Self-Employed Celebrate Working Naked Day
Tuesday is a holiday – for people who make their living in their pajamas, anyway.
Today is the second annual Working Naked Day – a day WorkingNaked.com founder and home office expert Lisa Kanarek said she created to celebrate the freedom home office professionals have to follow their own rules. And home-working professionals across the country are celebrating in their own way.
Craig Wolfe, president of CelebriDucks a company that creates rubber ducks of the greatest icons of film, music, history and athletics, which have been voted one of the top 100 gifts by Entertainment Weekly – runs his company out of his California home and outsources work to “the best people worldwide ... no mater where they live.”
“To celebrate Working Naked, I am going to put on my wolf boxers -- yes, I really have them -- put on my Elvis tapes, and reminisce about all the fun working-at-home stories I have, such as negotiating my dual license with the NBA and Coca-Cola stark naked with shaving cream on my face one morning at home when they called and had me on a conference call,” Wolfe said.
Ori Bengal, a business coach and consultant, said he hopes Working Naked Day will inspire others to take the next step toward working on their own terms.
“In this day and age, we have such abundance, and so much access to inspiration and information, that people are finally starting to look for purpose and meaning, rather than ‘just paying the bills,’" Bengal said. “I celebrate it because like Thanksgiving, it is important to take time out to celebrate something we are grateful for. I am grateful for my freedom, and I think that everyone should have the freedom that they choose.”
Not only will Bengal be working in his boxers Tuesday, he also said he plans to video Skype at least five people who work in an office to show them what they are missing. He also will: post a video blog in his boxers about Working Naked Day; go for a jog and get an oil change – two things that he said would be a hassle if he had an office job; spend quality time with close friends; and, while he’s doing all that, wear a “I’m working naked, are you?” shirt, courtesy of Kanarek.
Some, on the other hand, are marking the holiday by getting down to business.
Dave Yankowiak, a freelance web developer who runs Lift Development out of his home and coworking space in Grand Rapids, MN, said instead of undressing, he dressed up for work today and wrote a list of goals he has for his business for the next 365 days.
Dan Brantley, who is pursuing a career in voice acting and provides voiceovers for commercials, audio books, narration, games, voice-mail systems, and other outlets, spends many of his days working or looking for work, the latter of which he likely will be doing Tuesday – in the buff, of course.
Brantley said he went out on his own because he was “entirely unsuited for corporate life.”
“I was a lousy employee,” he said. “I chafed under needless restrictions, laughed at inappropriate times, and generally hated the idea of a slow death by paycheck.”
For these home workers, the idea of going back to a “regular” office job where someone else is in charge is unfathomable. After tasting the freedom working for one’s self brings – despite certain headaches such as having to do one’s own administrative tasks, having to work for every paycheck, or trying to stay focused amid household distractions – these professionals who celebrate Working Naked Day said they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I celebrate Working Naked Day because it has really changed my life. The thought of clocking in at 8 a.m. and getting dirty looks for leaving before 6 p.m. is not my idea of fun,” said Natasha Nelson, founder of NN Public Relations Inc., who worked for eight years in large advertising, marketing and PR agencies before starting her own home-based company.
“The concept of ‘working naked’ is something that I just love and would never change now.”