30-plus years of working from home—together

How Michael and Judy Yublosky have made their work life work while while working from home

As part of our workplace wellness month, My Home Office Hacks continues to look at couples who live and work together—also at home. The latest installment comes from Michael Yublosky. He and his wife Judy have worked remotely for the past 33 years and counting. Still working and still married, here’s his take on how to successfully cohabitate and work.

My wife Judy and I have worked from home since 1990 and still do. We overcame many challenges over the years. I’d like to share some of the most vivid ones and how we managed. I hope our stories help if you find yourself in the same life-work situation.

I office in a spare bedroom in our modest split level in a northwest suburb of Chicago. Judy works in the basement, which she lovingly calls the 'dungeon.'

Read the rest of the article.

Recommended business books

Since so many My Home Office Hacks readers are also business owners, we thought it would be nice to share sources of inspiration. So, I asked my B2B networking group for their favorites. Here are a few that came up:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Up the Loyalty Ladder by Murray Raphel and Neil Raphel

Do you have any favorite business books? Please leave your favorite in the comments below.

Cousin Hendry’s musings

“Cousin Hendry” - Henry DelAngelo of Your Key to College

I love my cousin Henry. Molder of young minds as an educator and high school guidance counselor. Master cartographer of helping those youts (yes, I said ‘utes’) chart the right path post high school as the principal at Your Key to College. Cousin Hendry often has rare and introspective thoughts that go beyond the world of academia. Here’s one.

“It is now more years past 1999 than years before 1999 when Prince released his song 1999 in 1983.”

Just be with that one for a moment.

Inspiring quote of the week

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.” — Hafiz, Persian poet

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30-plus years of working from home—together cont.

The basement was dug ‘extra deep’ when the house was built. This raised the low ceiling under the living room so we can walk fully erect instead of stooping over. Thus there are almost three flights of stairs separating the ‘office’ levels.

Judy’s showroom was in the main part of the dungeon for almost 30 years. She ran a party planning business and regularly met clients there to show her centerpiece creations.

Now she works on her computer and the internet in the dungeon. Her online activities include co-hosting our several Zoom classes and programs as well as attending other online programs.

Judy also helps immigrants study for the U.S. citizenship test. She has been doing this for the past 24 years and teaches group classes via Zoom and also mentors individuals.

We’ve had challenges adopting to our working relationship over the decades. According to Judy: “We have been doing this for so long that it is second nature. Issues that we may have had in the beginning have long since been ironed out.” 

In the beginning our challenges were mainly interruptions and working around our school aged daughter’s schedule. We managed through it by setting up certain signals.

I had to wait If I wanted to speak with Judy while she was entertaining a client. Her signal was closing the door to the basement half way. This also prevented visitors from glancing into the family room where I watched TV at times.

A closed office door signaled ‘no interruptions’ while I worked on an important project. Sometimes the signal was successful, sometimes it wasn’t. Now that we work more closely together sometimes we frighten each other when we unintentionally ‘sneak’ up without making noise.

Communicating was challenging at times. This was especially true when one of us answered our business line and the call was for the other. The business calls were mainly for Judy for the first 20 years. But our rule was if I was at home I would answer after two rings instead of letting the call go to voice mail. It was more personal and customer oriented.

I would often put the caller on hold and walk down two flights to see if the basement door was half open or if I could hear voices. Then I knew she had a client and I shouldn’t interrupt. The role was sometimes reversed and Judy made the climb up three flights.    

This was before cell phones and running wires in the split level house was nearly impossible. We tried wireless intercoms and also walkie talkies, neither of which worked. Now we email, text or just call.

Over time we also learned we both have our strengths and weaknesses. There are things we each like to do and others we dislike. Outside of consulting with each other, conferencing and co-hosting Zoom classes, we have a formula that separates duties. The formula works most of the time when we are involved in a common project.

We often ‘meet in the middle’ during the day and find ourselves together in the kitchen/family room for lunch or to relax late in the afternoon. Sometimes we never ‘see’ each other between breakfast and dinner time even though we are just a few flights apart.

At times we also ‘run into each other’ on our way to each other’s office to confer. I was recently browsing on my phone and found a great sale on a new laptop. I thought it would be an inexpensive tool to learn Windows 11 since we teach technology to senior adults and we both still use Windows 10.

I asked Judy’s opinion since we don’t rush to conclusions, especially on purchases. (Long ago I learned my lesson over an inexpensive coat rack I was in process of buying without her consent.)

Within an hour we had both decided it was a good idea to buy the laptop and wanted to convey our thoughts in person. Judy was at the base of the stairs leading from the family room to the kitchen as I turned into the kitchen at the top of the stairs. We both had the same thought in mind.

Judy sums it up when she writes: “Having worked both together for the same company and two different companies it is always nice to collaborate on projects that we are working on together and share projects that we are doing individually.”

My hope is you can apply some of the lessons we learned to your own work-from-home situations. After all is said and done, there is a synergistic effect when two minds work in tandem.

Michael Yublosky

Michael Yublosky worked in direct (B-2-C and B-2-B) sales for 30 years before opening a consulting business on Internet and LinkedIn marketing. Along with his wife Judy, the couple formed a local senior adult social group in 2017 called SAGESofBG. They began teaching technology skills to older adults after migrating the group to Zoom when COVID forced sheltering in place.

Judy and Michael now enjoy working together enriching senior adult lives by making technology fun. Their main website is found at https://abncparties.com/