Working from home is pretty much the best ever.
In news that is entirely unsurprising, $1 billion startup Automattic is closing its San Francisco office and having everyone work from home.
Bring on the bathrobe, baby!
Well, surprise Automattic, Ravishly is way ahead of you. Automattic is the brains behind WordPress, the incubator of every mommy blogger pretty much ever. It only seems fitting they’d be sending their employees to work from home as well.
Maybe you fine Rav readers were unaware that at one time Ravishly too had a brick and mortar office.
That’s not it.
It was in Oakland, where all good startups go to…well, start up.
Alas, it too is no more. Not the building, it’s still there. But the Ravishly staff isn’t in it.
Why?
Automattic isn’t alone. Why pay overhead for something you can do FROM YOUR BED?
In San Francisco, it costs over $5 a square foot to rent space. In a year, that amounts to about $15K per employee. For just ONE SMALL PERSON. Locked inside an building all day? No thanks.
Ravishly is a small staff of seven core people, and while it would be super fun to all be in the same space syncing up our menstrual cycles and shit, we are far too spread out for all that.
Where are we, you ask?
Oakland. New York City. The Bronx. Fresno (two of us). Another town by Fresno that is smaller and smells more disgusting (that would be yours truly). And Miami (soon to be Dallas).
We meet a couple of times a year to actually see each other in person, hug, and remark on how shockingly small (or tall — looking at you, Jess) everyone is in “real life.” Mostly our Social Media Manager, Nicole. Seriously, she is petite.
Just for funsies, I asked the Rav staffers to send me some pictures of their workspace/bed/kitchen/whatever. A peek for you into the world of the Rav staff.
And who to go first but our aforementioned petite Social Media Magician. Not surprising, since she is ON it.
"Working from home = instant puppy therapy. #SnugglesForever"
It’s all about the dogs.
Our youngest staffer, Features Editor and Cat Mom Jenni.
Minerva, you don't even know how to WRITE.
A peek into the artist’s lair with Mariah, the watercolor genius behind every amazing image you see here.
"The best part about working from home? Sometimes you chase after your kid trying to force clothes on them and sometimes you both sit there as naked and as free as your little hearts desire."
Nudity. I feel like this might be a theme.
Ah, Mariah. What would we be without you?
(Boring and ugly, TBH.)
For some of us, Working From Home might actually be more like Working From Hospital.
In this case, Weill Cornell NY Presbyterian Hospital.
SOME of us just had a baby. Working from home/hospital means that our way too dedicated Managing Editor, Erin, can work while she pumps a metric ton of breastmilk for her brand new baby boy, Franklin.
Franklin decided that he wanted to be born a little early, probably because he wanted to see his mom FREAK OUT about the syndications she hadn’t yet edited (because she was supposed to have a WHOLE MONTH STILL). So he’s still in the NICU, which means Erin joined our team meeting today from the waiting room.
She is just that dedicated (ahem, crazy).
Franklin, your nursery is waiting for you. (It’s in Greenwich Village though, so it’s kind of small. Real estate in NYC is bananas.)
BABY HEAD.
BABY TOES.
Ok I’m just getting gratuitous now. But look at the TOES. And the FINGERS.
Welcome to the world bb Franklin. And to the Rav family, too. You are so loved.
Also, Erin, you should be on maternity leave. STOP READING THIS. BYE.
OK back to the working from home!
Our newest team member and marketing wizard, Sam, takes her work outside.
"Working from home allows me to create my work space daily. If I'm feeling it I'll work outside, if not I'll stay in ma jammies."
OR NAKED. Just sayin.
What a coincidence! I TOO, am wearing pajamas.
Whatever you gotta do to increase our FB engagement, Sam.
SOME OF US make our beds AND work on them and don’t use them purely for laundry storage.
Our Associate Editor, resident Political Expert, and soon to be Texan, Jess, gives props to the bed.
“Work. Play. Sleep. Repeat. Thanks, bed. You are the furniture MVP in this house.”
Eat, play… It truly is multipurpose.
Except in my house, it really is mostly used to hold laundry.
I also have an Actual Desk, where I do my Very Official Ravishly Business.
With my my Very Official Pencil.
But seriously, I love working from home. Where else can you eat a bagel in your underwear while conducting a team meeting AND listening to Bruno Mars while two dogs sit literally ON your feet and your 5- and 6-year-old kids reenact a fatal car crash using Hot Wheels and wooden peg people on the floor in front of you?
Nowhere. Definitely not in an office.
