| Q |
What do you do? |
| A |
We jointly run www.able2translate.co.uk. We can handle any form of Russian/ Ukrainian/ English translations and Web Page creation. I have a degree in Cybernetics and my wife was a former Soviet Union State Lawyer. We are now essentially trying to get 2 businesses off the ground, translation and web site creation. It would be nice to get work that would combine the two activities for able2translate. We have only been working from home for 2 months and everything is very much in a state of flux. |
| Q |
Where do you work at home? |
| A |
We work in a spare bedroom which we have converted into an office. |
| Q |
Do you manage to keep your work and home life separate? |
| A |
Not entirely but our work is also our hobby, so this excuses a multitude of sins. At the moment almost our entire awake hours are used in one way or another in our new venture. |
| Q |
What is the best thing about working from home? |
| A |
Having more control over your life and the direction it will take and not having to worry about finding a child minder. |
| Q |
What are the negative points about working at home? |
| A |
I can see that working at home could become a little isolated and insular from the outside world. |
| Q |
How do you cope with the isolation of working at home? |
| A |
We our both so busy that it is something that we are aware of but does not yet bother us to any great extent. |
| Q |
What was the deciding factor to help you to decide to work from home? |
| A |
I was made redundant and found it very difficult to find work that makes best use of my education and my wife was having similar problems, as she has been in the country less than a year. |
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| Q |
Does your homeworking pay the bills? |
| A |
Not yet, my wife and I both have part time jobs but we are starting to get more enquiries and the work is beginning to come in. |
| Q |
How did you manage financially when you first started working at home? |
| A |
Our part time work covers the bills and we are having to work very long hours to get the business going and keep everything together. |
| Q |
What sort of work did you do before you worked at home? |
| A |
I am a former aircraft fitter and did a degree late in life, after a one year contract working as a computer support programmer found it difficult to gain further work. Snezhanna was a State Lawyer working in the Ukraine. |
| Q |
How do you cope with distractions at home? |
| A |
With great difficulty but we find the best way is to try and organise our lives in to separate compartments with different allocated times for each activity but this is of course easier said than done and often does not work out as intended. |
| Q |
How do you manage your time? |
| A |
The same as above really and we each have our own tasks but also have to be ready to change our plans at a moments notice. |
| Q |
What advice would you suggest to someone considering working from home? |
| A |
- Plan as much as possible in advance and try to seek the advice of others doing similar activities.
- Never give up, just when you think that it is not working out, the next big job may be coming over the horizon.
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