Sofa Surfing – A View of the Business World

Sofa Surfing – A View of the Business World from Carmel Valley

I often read about the difficulties of working from home and find that now that my kids are grown and moved out for the most part, working from home is a far more desirable and productive situation than any of the myriad of offices I spent the better part of 25 years commuting to.  Don’t get me wrong, a nice office that someone else cleans with an IT department down the hall has lots of appeal but for getting the work done, there is nothing like a lack of distraction to getting stuff done.

While some may prefer a cubicle, I guarantee you that it is not for the sake of getting work done but more often to be in the middle of a social scene that has nothing to do with business productivity.  Open offices may be all the trend but it may be because they are cheaper, you can cram more folks into a smaller space and it is easier to see if someone is doing online shopping or browsing FaceBook when they should be working.  It’s been sometime since I worked in a cubicle and I do remember that there were only three of us in the space but the guy in the middle spent most of the day tuning in on what the other two were doing.  It was a good learning experience for him but he really didn’t get much work done until the other two of us when home for the night.

Having spent the last nine years in a home office, I can’t really say that I feel a sense of isolation.  Between phone calls, 100-200 emails a day, conference calls and screen sharing sessions, I am interacting with clients, vendors, the media and collaborators all over the world while minimizing my drive time and carbon footprint.

In a future column, I’ll talk about the World Wide Web and the analytics that you can get for free from Google.  Feel free to read about Google Analytics in the meantime.

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Mike Sick is an independent marketing consultant that has worked businesses and clients around the world from his home office in Carmel Valley since 2003.  Having worked with over 50 businesses in a cross section of industries, Mike will write about tips and tricks learned along the way to help you grow or start your business.  Prior to starting his business, Mike was a migrant marketing worker that traveled around the country as a corporate marketing executive.  He has worked for many well known brands including Jack In The Box, Pearle Vision and Arby’s where he was a Marketing VP.  Having worked with a number of inventors, Mike was inspired to invent his own product, a body surfing paddle called the Surf-Grip.  So now even a trip to the beach has a business angle!  A long time volunteer with Connect Springboard, Mike will also introduce San Diego start-ups and Carmel Valley entrepreneurs in his column.  The Sickness is the belief you can get better every day.  Go for it!