Your Story

I am looking for stories from people who have the freedom to work where and when they are most effective AND those who want that level of flexibility, but have not been able to get it. If you are (or would like to be) a free agent, corporate telecommuter, virtual office worker, or member of a progressive organization that encourages remote/mobile work, I would like to hear your story.

Tell me what you like about this freedom/autonomy. How does it affect performance (of you and your company)? What impact does it have on your personal life? How did you come to work this way? Did you have a "life changing" event? (Or why would you like to work this way?) What enables you to work this way? What obstacles did you have to overcome to get this flexibility? (Or, what is standing in the way of working this way?)

Feel free to send photos to illustrate your points about the advantages of the virtual workplace. (Please, no full frontal nudity.)

Then, tell me a little about yourself: the type of work you do, whether you work for a large company, small company, or yourself, and region where you live. Please provide your name if you would be willing to be interviewed about your perspective or would like to correspond with others about your situation (if it gets posted on this site). I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Send your story to me at ccf8@cornell.edu

Tales from the Virtual Workplace

Photos of Dean Koyanagi exploring new ways to use remote/mobile technology

Dean Koyanagi Researcher, Human-Computer Interaction group Cornell University drk5@cornell.edu

My email address is the sole "fixed point" of a 100 percent virtual organization that publishes a successful regional tourism and relocation webzine. The organizational structure, or lack of it, evolved out of my own desire to not have a receptionist, payroll, or even an office.I have those in other businesses I own or control, and resolved to take what was, then ('95), the more difficult task of going virtual,- because in the longer term- it would allow me to stand up the business wherever there was a phone jack. In the short run, I knew that it would allow me to focus on broad development issues instead of mundane business tasks. Over the past few years, things have gotten much easier.Web access is nearly omnipresent, and many applications have become browser-based, so no special hardware or software is required. If I can get to a browser, I'm in. That said, the most difficult obstacle to overcome has been to break the "need-to-talk-on-the-phone" habit in others.Three years ago, I caused quite a stir when I went to a rather large meeting and, when asked for business cards, gave them one with only an email address.That card still causes a stir. A small, but increasing number "get it" right away -- a sign of the acceptance of the virtual workplace.

A large number of people still insist on trying to contact me by phone, even calling other businesses I own and asking how to "find" me.They are politely told that they will need to communicate by email.When others insist (usually upon meeting me somewhere and asking for a card) that there MUST be a way to call me, I have simply told them that, in order to do business with me, email is required.In short, I use email as both a screening mechanism for unwelcome calls and to pre-qualify a prospective client. An interesting note, however, is that I will not use AIM or ICQ, they are intrusive.I find I can maintain 3 or 4 on-going email exchanges at any given time -- not the case with instant messages. But I digress.

The second largest "problem" encountered has been the fax habit, obviously an extension of the aforementioned phone syndrome.

Personal life, in an internet business, and perhaps for untethered workers in general seems to suffer.If computers, email, and web-based businesses are omnipresent, then so is the "work desk."

But, the REAL biggie...... I find that I need to operate on two time planes, internet time and clock time. I find that I am more and more impatient with those in the real world --they move so slowly!! How can one possibly wait a month to discuss a contract at a board meeting?! Past ways of doing business, such as taking 3 or 4 days off to attend a trade show seem ludicrous.By the time all costs are calculated, I'm likely to do more cost-effective business in a morning's email than I'll do in 4 days of attending a show.

Bob Jordan http://www.BobJordan.com

The Outer Banks of North Carolina http://www.outerbanks.com

CoastalGuide http://www.coastalguide.com

StateGuide http://www.stateguide.com

I founded and am CEO of a startup called Sports Futures, Inc.We're an online entertainment company that has focused on first on sports media before expanding horizontally.Our mission is to entertain people while engaging them in real world events, and to measure their confidence in the outcome of these events.We develop technologies that enable individuals to predict in a public forum the outcome of events.We also aggregate these user predictions into intuitive quantitative metrics that represent the consensus opinions of distinct user groups.Our first implementation of this technology is the SPORTSDAQ.com market, a complete electronic exchange in which fictitious sports securities ("contracts") are traded.

For the past 18 months I have worked on building and then running the company from my Manhattan apartment, while my co-founder did the same from his Haight-Ashbury apartment in San Francisco.Our CTO does the same from Boston.Our lead developer does the same from Long Island, and we have another developer who does the same from San Francisco.5 full-time staff all home-based.We are still going to have people in Boston, NY, and SF indefinitely, but we are growing now and have just opened NY offices for the 2 (for now) of us here in NY.We'll be doing the same in SF shortly.

Andrew Hoppin http://www.sportsdaq.com