Working from home is great. It also sucks.

Freedom and tacos.

When a person starts a new position or job that allows them to work from home an immediate jolt of excitement about the expected freedom. The mind immediately wanders to being able to sleeping in, walking the dog a few times a day, and quietly disappearing from email for a few hours to have tacos with a friend. How awesome! Plus, the benefits are backed from legitimate academic research with studies from Stanford showing that teleworkers are 13% more productive when working from home. Win for the worker -Win for the company.  Case closed. Start scheduling taco dates. (Drop mic. Walk off. )

Hello?

The benefits of working are incredibly appealing to being less stress form commutes, having fewer sick days, flexibility, and increased leisure time. Sadly it’s not all sunshine and roses (dang!) and the drawbacks start to show themselves after a few weeks with a sense of isolation (No, Ellen can’t hear you), anxiety about the separation of work and personal space (that’s not a book shelf anymore but a filling cabinet) ,  and constant distractions of laundry and family running in and out. The good news is that coworking allows remote workers to eat their cake and have it too.

Sometimes is enough.

Creative Density has tiered coworking plans designed for remote home workers that enjoy working from home…sometimes. Many remote workers use a coworking space two or three days a week to be part of a professional community that offers them a chance to share ideas and work through unexpected work problems.

Beyond the social benefit coworking starts to build that wall between the home and work life that gives the kids back their kitchen table for arts and crafts versus work  reports and excel print outs.

Try coworking. You and your family just might like it.