A HOT TUB ON THE DECK DELIVERS A “STAYCATION” EVERY DAY

June 9, 2009

Our Olympic Hot Tub Company customer, Nancy Juetten-who from her home office runs a very successful public relations business and is famous for her do-it-yourself Publici-TeaTM Workshops, sent me an email recently about how she uses her hot tub to separate “work” from “home” -a hard thing to do while running a home based business. But having a hot tub has helped! Read her email:

“My husband and I both operate small businesses from home offices, and that means that getting away for a vacation doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to –when we were working for bigger companies and earned paid time off.

One of the ways we address that situation is by making our home as spa and vacation-like as possible. We have a fabulous hot tub (a Hot Spring Spa Aria Model) that sits just outside our office door. It’s the perfect place to get away and relax … in our own backyard. We find that we have some of our best conversations while soaking in the hot tub. You have to unplug and let the soothing water soak your troubles away so you can think big thoughts and ponder possibilities as opposed to problems.

The home we own has our office spaces downstairs. Our family space is upstairs. We try to keep separation between the two since we have a 12-year-old son who also demands and deserves our attention.

This seems to work pretty well for us. And, since the weather in Seattle is beautiful in the summer, that takes away the sting of not flying away to exotic places when we really are pretty happy to vacation in our own backyard.”

Making the separation from work if you do work at home is a challenge. Nancy handles it well and knows when to “quit working” for the day.  She is adept at using her “down time” (not that anyone running a home-based business has down time!) to dream and think of new ideas..something that doesn’t usually happen when you’re sitting at a desk with a computer screen.

Her email reminded me of another couple who worked at home. The purchased a Hot Spring Spa so that they could “quit work” at 5:30, shut off the computers, leave their desks and go out to the hot tub. When they came in the house 30 minutes later, they were “home” for the evening.  They used  the hot tub in a very ingenious way to save their sanity and give themselves a “home life”.

More and more people work from home these days. If you’re working from home, a hot tub is the best addition you can make to your “home office”.

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.