I saw a blog entry today on Problogger from someone saying she is a "location independent professional". After immediately thinking that sounded a whole lot like a "hook of a brand-like name" (straight from the Wally Bock laugh from earlier this week), I was intrigued enough to click on the link. So what is a location independent professional? Basically someone who can do their job from anywhere in the world as long as they have their laptop and an internet connection.

So what’s the problem?

The problem with this wonderful fantasy is that reality eventually sets in. Yes, technically, I am a "location independent professional" myself, as I have worked from many locations here in the Bay Area as well as while visiting another state. All I need is a high-speed connection, my laptop, and my business phones which are cellular anyway. But working while traveling is not the best idea for maximizing productivity because success often lies in the routine. This is especially true with writing, where setting aside time every day to write is a very important exercise to keep you motivated and working. Although I don’t always practice this myself (I do try!), I really think that you need a mental space to program your brain to work. Even if you work from home, the routine you go through to get yourself working for the day tells your brain "OK, it’s time to work now!", and I’d imagine productivity would suffer if you were constantly in a new time zone with a new routine. (Yes, maybe some people would thrive on such a system, but I believe they are the exception, and not the rule.)

Work/life Balance

Along with that routine of shifting gears, you do need some sort of barrier between your professional and personal lives. I know that many entrepreneurs think that such barriers don’t exist, because they often juggle so many things simultaneously. This, however, is a great way to burn yourself out. True success is not in the sprint, but in the marathon, and in order to make it for the long haul you need to have some separation in those parts of yourself. Your mind will never learn to be in the present of what you are doing if you continually run it full speed in both parts of your self.

What about family and responsibilities?

As a good laugh, this was my favorite part of the promise of working from a beach in Maui: Did you just leave your spouse and children at home to work there for a few months? Sure, that lifestyle is great when you are young and single, but eventually you get lonely and want to settle down. At this point in my life, I have a husband with a non "location independent professional" type job, and a toddler with a routine and a friend’s house she plays at every day. Moving around is not only disruptive to your work schedule—it is disruptive to your whole family. This is why this working on the beach fantasy comes to an end when reality hits!

And the long lead-in award goes to …

I am mentioning this at all because this is a typical promise for work-at-home business opportunities: "Live the lifestyle of your dreams!" "Own houses and sports cars!" "Work 2 hours a day and make enough money to retire at 40!" In the real world, work at home professionals are people just like myself—moms who want to have more time with their kids, dads tired of commuting every day, grandparents who want supplemental income after they retire. This is why a business partner and I are launching a site in 2008 that gives people the real deal on working from home and how to evaluate work at home opportunities. I feel good about getting this site launched every time I see some of these silly work-for-yourself claims, because real people need realistic expectations of what they are getting themselves into before they invest their time or money. So stay tuned, because you’ll be hearing more about this site up until it’s launch day.