Escaping Your Home Office From Hell™

10 Signs You Have a Home Office From Hell™

by Jeff Landers

In denial? Okay, check out this list. If any of this sounds even vaguely familiar, you may have a Home Office From Hell. (And by the way, all ten of these stories came from real entrepreneurs who wrote to me during our annual Home Office From Hell Contest—so no worries, you aren't alone.)

Sign number 10: "I want to hire an assistant, but we'd have to share a chair."
If your business is expanding faster than you have Office furniture for, or you are meeting with your clients in the hallway, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 9: "My husband thinks I need to get a real job."
If your husband or wife thinks that you spend your entire day chatting with the neighbors, or your mother-in-law is convinced you are running a drug cartel out of your living room, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 8: "My friends think that working at home means I never miss Days of Our Lives."
If you are like Rodney Dangerfield and you "don't get no respect" because your friends think you catch every episode of Dr. Phil and sleep until noon, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 7: "Starbucks is starting to encroach on my profits."
If you are conducting all your big meetings in the Science Fiction section of Barnes and Noble or you are working on your sixth Grande Frappuccino, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 6: "I realized today at 4 p.m. that I was still wearing pajamas."
If your idea of networking is talking to the cat, and you haven't been in a shower or out of the house in over a week, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 5: "I could die here and no one would ever know."
If you worry that it might be the smell that fi nally gets people to inquire about your business, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 4: "Why did God invent Oprah? How are we supposed to work when Oprah is on?"
If you are overwhelmed by the urge to climb back into bed or regularly feel a deep longing to do several loads of laundry

Sign number 3: "No, the baby doesn't go in the playpen. Important papers go in there."
so the baby can't get at them." If you fi nd yourself picking Cheerios out of your laptop, chasing the kids around the kitchen while conference-calling Stuttgart, and wiping peanut butter off your client's work, then you have a Home Office From Hell.

Sign number 2: "I feel like I live at the Office…wait! I do!"
If your workday ends two minutes before you drop into bed, or you are taking 4 A.M. phone calls from sleepless clients, then you have a Home Office From Hell. And last but not least…

Sign number 1: "Since you're home all day anyway, I need a favor…"
If you are picking up your wife's laundry, driving your friend to the airport, or running errands for your neighbors in the middle of your workday, then you have a Home Office From Hell. -