Favourite home worker things No 6
Jul 29th
Charlotte Baker of OutThereHQ is ‘building a community and place in Winchester that has a café’s buzz and is full of people working on interesting projects.’ Which means lots of freelancers and self-employed people, I imagine! Charlotte is also going to be starting Jelly there in the autumn.
She is obviously fuelled by tea and the pink teacosy is her favourite home working item – ‘You just don’t get this kind of thing in an office. And all my own work too. As for tea, builders for me.’
Favourite home worker things No 5
Jul 28th
Chrissie Slade creates skincare solutions for pampered guinea pigs and nominates this box as her favourite home working item:
‘Here is one of my inspiration boxes 
Some people collect shoes, I collect Essential Oils and use them every day as part of my “job” creating skincare products for guinea pigs. Working with nice aromas every day is a real pleasure.’
More home workers’ favourites coming up over the week. If you’d like to share your own peculiar pleasure, just email a photo and some words to me at judy@workfromhomewisdom.com. Can’t wait to see ‘em!
Workhub & coworking news
Jul 26th
The Workhubs Conference in June was a wonderful day spent listening to people from all over the UK who are committed to providing coworking space for home workers and freelancers, sometimes in difficult financial circumstances. It inspired me to write about the mutual benefits of Jelly and workhubs and you can see the results on the Jelly for workhubs page.
The Workhubs Network, who ran the conference, will be launching a redesigned website at the end of the summer with a workhubs directory. In the meantime, in response to queries I get from around the country, here are some more coworking resources at all points of the compass:
If you’re a home worker in the North East of England looking for good spaces for meetings, training and so on, you’ll be interested in Space on Tap. The site allows you to search for the kind of space you want under categories such as relaxed, inspiring etc. Just click to open the doors to view the space! Space on Tap also runs coworking events for home workers to get together.
Down to Winchester and Charlotte Baker runs OutThere events with speakers on topics of interest to freelancers and small business. She’s also planning her first Jelly in early September. Also in Hampshire the County Council is opening Smarter Working Centres around the area and are interested in hearing from people with spare office space that could be used for coworking.
Travel eastwards almost as far as you can and the first Norfolk Jelly will be held on Monday 13 September. And to keep tabs on all the new Jellys popping up around the country check in at the Jelly Wiki.
Favourite home worker things No 4
Jul 23rd
Emma Windsor is a virtual PA and sent me a picture of her garden as well, but for some reason I can’t make it come out the right way up, so I’ll just show you her cute feline friend for now.
‘If the weather is good I like to go out and sit and be quiet for 5/10 mins. The cat may come and sit for awhile or I’ll watch her running around like a lunatic. If the weather is bad then I can see from office window or watch and stare whilst waiting for kettle to boil.
‘I can also see the school playground in the distance. I can’t make out my daughter but it is lovely to hear them playing.
‘All my clients work from home, many in the middle of nowhere. If I have to pop over I love being with nature and sometimes stroking their pets.
‘Lovely to be around beautiful things rather than sharp edges of office buildings and the heat of the city.’
Thank you to everyone who has sent pictures so far. I’ve more lined up ready to publish and look forward to seeing more of your home worker favourites.
Favourite home worker things No 3
Jul 23rd
Elizabeth Druce is busy organising Chiltern Jelly, which is good news for home workers and freelancers working in the Beds/Bucks/Herts borders area.
‘I couldn’t resist sending you this picture of my little home worker helper. He sits on my desk, in just the right spot for me to easily glance toward his quizzical little face when I’m in need of inspiration, I’m angry, frustrated or sad and ask him “So Chips, what do you think then?” Who could not resist a smile when gazing upon him?’
Favourite home worker things No 2
Jul 22nd
Best to click on the photo for a larger view of this. Tim Osmond has taken its words to heart and says only, ‘It’s an old Government poster from the 60′s by Reginald Mount – I have more, my walls are a bit stern…’
Tim’s wife writes a blog about vintage posters, Quad Royal, which would be a good destination for home workers wanting to take a quick break without leaving their desk. I particularly like these Daphne Padden posters. I would say I might even remember them, but that’s impossible, I’m far too young…
Favourite home worker things No 1
Jul 21st
There’s been a great response to my previous post about the little things that lighten a home worker’s load, so I’m starting to publish them sooner than expected. The first to arrive was from Paul Graves, @cyteen02, who says:
‘Here’s one of my favourite home worker things. This is a picture of the outside of my first floor window. I have a couple of bird feeders, which at the moment are a favourite haunt of a family of 2 adult and 3 recently fledged blue tits. It’s a wonderful reminder of life outside my office.
‘Home working, as an IT specialist, has a load of benefits, especially as I’m a family man and delight to be around them all a bit more. But there are times when I feel I live in my office, so any reminder of life outside is much appreciated.’
Thanks, Paul, I think many of us can identify with that. I’ve got more favourite home worker things lined up ready for publication so please keep ‘em coming!
Home workers’ helpers
Jul 19th
I’m fascinated by the places other home workers work, and I bet you are too, but whenever I ask for a photo of their workspace to put on the home office page of the site, they always reply ‘Not till I’ve tidied up’. Which never seems to happen because we’ve all got more pressing things to do.
So I had the idea to share not a photo of your workspace, which obviously has too much potential for embarrassment, but of an object, picture, view, piece of equipment or furniture etc that helps you in some way as a home worker. I’ll start with my own on the assumption that if I show you mine, maybe you’ll show me yours!
This little Buddha head is made of beautifully carved soapstone and I particularly enjoy the tightly coiled topknot. It has a lovely feeling of serenity about it and that’s why it’s on my desk – I hope it’s catching! Does it work? Well, in much the same way as Rescue Remedy – the time I need it is the time I never think about it! But I do enjoy looking at it and handling it when I’m musing about something.
So I hope someone’s going to be brave enough to email me a photo and a few words to judy@workfromhomewisdom.com and start us off?
3 ways to take a break without leaving your desk when you work at home
Jul 16th
1. Hook up with fellow home workers and freelancers on Twitter
At 11 am in the UK the hospitable San Sharma (Charmer?) of Enterprise Nation hosts #watercoolermoment, which has a daily topic for you to chew over. On Fridays you can eyeball each other on the video chat.
I’ve recently also discovered #elevensestime, which I popped into for the first time today and found a very friendly and welcoming bunch of tweeters. @MartinGBEdwards is the main man and there’s also a blog Elevenses Time, which brings me neatly to my next point:
2. Give your brain a rest
and gather some inspiration by reading a blog or two totally unrelated to your work. One of my absolute favourites is The Sartorialist, a photo blog of stylish ‘ordinary’ people in the streets of New York and the cities Sartorialist Scott Schuman visits to record fashion shows. I also like Wee Birdy, a fresh, colourful design blog by an Australian living in London with lots of equally good links.
3. And just for a change
stop looking at that computer screen and give your eyes a rest. We tend to spend far too long for the health of our eyes gazing at computers. Keep your eyes open while cupping your palms gently over them and look into the soft, warm blackness for a couple of minutes…aaaahhh, what a relief!
Would you let your kids plan your home working diary?
Jul 13th
The little Somerset town of Frome where we moved two years ago is a vibrant and creative place and its annual festival is growing every year. On Sunday I was delighted to take part in Writers and Publishers Day by running a workshop for writers who work from home.
I had a very enjoyable and useful time talking to twelve enthusiastic writers about the issues that most affect them and any home worker – developing some kind of routine for your working day, the terrors of procrastination, and how to recognise when you’re spending too much time alone.
Everyone agreed that juggling home and family commitments with work can be a nightmare and often the writing gets abandoned because other, more mundane jobs seem so much more pressing. Even things like ironing and digging the garden yield a quick, tangible result, while making time to write can seem indulgent and selfish.
We agreed that these are issues that never seem to get resolved, and then yesterday one of the group told me that her children had planned the day to include a couple of hours writing time – and unlike many of her own previous plans, those hours actually happened!
Which makes me wonder if she has stumbled upon a brilliant solution to home working parents’ guilt – let the kids have a hand in planning the diary, including your work time, so they have an investment in making it happen.
