My Year Of "Work At Home" Reflection

FromUndaCheese

FromUndaCheese

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For over 3 years my dream was to quit the dead end cubicle j-o-b and work from home. In 2007 I started to look for ways to make money from home, and stumbled upon Affiliate Marketing. I built a few flogs, got into berry and Google kit slinging before it all got shit canned, and last December I got banned by Google and quit the day job with enough cash to sit on my ass for 10 years. So I packed up my shit and moved to San Diego like every other Internet Marketing Idiot.

I have come to the conclusion that working from home sucks ass. The monotony, the lonliness, the myfreecams.com surfing, the Sportscenter reruns, Price is Right, and McDonalds breakfast 7 days a week is driving me insane.

My daily routine since last December is as follows:

8AM- Wake Up, check stats, put Sportscenter on
9AM- Stroll over to Mcdonalds with Macbook Pro
11AM- Stroll back home, Surf myfreecams.com, troll Warrior Forum, Digital Point, and Wickedfire
3PM- Watch Oprah, Dr Phil, Dr Oz for Campaign Ideas and Google Trends
6PM- Order Pizza (Papa Johns BBQ Chicken) , tweak sites, watch NBA, NFL, and Netflix
1AM- Bed

Following that routine has put 60 pounds on me and Massive Insomnia.

For some reason it seems like we all are hardwired to want to sit on our ass at home all day doing nothing. Well, do nothing for a year and see how you feel. If you have a day job right now, and you loathe it, and all you can dream about is the day when you can sit on the beach drinking Coronas, please stop dreaming and just enjoy your day.

Odds are, after you quit, your gonna miss it. Now, i'm not saying that having enough cash on hand gives you a sense of freedom. It surely does, but when everyone you know works all day, you have to wait til they get off in order to do anything.

My plan for 2011 is to get an office, start working out, hire some staff, create a tech incubator, and actually go to work everyday. Sittting at home is driving me insane.

Why do you think that everyone wants to live the "Work At Home" dream? It's not a dream at all.

My advice: Dream of being a business owner, having an office, working with great people, and having the freedom to work when you want, and make the money you want.

Freedom is the true dream.

Cast_Away1.jpg
 


Try to not to pawn off your lack of self-control and obvious laziness on the entire "work from home" dream.

Have a shake in the morning instead of McDonalds. Force yourself to work on campaigns X hours a day no matter how you are feeling, get a gym membership and go an hour a day, and stop eating pizza every night.

Join local sports teams instead of watching sports all night.

Im not meaning to come off as crass, but you really just sound like a lazy sod that has let yourself fall into a rut.
 
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I hear ya. Over the past 5 years I worked in two tech startups. Both started out with everyone working from home offices before progressing to formal office spaces.

I don't like reporting in to an office, but, it's nice to have a place to go to for work and a place to come back to for relaxation.

Psychologically I think it's important that we have some well-defined place to get up and go to. Whether it's a home office, a coffee shop or a library. And even if it's the home office, you still need to force yourself to shave every once in a bit :)

These days I prefer the coffee shop. I'll take it over a cubicle any day.
 
Learning to work by yourself takes time, a lot of time. But it's worth making it happen. You can do all the things you say you want to do in an office from home and skip the office expense. You don't have to have employees to work with great people.

I've been self-employed since 1987 -- probably before most of the folks here were born. I worked at home for 3 years and got an office and staff in 1990. After selling the company in 2003, I started working from home again. Each time it's taken some adjustment. But now after 7 years I wouldn't have it any other way.

Think of it this way -- those sites you spend a few hours on each day? Well, you could spend that time on them from anywhere in the world you want.

The problem isn't working at home. It's you. You can make of it whatever you want. You seem to want to hang out waiting for something to happen.

Take your laptop and your car and drive to Tuscon, AZ or somewhere and work there for a while. Check out Key West or Jamaica.

Or, get up, work out, skip Mikey Ds and take a walk on the beach instead of watching porn.

You'll get the hang of it.
 
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I have had a similar experience. Back in late 2009 and 2010 I had the great idea of dropping out of school, becoming a hermit (rented a small office to myself and sat there all day, even my room mate told me he barely ever saw me.), and doing nothing but working on campaigns. It's pretty miserable and lonely; eventually I got so sick of it that I started making less money than when I was in school with 1000 different distractions.

Switch it up. I signed up for fitness classes (Crossfit FTW), boxing lessons to get in shape. Came back to school, taking easier classes and getting more involved with my peers. I did some research about what aff networks and traffic sources are near me and built better relationships (in person) with people I work with. Went to a couple of networking events and I'm planning to join the Chamber of Commerce. Feels good man, and I'm making more money now. Humans are social animals and you'll die an agonizing death by loneliness.

You're in SD, hit up some locals, there are a ton in your area. Smaxor from A4D and his crew, Ryan from Bevo, and a ton of Wickedfire peeps are out there. Go get a drink with them. Join Crossfit that's near you (I'm sure there is one) and get into the best shape of your life.

We're throwing a meetup in Los Angeles in early December if the drive isn't too much for you. Hit me up for details, the link is in my sig.

BTW: Getting an office is overrated imo. If you're thinking of doing what I did, i.e. getting an office in a large office building, you'll probably won't be able to meet other people beside the secretary all too much. Everyone seems to be busy at what they're doing if they're hard workers, and if they're employees they're trying their best to focus on their lunch break or when they get home.
 
Yes, not having people around you to "judge" you for being a lazy ass is certainly a demotivator. Everyone here has that tendency. Losing focus for even an hour can turn into an entire afternoon wasted.

Sign up for Toodledo, download the Firefox plugin, and set your tasks on it and leave the plugin open while you are using your browser. Having those tasks on the side of your browser all the time helps keep focused.

Stop drinking soft drinks and microwave as little as you can. I gained 40 pounds last year because the amount of time I have to stay up to get everything done and lack of a routine in sleeping and eating. I gave up soft drinks (alas Mountain Dew you are missed) a little over three weeks ago and lost about 4 pounds, and am feeling healthier.

Did you know that microwaving foods changes the chemical composition and destroys a lot of nutrients? All cooking does, but microwaving destroys around 97% or something. So, people who eat a lot of microwavable dinners tend to be vastly unhealthy since they aren't getting the nutrients they think they are.

Changing those above three things will make you feel a lot better since you'll get shit done and be healthier.

Oh yeah, and good luck with the office, gym, etc.
 
Either you're relying too much on your business to define your sense of self(worth), or you lack diverse life experiences, or both. Your business should be a little slave-machine that produces income for you so that you can enjoy a fulfilling life.

People who know what they want in life, are passionate about non-income-related things and are generally well-rounded will live the same life whether they earn money from home or at a job.

Did your social life by any chance almost entirely revolve around your coworkers when you were at your cubicle j.o.b? Your sense of self has be to anchored to yourself + ubiquitous and stable aspects of the world. Because if you do, you will become a very adaptable person wherever you go and whatever you do.

Learn to enjoy things that, for example, you will still be able to enjoy if society as we know it collapsed tomorrow. Hiking sounds like a good example. So does the art of ménage à trois'.
 
are you making any real money?

the reason I ask is the guys making a couple mill a year at this never seem to fall into this rut i see all the time with IM guys. however, the guys making like 30k-80k a year I DO see fall into this all the time. its almost like they dont take it like a real job.

dont answer it here.. just think to yourself where your at and why you feel comfortable all of a sudden
 
OP, sounds like ANYONE would be miserable doing what you were doing. Did you completely give up your social life? Sounds like you did nothing but sit in your house. Damn, get out, go drinking, pursue some hobbies.

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

Bob Dylan


The point of working from home is having the freedom to do the things you love most when you're not doing your work.
 
BluAffiliate said:
I have had a similar experience. Back in late 2009 and 2010 I had the great idea of dropping out of school, becoming a hermit (rented a small office to myself and sat there all day, even my room mate told me he barely ever saw me.), and doing nothing but working on campaigns. It's pretty miserable and lonely; eventually I got so sick of it that I started making less money than when I was in school with 1000 different distractions.

Switch it up. I signed up for fitness classes (Crossfit FTW), boxing lessons to get in shape. Came back to school, taking easier classes and getting more involved with my peers. I did some research about what aff networks and traffic sources are near me and built better relationships (in person) with people I work with. Went to a couple of networking events and I'm planning to join the Chamber of Commerce. Feels good man, and I'm making more money now. Humans are social animals and you'll die an agonizing death by loneliness.

You're in SD, hit up some locals, there are a ton in your area. Smaxor from A4D and his crew, Ryan from Bevo, and a ton of Wickedfire peeps are out there. Go get a drink with them. Join Crossfit that's near you (I'm sure there is one) and get into the best shape of your life.

We're throwing a meetup in Los Angeles in early December if the drive isn't too much for you. Hit me up for details, the link is in my sig.

BTW: Getting an office is overrated imo. If you're thinking of doing what I did, i.e. getting an office in a large office building, you'll probably won't be able to meet other people beside the secretary all too much. Everyone seems to be busy at what they're doing if they're hard workers, and if they're employees they're trying their best to focus on their lunch break or when they get home.
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Second this post. Blu, didn't realize you're into CrossFit too. I have a CrossFit + Swimming regime that works best for me. Finally feeling good after being overseas for nearly 6 weeks - came back feeling like ass and had to battle back. Strength is still WAY down, but my swims are better at least.

Anyway concerning the OP... some people aren't meant to be on their own. Some people need a boss telling them what to do. We're not all independents/alphas. Someone's gotta be the followers in society, hate to say.

I have my fair share of bad days... I think we all do. But a bad year? Time for major change.
 
^ The fact that the OP hated his job and ultimately earned enough money online to "sit on his ass for 10 years" indicates that he probably isn't a "follower" and actually is more of an "independent" - a sheep would have lost thousands to gurus promising spoon-fed instructions by now.

Ultimately the problem is that he doesn't know how to have fun. It's like a computer that has successfully upgraded its software/hardware but doesn't have any games installed.

(OP do NOT take up computer games IRL, especially a MMORPG)

Looks like you forgot that you forgot how to enjoy life. "Working from home" was your goal, and you achieved it. Now that you achieved it, find a new goal that takes advantage of the positive aspects of such a lifestyle rather than bitching about a life that you created for yourself.
 
It sounds like your issue is more of laziness and lack of fun shit to do.

- Go to the grocery store, buy some decent food, learn how to cook
- Add a physical activity into your day. For fuck sakes you like in San Diego, its nice EVERY DAY. There is hot ass EVERYWHERE.
- Find something you enjoy and spend your free time doing it

I would blow my brains out if I had your routine. I work from home 100% and wouldn't trade it for the world.
 
This is what I do and I love life:

1. Wake Up Around 8 am
2. Check Stats
3. Eat healthy breakfast
4. Work online until around 1p, eat healthy lunch in that time.
5. Go to Gym (about 2 hours weights and cardio)
6. Come home work a little more until around 4.
7. Either spend time with daughter/wife or hang with friends.
8. Healthy dinner, work a little more or fuck off,, sometimes work and fucking off I consider the same thing as I dont consider what I do work.

Life is fucking awesome!


For some reason it seems like we all are hardwired to want to sit on our ass at home all day doing nothing.
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This is called isolating, you need to get out of the fucking house and do something.. you could be depressed.
 
lol sometimes i think i should get a part time job for fun. I havent been at a job for a year now. i stilll like it, but i feel like its too silent for me. I like to socialize and always chilled with co workers. Now i just listen to sports talk radio all day all night while i work at making monies online.
 
Dude, ya, you are just lazy, so stfu and get your ass to the gym. I work from home too. However I cook for myself, and buy organic food. Go to the gym and go for walks all the time. There is nobody stopping you from doing all this.
 
I think the fact that you admit you watch Oprah and Dr. Phil for "campaign ideas" is telling. That pretty sums it up dude. No serious affiliate or business owner watches that bullshit every day for "campaign ideas." As others have said, you're just a lazy fuck sheeple who happened to make some easy money pushing scam offers. If you have any sense at all, you'd save/invest whatever money you have left because if you haven't figured shit out by now, chances are you never will and you'll be back working for the man soon.
 
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