Written by By Elena Purcell, CNN YASU YAMAGUCHI, CNN |
They never could work from home.
These are the stories of social media mavens, celebrities, influencers and business owners on why they never gave into the lure of desk-bound hours that seem so tempting to many.
Jaeger editor in chief Cynthia Joseph has worked on the brand for 25 years, but would never get paid for work she does from home.
“You could take your laptop and write almost anywhere, but if you want to produce quality, edit quality, that takes time,” she says.
An intern discovered that Joseph was busy freelancing in New York when her schedule allowed, and took over the posts.
AzMarie Lowe, social media star, YouTube host and author, does all her videos from her LA apartment. “I’d rather be in the immediate proximity of my fans, rather than have two people on Skype because Skype sucks” she says.
Catherine Creighton, founder of women’s fashion website Finery, explains why she struggles to get her work done at work.
“I look at the first graphic designs I made when I was 22, I still make great ones, but when I wake up in the morning and I’m in my pyjamas and getting ready to go to work, it’s a different feeling… it’s a little more natural,” she says.
Pigeon droppings and all. More images of celebrities and influencers working from home. Credit: Peter Burn, natapelburn/efpix/Shutterstock
How these workers and other people found their footing outside of the office can change the way we look at hours worked.
MORE WORK-LIFE CONFLICT TRENDS
In the North American “90-hours-a-week club” this is particularly common.
Harriet Rosenthal, CEO of co-working space company Hub CEDA, says she believes there are more London-based people working late into the evening than people in the US.
That kind of flexible working can be considered fair, but it can still be incompatible with sitting down at a desk all day.
In West Hollywood, California, “The Balance” blogger Rachel Fitch is devoted to her dual job and growing her budding business.
“I think it’s more of a ‘collaboration’ than an ‘award-winning work-life balance.’ No one works the same amount,” Fitch says.
For the majority of the people we spoke to, Facebook and Instagram were the place to work, rarely if ever in the office.
“I hate going to the office… My family struggles when I am so far away, and they think I am really missing out on a lot,” Lowe says.
Twitter star Rachael O’Brien doesn’t want to encourage people to work from home by saying she works from home all the time.
“I do everything from there, from the Starbucks down the road,” she says.
If she was able to do it from home, she’d work from home hours most days, but feels it is worth the extra commute time to better her skills in her work.
“I work in less than 1,000 words per month so it’s not a speed of writing I can attain at home,” she says.