! You’re very persuasive. Well done : )
hee hee