Emanuele Pisapia aka “Lenus”

I am a Consultant / Web Developer. I’m 27 yo, from Italy (Cava de’ Tirreni, near Salerno) and I started working from home when I was 16. I started working from home in my room with a laptop… then few years later I started my own company, Lenus Media.

How did you started to work from home?

I was a student in University of Salerno, i spent lots of time surfing on the New learning new things about development. I was studying communication so I mash up these two passions with few others hobbies. Visiting and publishing on forums and newsgroups I replied to few advertises about web development and I started my little career working with cities far from my country (Milan, Rome, …). Today lots of my customers are from all around the world. I work with them everyday without  have never seen them before. This is the most exciting fact: you can work everywhere with everyone just sitting in front of your PC. Unfortunally (or fortunally) the day when someone will ask you for visiting your “office” come and you have to make a choice.

How long do you work from home and earn a living to you or you must still go to work?

I have worked from home for two years. After that I had to rent a little office to improve my productivity and to have a personal space (I share my house with my parents). I have never had to find a different job (I had a few months job in a web agency to improve my skills, but after a month I came back to my “own” company).

What is your normal day?

8.30 / 13.30 and 15.30 to …. very late! Take an office is a good manner to cut my day: a loooong part working and a private moment at home. Maybe this is the only contros to work at home… you’re always “ready to work”.

How often you work from home?

I can choose how much time I want to spend in “free time”. But I prefer to dedicate the most of my time working. It’s not related in working at home or in my office: I want to offer the best service as possible so I have to dedicate lots of time to my customers.

How to look your home office? 

When I work at home my room was my office, with a not very confortable chair and an “emergency desk” It was not the best way to work. Actually my office is very clean, I have my little spaces and a very confortable office chair (I love it!) I think that in every home office should be something that help you to concentrate, the right “mood” (flowers, colors, …). It’s YOUR space, so it have to reflect YOUR personality.

What would you say to people who want to start working from home?

Well, just start! One of the worst question if every adventure is “should I start to…” If you take too much time just to ask yourself if your idea should be realized…well you won’t see your ideas realized! Working from home have some advantages and some contros (like all the things of life.). If you are able to create a good network with your customers using skype, teamviewer and tons of other softwares you can work from home. If you prefer to create a helthu gap between your life and your work, try with a small office not far from your home, you will be glad to go out sometimes.

P.S. Do not use you home office like your house: you are working so give yourself some rules for dressing code (working in pigiama is not the best!) or time breaks (for lunch or dinner and little snack). You productivity will be improved a lot.

Thank you very much for your time!

Emanuele Pisapia

You can visit my website www.lenus.it (in Italian) or visit my Fb Profile https://www.facebook.com/EmanuelePisapia or my Twitter Account @EmanuelePisapia