successful home working
Posts tagged coffee shop
5 places to work when you don’t want to work from home
506 months ago
Today’s guest post is by San Sharma, an old long-standing home working friend of mine. (With apologies for the untimely refusal of my blog to display the photo San has carefully chosen. Hoping for normal service to resume shortly). Over to you, San:
Working from home is great. I’ve been doing it, on and off, for about five years. There are times, however, when the allure of the television, the biscuit tin or the unmade bed are too much even for me. It’s those times when I pack up my MacBook in an old kit bag and look for somewhere else to work. But where?
Here are some ideas for places to work when you don’t want to work from home:
1. Coworking spaces. If getting out of the house is something you want to do with some regularity, consider joining a coworking space or members club, like Central in London. It’s a nice way of working, because it puts you in the same space as other independent workers and can lead to collaboration. If you want to try it out for free, join a local Jelly event, which is like a pop-up coworking space. (Judy’s written an excellent guide to Jelly for home workers).
2. Coffee shops. Taking your laptop to a coffee shop is often the easiest way to work outside of the home. It’s not hard to find coffee shops with wifi these days – and the only rent you’ll pay is in caffeine!
3. Libraries. Libraries offer a quieter environment in which to work, and most have free wifi. You may have to be a member to get online, so make sure you take some ID with you, if it’s your first trip.
4. Somewhere fancy. If working at home just isn’t cutting it, get out of the house and work somewhere fancy for inspiration. Dress the part and work in a posh hotel lobby, and it may give you a fresh perspective on your work.
5. The great outdoors. If you work from home most of the time, it’s a good idea to separate your workspace from the rest of the house. You can do that physically with a garden office or be even more adventurous and make the most of the great outdoors. We wrote a blog post all about it recently.
Where do you work when you don’t fancy working from home? Let us know in the comments.
San Sharma (@WorkSnugSan) is community manager at WorkSnug, a website and mobile app that connects mobile workers to the nearest and best places to work in the world.
Photo credit: visual panic
Home working style page
71 year ago
Hurray, it’s finally time for A and I to reveal the new page on Home working style, which came about as a result of the huge response I received in comments and on Twitter to the post Home working wardrobe. There is a stereotype of home workers not caring about what they wear, but obviously nothing could be further from the truth.
For several years I have been a daily follower of The Sartorialist blog, in which Scott Schuman photographs stylish people on the street in New York and around the world. Quite often his pictures make me want to drop everything and get on a plane straightaway, especially as he also shoots things that catch his eye, like a shop window or a perfectly laid-out display cabinet.
So the new page is a very humble homage to The Sartorialist, although as my photographic skills are notoriously lacking, I hope you’ll help me out by sending pictures not only of your home working wardrobe, but also of the details that give you pleasure as you go about your day. A chance to stop, and maybe not smell the roses, but at least to admire them!
Because we’re putting the photos on a page, rather than the blog, the layout isn’t as good, but I have adopted the principle ‘Don’t get it perfect, get it out’ and maybe we’ll improve the appearance of the page in time. And speaking of time, the clock above is in The Little Red Cafe in Frome, our favourite haunt for good strong coffee and brainstorming sessions.
Newsflash – page about Jelly
02 years ago
I’ve just added a new page about Jelly that includes a couple of videos from the first Frome Jelly in November. New pages are listed under Tips on the menu bar and also in the right-hand column under my tweets.
Work from Home Essential No. 3: A Favourite Coffee Shop
02 years ago
I love coffee shops and I find that having one close by is a great advantage when you’re working from home. It provides a venue for all sorts of occasions – somewhere to go just for a change of scene, for a treat when you’ve completed something difficult, for a different environment in which to get your creative juices flowing, and to meet people either to discuss work or have a good old chat.
My favourite here in Frome is Divas, which is in the same building at the bottom end of town as Black Swan Arts, a gallery and shop, and some artists’ workshops. The counter display of colourful and healthy food makes you want to start at one side and work your way across to the other, ditto the cakes ranged across the top. You can sit outside in the pretty courtyard if the weather’s good, and browse the local and national papers while slurping the excellent coffee. Its only disadvantage is that it’s next to the library, where as you know I’m a regular visitor, so maybe we drop in more than we should – ‘Fancy a coffee?’ ‘Oh, go on then.’
