I use public transport a lot. And where I live, public transport is notoriously unreliable. This was getting to be quite annoying, since waiting for trains and trams meant wasting precious work time. Or so I thought.
But then one day, standing on a deserted platform having missed my train by seconds (and facing a 70-minute wait for the next one), I decided to take matters into my own hands. I decided to make wait time into work time. Read the rest of this entry »
A few recent experiences on the road left me feeling like I was doing my 21st century job in very 20th century hotel rooms. It got me thinking about what my wish list would be for the web worker hotel room of the future.
Power
The typical hotel room is currently vastly lacking in power. Usually there are two desk-level outlets, a pair of vanity outlets, and a couple of inaccessible outlets behind the nightstand. Typically, none of them have transformer-friendly positions or spacing. Read the rest of this entry »
There are some great things about being self-employed and working from my home via the web. One of them is that I can give myself permission to take time off whenever I need it. The flip side of that freedom is that because I am self-employed and work alone from home, there is no one to cover for me while I take time off. If I’m not doing the work, it doesn’t get done. If I want to completely take time off, I have to work extra hard before my break to create advance content to schedule for my readers while I am “off.” Then when I come back, I have to scramble to catch up with an inbox full of email and RSS feeds at the same time I’m diving back into my regular work.
The entire process of essentially working double-time before and after my time off is so exhausting and stressful that most of the time, it completely offsets any benefit I might get from the time off itself.
But we do all need mental breaks to recharge. I can’t just not take breaks because taking them is too much work. So to cope with this challenge I’ve developed a system of being able to partially dial back my level of work activity. This gives me some of the mental feeling of taking time off without the break itself causing a stressful workload. Read the rest of this entry »
As a web worker, I’m typically attached to my laptop. But there are times when using the computer isn’t particularly practical, like when I’m driving. Checking my email on the road is significantly easier if I don’t have to type anything — such as with Voice on the Go. The service allows you to check email, schedule appointments, send text messages and complete many other tasks just by placing a call on your cell phone. Read the rest of this entry »
As the first generation of coworking spaces, such as IndyHall, Old Broadcasting House and others, enter maturity while new locations and communities start up, it’s useful to reflect on some measures and metrics of success.
Marc Harrison at the Urban Workspaces blog — seeking to establish a local coworking space and community — recently published some thoughts on measuring the success for his proposed space. Marc’s goals are very personal, though universally applicable to anyone looking to bootstrap a coworking community for themselves.
Here are Marc’s key indicators of success: Read the rest of this entry »
I’m currently staying at an upmarket European hotel. Internet is free, but only if you have an Ethernet cable and can plug in. If you want Wi-Fi, the cost is a hefty 17 euros ($24) per 24 hours. Fortunately, I read James Kendrick’s “What’s In Your Bag” post before leaving home, which prompted me to stash a network cable in my bag. This cable will save me $50 over the two days that I’m staying here.
It’s always worth taking a network cable if you’re staying in an unfamiliar hotel because it might have expensive Wi-Fi, poor Wi-Fi reception in your room, or no Wi-Fi at all. This cable took a little room in my bag, but I’m very glad I packed it.
Share your travel tips in the comments.
One of the wonderful benefits of web working is that we can take our work with us when we travel. Unfortunately, the reliable Internet connection we have at home doesn’t usually follow us around, especially if we’re traveling abroad. As someone who spends several weeks each year moving around a developing country, I’ve had to put up with slow, unstable connections while trying to keep up with my work. Through these experiences, I’ve realized that while slow connections can be a real pain, it’s possible to work around them.
So what can we do to make the most out of slow Internet connections? Read the rest of this entry »
I’m not a big fan of moving, but I tend to do it a lot. Once a year is a rare treat, and generally it’s much more frequent than that. And I’m not dashing off in the middle of the night, in case that’s what you think of me. I just grow restless, require a change, and move on. Usually, I’m lucky if I stay in the same city, but Toronto seems so have a little more lasting appeal. Now, I don’t want to claim that this is symptomatic of web working, but it has gotten worse since I started working from home.
Since I’m preparing for a move once again, and I’ve actually become much more aware of what it is I do and do not like about the places I’ve called my home office in the past, I thought I’d share a few tips for what to look for if you’re searching for a better space to work. Read the rest of this entry »
I use public transport a lot. And where I live, public transport is notoriously unreliable. This was getting to be quite annoying, since waiting for trains and trams meant wasting precious work time. Or so I thought.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
