The New Work From Home Trend: Getting Out?
May 30th, 2008 (6:00am) Jason Harris 12 CommentsTweet This
Back when broadband Internet access was made available to homes in the late 1990’s, teleworking took off. In businesses, employees were allowed to work from home part time (in some cases, full time) and many home based businesses took off, allowing small time entrepreneurs to have a low-cost launching point for their great idea.
Then, reality set in. Working from your home can be isolating and can result in feeling cut off from the working world. Co-working is a new trend, as recently reported by CNN and others, which involves teleworkers gathering within the same physical space in order to have some social time while working on their tasks. There are businesses such as CubeSpace and Citizen Space that make co-working easy by offering space for co-workers to gather, however what is a web worker to do if they don’t have this type of option close by?
Do It Yourself
Most teleworkers likely know someone who also works remotely from their office. If you feel comfortable doing this, offer to host a co-working session at your house or other meeting space. Much in the same way moms self-organize play dates, teleworkers will gain benefit by gathering to work together on an occasional basis. In exchange for offering up your Wi-Fi connection and a making a few pots of coffee, you’ll be able to exchange ideas and make some potentially profitable business connections. For example, by gathering with other bloggers or programmers, I often gain story ideas and other opportunities I would otherwise not come across.
Break Out Of Your Shell
If you see the same people routinely at your Starbucks, engage with them in a conversation to see if they’d like to make it a regular meeting time. This might be a great way to meet teleworkers who don’t necessarily work in your field. Additionally, by meeting at a Starbucks or your local pub, you can use the hosting business’ Wi-Fi and avoid the effort of hosting a co-working session at your house.
Tools to Aid You
To organize a group of co-working professionals, you can either:
- Start a website: build a web site to serve as the communication hub.
- Initiate a Google Group: Drop dead easy way to centralize communications, however everyone will need a Google Account
- Simply start an email mailing list
- Check out the Co-Working wiki page as it has many valuable resources.
Tags: co-working
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
Jelly is another option – it was started by Amit Gupta in NY and is in 16 cities now. Folks get together for the day at houses or coffee shops to work. It’s not as regular or structured as co-working, but it’s a lot of fun…
After a year on my own working at the dining room table, coffee shops and the library, I finally rented a small office space for $200 a month. Yes it is a little isolating, but now I don’t have to cart all of my files with me and I can still head to a coffee shop for some ‘company’. There may be cheap office options in your area, too. I like the co-working idea, but it does seem a bit pricy.
I just looked at a coworking place today. Sitting in your house day in and day out is no bueno. Nice to have other settings to look at and people to chat with.
There is no co-working facility near me and unfortunately I haven’t had too much luck trying to establish one.
I have also rented an office space in the downtown area of my village. While I love the flexibility to work wherever I want, it is nice to have some sense of permanence along with that.
SB
My favorite place – and where I worked out of in SF – is Sandbox Suites. A combo of professional and coworking, which is what’s really needed.
I have a feeling co-working could lead to a gigantic rise in creative output, because of the cross-pollination at these co-working facilities. Normally, people who work close to each other do more or less the same work. Co-working changes that. It will facilitate sharing of ideas between different companies, different industries even.
Here in Pawtucket, RI, we have The Grant with way cheap rent, and cafe in the building and loads of creativity. Stop by if you’re in the area. Now speaking of that cafe…
I’ve seen a few “twitter parties” lately for the same reason – people just need to get out!
This sounds like a great idea for those folks who do enjoy spending time, day in and day out, isolated within the four walls of their home.
I know others, who are more outgoing than I, who could benefit from your suggestions.
I happen to be a loner and enjoy spending time by myself. It also helps to have lots of hobbies when you need a break; such as, working out, or walking along the beach or drawing, to name a few.
Thank you for letting me share…
Every week I do (at least once a week) what I call Dreaming, Planning, Scheming (DPS). We each spend so much time DOING and not enough time THINKING, so DPS, the tallest chocolate/raspberry/coffee drink at my local Borders and I’m in a completely different “space” and mood. I also find that “scheduling” routine activities (when I blog a couple of times a week, when I do bookmarking, when I look for interestnig posts to read) helps organize my work life. And I belong to a couple of business groups so that I can share ideas with others – one is a group of local business people and one is the local chapter of Dan Kennedy’s GKIC. I avoid the feeling of isolation by doing these extra things… but then again I’ve been an Ultimate Work At Home Dad since 1983 and wouldn’t have it any other way!
Best,
Charles Seymour Jr
http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads