Power Out? Self-employed have difficult choices
The power outage here in the Pacific Northwest has caused us Pimps to take a hard look at our disaster plans. This is especially true since Tris is working from home as a standard practice and there are self-employed people who depend only on themselves to run the business.
The most interesting thing that I have learned from power being out is this: a generator running the house is really the only option to enable a person to continue running their home business.
The reason is simple: without power, you are constantly scrambling to find warmth in the cold, food, showers, gasoline for your car, and Internet access. Not to mention keeping cell phones, Blackberry type devices, and laptops charged and going. You can’t really allow much thought and time to go into maintaining your business, much less moving it forward.
I have a mondo generator, a Generac with 6500 watts to run things, — my entire house except for my electric stove and oven. The deal is, I moved to Seattle-land and rented and didn’t spend the $700 or so to really get the generator to plug into the entire house electrical system like I did when I lived in the Midwest.
The contrast is striking. In the Midwest, hooked to the house electrical system, I had hot showers in the morning. Internet access (and ham radio access as well). Cooking via a microwave. Furnace running and keeping warm. Even television to keep up with the news. All available to me in the Midwest, but not available to me here because I didn’t take the last step to be “generator ready.”
Of course, all this is trumped by a tree crashing through your roof — which happened at least 3,000 times here in the Pacific Northwest from this storm so far. I simply had two trees fall in the back yard and the current quote for getting them out of there is February of next year. Such is life when disaster happens.
If you’re self-employed or always working from home, seriously consider the cost of keeping your whole house running with a generator compared to losing business (and all sorts of personal stress) because no power means no access. The cost-benefit ratio might surprise you.
Oh…how am I writing this post with no power in the house? It’s a Pimpalicious work tip you’ll see from me tomorrow morning.
It’s on the house.
Tags: Staying Sane, Survival SkillsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: General work pimps, Staying Sane, Survival Skills
1 opinion for Power Out? Self-employed have difficult choices
Tris Hussey
Dec 19, 2020 at 10:30 am
I’m thinking of a 3000w genny for home. Enough for the fridge, cable modem, router, and laptop. Okay maybe the TV and stuff. Nothing too huge.
Hmm, on the house … tad rainy for solar isn’t it? ;)
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