Archive for the ‘Workspace’ Category
Customizing your workspace to suit you
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
I left full-time employment over 2 years ago now to work freelance. Since then I’ve worked in pretty much every room in our house, the dining room, the guitar room, my bedroom… the list goes on.
I’ve never really worked in a space that I’ve made. Never created an office that is specific and central to my work flow. And then it hit me one day a week ago. Why not?
I mean, you have to literally live in the space you work. You need to be happy in it, after all you’ll spend a lot of time here (and I mean a lot), so at the very least it should be comfortable.
Ergonomic Chair
With that Eureka moment, I drove up to IKEA and bought a proper office certified chair. After building the chair (which is no mean feat in itself) I settled into my new ergonomic chair. Its very comfy and I can work and work without feeling tired or achey from lack of body support. An ergonomic chair is great for your posture and circulation.
Whiteboards
So, now that I’m sat more comfortably, I think, “Hey, what else would make me more productive?”… 2 whiteboards are purchased. They let me sketch and write notes on them, a really useful and cost effective trick that’s kept me more organized. I seriously recommend you get one (or two).
After these improvements, I can actually see evidence they are working. In that week I get paid 3 times more than I typically earn on average. Coincidence? I think not! My workspace has become more personal and more comfy. I would even go as far as saying I’m happier working.
External Monitor
As a designer, I use a lot of programs at once. I’m sure a lot of you guys will. I have a 20 inch iMac, but its not a huge screen. So, a 24″ external monitor is ordered. I really can’t put into words how much more I get done with the help of this tool. I can have 3 windows open at once. Very handy indeed. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I am a firm believer that everyone should consider an external monitor, whether a copywriter or a developer.
Desk
That’s really as far as I’ve got. Next on my list to purchase to improve my work area is a good quality, large desk. I’ll do my research into it to make sure it fits my requirements. It’ll need to be big enough to hold all my books, computers & leave enough room to be able to sketch till my heart’s content.
I really cannot recommend enough spending a few hundred dollars on setting up your workspace the right way, the way you want it. You’ll see a return on your investment for sure, and more importantly, you’ll be a happier freelancer for it.
Posted in General, Workspace | 5 Comments »
Wanted: Your Desk!
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
I’m busy working on a lot of projects these days, the podcast been on of the biggest. I wanted to add a really cool sort of community type blog post. So, what I’m asking is everyone send in pictures of your desk / workspace. Whether you want to show off your macbook pro, or super cool glass desk, submit your pictures and a description to hello@podcastforfreelancers.com and see it in the post.
I’d like to know how the space has developed, how you use it, what kind of customizations you’ve made.
One rule: No tidying up! I want to see it as is.
Posted in Workspace | 5 Comments »
Your workspace series. Pt 2, Creating a working atmosphere
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
So you’ve followed part 1, and located an ideal spot to work from. You may also have a good idea of how your going to lay things out, and what it will all look like. Now’s the time though when you need to turn that space into an area where you actually want to work. Its not good spending time creating an office, and then finding it doesn’t promote a solid working ethic. Instead, if it distracts you, this could then affect your clients and eventually your profit.
How then, do you create a space that is both welcoming, somewhere that invites you to work, and promotes a good work ethic?
Extra Clutter
Lets start by de-junking. Get rid of everything that you don’t need, to make your space minimal in terms of the extra furniture or items you have in there. If you have a book shelf crammed full of books, that you never read, its time for it to go. Take it to a charity shop, or just rehouse it elsewhere. A clutter free workspace allows you to concentrate fully on the work at hand, instead of thinking (even sub-consciously without realizing) about the mess and extra gubbins in the room.
Besides that, as I mentioned in the previous installment, a clean & clear working area is practical. You can find everything you need quickly. You can get to the phone without knocking over cups and mountainous piles of paper. When you get a delivery, you can open it quicker as you know exactly where your scissors are, and you’ll have the space to unpack all the instructions and extras you get with it.
Consider the decor
Do think carefully about how you decorate your space. Going ultra-modern is fine, providing its usable, and not going to go out of fashion as quickly as it came in. If your a fashion follower, when that happens, your most likely going to want to re-decorate, causing more disruption. Still, its your space, and you should craft & mould it till your happy with it. If you want it to feel cosy and warm, then make it so. If you want bright pink wallpaper, by all means, its your house! Just remember, that you have to create a space that is suited to how you work, and to ensure it will not have repercussions on your productivity & income.
TV’s, Games Consoles & Do-hickies.
I remember someone once telling me about the Time Waster 2000. It was a mock phone (with a manual the size of 2 yellow pages) created to show people how gadgetry and the like can really suck up our time. And its true, they can. Granted, they have their place, but is that really in the area in which you plan to work? Personally, I like to cut the radio, TV & other assorted media out of my head, by removing them from view completely.
You may not have the benefit of been able to move stuff about so much. For example, if you have to work in your living room or elsewhere due to space issues. That’s not a problem. Just turn the device off (totally off, stand-by is bad for the environment, and makes it easier to turn on) and leave it alone. A ‘dead’ TV is less interesting than if you have re-runs of Top Gear playing over and over on Dave…
Use space to your advantage
As the old saying goes, “If you have it, flaunt it”. I don’t really agree with that. I say “If you have it, use it”. If your blessed with more space, use it. Try to create & set everything out so that it suits your work style perfectly. If your an illustrator, or writer, create a space where you can work with paper. If your a photographer, define an area where you can check your photos for good focus and the perfect composition. It doesn’t have to be big, but just somewhere you can be creative, without having to move objects out of the way, or tidy up every-time you want to work there. Its all about capturing that spur of the moment inspiration, and creating an area that has only 1 primary function.
On the other hand, many of us are space challenged. I myself fall into this group. I’ve worked in my bedroom, then graduated to the dining room. After a couple years freelancing, I finally have my own semi-dedicated space which is nice. I now work in a room which I share with several guitars. Although its nice to work around such inspiring objects, the room itself is not big. It sits at about 2.5m X 2.7m. OK, so its not massively small, but I’ve had to use the space to its best. I’ve used a normal desk in here for a while, and its footprint (including the chair) is about 25ft squared. That’s a lot of room needed. It also has dead space where you need to be able to move the chair around and things.
Consequently, I’ve had to rethink things. Early in the New year, I’m going to remodel. I spent about 20 minutes considering all my options. I weighed each one up, and imagined working in there. One of the main gripes I have at the moment, is even though I have a decent size desk, its taken up by 3 monitors, 2 keyboards & 2 mice, plus a phone, a printer and 2 mouse mats. There’s no room to write on, or design on if I want to work with a notepad. The desk houses 2 computers, one of which is the family PC. Due to the L-shaped nature of the desk (and the fact there is no room for 2 chairs), only one person can use the computer at once, hence arguments arise, and this usually ends up with me having to have a 10 minute break whilst they check their emails or chat on MSN…
Although I appreciate that break, after a while, it hit me. Why not create a full length desk? This was perfect. I could have a very long, but normal depth desk stretching across the room. This would leave me with a 3ft stretch at one end to write and design in (using paper and pens :O). When not been used as an office it would also allow the budding musician to actually play their guitars in there once more (as there’s no room currently). I could house the amp and other associated accessories under the desk, and thus totally enhance this space. There would be enough room to have 2 chairs, and thus 2 people could use the computers in that room at once. Now I can work undisturbed. The total cost to totally overhaul my workspace? About £200 ($400 ish). That’s the cost of a decent enough desk.
Whats the moral of that story? Well, I hope its to use everything to its fullest, but especially the space you have. Before you run out and start to buy stuff to furnish your office with, make sure its going to work in day-to-day working life.
The littlest of things will make a difference. If you have little floor space, use the dead space above you and fit shelves. If the room has 2 functions, consider a collapsing, or fold away desk. Little tweaks here and there will pay dividends.
Don’t forget, it takes time!
Its impossible to get everything correct all at once. You might think ,when your prepping to move to freelancing, “I’ll just work out of my bedroom, that will work fine”. But until you’ve actually done it, its all theory. You need to live it, try it & then evaluate it. If something isn’t working, tweak it, or move onto to Plan B.
Don’t alter 2 things at once either, unless its really obvious. It can be tempting to change everything around you, because you feel either the space isnt used well, or because it just inst working. If you move everything around, and find your worse off, how do you know what is causing the problem? Whereas, if you move 1 thing at once, you firstly give yourself time to get used to it. You can also know exactly whether or not the problem has been solved. If the problem is fixed, that’s great. If its a bit better, change something else. If it doesn’t work at all, you can always go back to how things were before.
What if you don’t have any space what-so-ever? Perhaps that’s because you share a flat, or live in a student bedsit. Don’t worry. Stay tuned, as we’ll talk about external offices at some point in the future. If you have an office currently, and want to offer advice on finding / renting one, please do get in touch with me: hello@podcastforfreelancers.com - I’d love for other people to post about their experiences & offer advice on an area that I don’t currently have much experience in 
And with that Part 2 is over. Stay tuned for part 3 at a later date, when we will consider an out-of-home office’s & work area’s.
Got any tips you’d like to share? How do you make the most of your space?
Posted in Workspace | 1 Comment »
Your home workspace Series. Part 1.
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
As a freelancer you have a wonderful privilege, and it might be something you haven’t even thought about yet.
If your puzzled as to what I’m talking about, it’s the fact that we get to chose, when, but most importantly, where, we work. We have the unique ability to be able to tailor our work environment. We can arrange it how we like, and use it how we like. Are you taking that wonderful privilege for granted?
When you first thought about freelancing, did you think “Oh great, Now I can work on my couch whilst watching Columbo on TV”. Unfortunately, that might not cut it. Were going to consider some factors you need to keep in mind (pun-intended) when creating your own personal workspace. This will also tie in with the podcast out next week.
As a small note, this post is really directed at those considering working from home, but you can still follow along, and perhaps pick up some tips & tricks if you have a posh external-office We’ll cover out-of-home work spaces in another post.
Defining Zones & then picking the area
Before we actually get into any details, you need to think about what tone your setting for your brain. If your easily distracted, is working on the couch going to be the best option for you? Likewise, will you be able to switch off from work at the end of the day when your actually able to watch T.V - or will your relaxing time be hindered by the constant feeling that your in your office?
Picking the right area is all about the brain. You see, the brain is this wonderful tool when every thing’s going fine. But from time to time, it can create a bug, like a css rendering issue in Internet explorer, a misspelled sentence or a blurred photograph. This ‘bug’ is a sub-conscious thing. It’s probably best described as soft butterflies in your stomach. You’ve probably felt it when your doing something else to what you should be doing. You might feel it if you decide to sleep in on a freelance day. Its an anxiety created by the brain to remind you of things. Those butterflies remind you that you should be working, or that you should be doing that other task that is more urgent.
So what does this have to do with things? I personally feel that you will get this ‘bug’ when your relaxing in your workspace, or using it for other stuff. Of Course, that room may be your kitchen primarily, or your living room by function and so its unavoidable. But if you have the space elsewhere to use, as in a physical, dedicated room, you will benefit. Having a separate room, even though this sounds daft, allows you to shut the door at 5, and say to your brain “Dear Brain, please consider what follows my commute home & time to debrief!!!”. Likewise, if you take the time to establish a zone, you’ll feel all the better for doing so.
Here’s a few locations you might consider:
If you have space, the most obvious choice would be a spare or little used room. These space’s are those rooms that became known as ‘junk rooms’ or that room that the guests sleep in (even if you don’t have any). Perhaps you have a good size attic or basement (cellar). You might even have a porch or conservatory that you don’t use. Ideally, this room is going to be a decent enough size (so you don’t feel like a corporate chimp), with room for the essentials (like yourself!). Windows are awesome for bringing the outside in, and washing your office with lovely natural light.
But what if you don’t have the room? Well, your going to have to make it. With a little ingenuity, everyone can have a space at home to call their own. Here’s some ideas of places to work when you lack the room, do bear in mind that I have worked in some of these environments too…
Your dining room
You might, depending on your families input into this, be able to turn a part of your dining room into an office. Heck, in this modern world there seems to be a popular trend of eating in front of the T.V! Whilst I’m not encouraging this what-so-ever, it could play into your advantage. I worked in my dining room for the first year of freelancing. The computer had always been in here, so there was a desk, and it all seemed logical. Additionally, it was a room I didn’t go in much, so it allowed me at least to tag the area as a work space. Another big plus, the dining room feels more formal. Having a big table with 6 chairs on hand was great for when I needed to meet clients, it was like having my own mini-board room.
Some disadvantages do come to every good plan. I found that I was nervous whenever we had people round for tea. Because my vital work computer was in there, if anyone had knocked it, or spilt oodles of gravy on it, I wouldn’t have been very happy (neither would it). A lot of your friends will be screen pokers too, i.e they like to touch glassy screens for some reason. That’s great, but it leaves nasty finger prints all over the monitor. My dining room was also rather chilly. It had a cold wood floor, and for some reason was the coldest room in the house. I would often need to wear large, hiking type fleece’s and thermals to stay warm! As with any other room that needs its main function to remain undisturbed, its difficult to go sticking up plants, white boards & bookshelves all over the place. Still, it served me well (if a little cold) for 1 year.
Your loft & cellar (or attic & basement)
You might have already dismissed working in your loft or cellar. If you did so because you thought there was no room, do double check. You might be surprised by moving some stuff around & having a general clear out leaves you with plenty of space, or at least enough to fit your desk and chair in. If these rooms are mouldy or dusty (with asbestos maybe?), consider getting a professional in to sort that out. Likewise, you could chose to convert your loft or cellar properly, to give you that extra space. You might be able to do this yourself, or may choose to hire a professional, but whichever, make sure you comply with your local regulations, or the contractor does so.
The garden
OK, so its not a permanent thing. When it gets to winter & fall, you will be cold, but as a change of scenery the garden is always open. It could rain, but in summer, when the suns out, sitting in the garden with your laptop & a cold beverage freelancing is great fun. You couldn’t make the garden a permanent work space, but it is still a workspace none the less. And, there are several items you could buy to make the garden into a permanent solution. Why not consider an outdoor building.
- http://www.workfromhomebuildings.co.uk/
- http://www.roomsoutdoor.co.uk/
- http://www.cedarshed.com/01-ultimate-backyard-office.html
Do remember these are quite expensive, and security will definitely need researching, but as a starter, these outdoor offices look great & offer a very chic working area. You are more free here to amend the decorum as you see fit.
If you don’t have the budget for such a lavish outdoor building, you could build your own! It would be a good project over a few weekends with pals. Again, make sure you understand your local building regulations, and ensure that the building is secure. Don’t forget to get it wired up with Internet & power by someone who knows what their doing!
Other suggestions
We really have pondered a lot of options here. I have missed a few common rooms out. The hall way, the kitchen, the living room and your bedroom.
That’s because, these are some of the harder ones to work with. With these rooms being so high usage, with lots of foot traffic, they instantly become areas in which you can be disturbed. In these areas, its going to be least possible to leave work objects lying around, such as your computer, or paperwork. There’s less place to store these things, when it comes to switching off.
Although this might not be seen as an issue, I personally like to leave project files (like post-its and papers) out and about, especially if I’m working on that same project for a few days. It allows me to come in the next morning, and pick up right where I left off.
Still, if you can work past that, there are work arounds. The hallway could become quite a good office, especially if you have a good sized hall, or a hall that is shaped so that you can place a desk out of the way. Don’t forget, generally people you live with will be out during the day, meaning that most places will be quiet 9 -5 (or 3 with kids).
Working in the kitchen might work at a stretch, particularly if you can fit a desk in there, or have an unused area to take up. The living room will work if you have the room to be just that bit separated. Maybe screen your working area off with plants or decorative items. That way, when you use these rooms normally after work, the working area is out view. You’ll be less tempted to work after hours, and this will cut your butterflies to shreds. OK, that’s not a nice vision. It will capture them in little jam jars and take them away.
The bedroom is possibly the hardest room to work from, even if you have the space, & ability to segregate those 2 areas. I tried this for a while. It becomes very hard to switch off. It also promotes working every hour in the day, because its so easy to get-up if you cant sleep to finish off that logo, or complete that urgent copy writing project before jumping into bed. I also found that working from my bedroom, I felt unprofessional. Whether that shone through in my work and to my clients, I don’t know. Finally, another issue I had with this was that it felt like you were in 1 room the whole of your week. You work there, you sleep there. Rinse and repeat. If you can avoid working in here at least, you should have a good idea of where to work, even if its just a temporary thing.
Tips to keep in mind about any workspace.
Hopefully, you’ve now find that perfect space. Now you can go ahead and decorate + furnish it. Try to keep this general tips for any work space in focus, and your workspace will be a haven for work. Great!
- It needs to be somewhere you want to work, so make sure that its comfortable. It can be tempting to buy the cheapest chair in the shop, or use the smallest desk ever made. Doing so can pose minor health issues. If you don’t have the right chair for you, then you can develop bad posture and back problems. If you have an awkward desk, its going to do similar things. You can find out more info about this here: FreelanceSwitch - a wicked awesome freelance blog
- Practically, a small desk will stress you out. If you collect paper, pens, cups, keyboards, printers, monitors, speakers, books and whatever else you put on your desk, and try to stick that on a small desk, do you have room to move? Can you pick up the phone? Can you even find the phone?
- Speaking of which, make sure the phone is in easy reach, and away from any drinks you might have near you. If its too far away, you could pull a muscle. If you cant find it, clients will complain about poor phone answering skills. If you put the phone near a cup of coffee, as I have found out, things go downhill :S
- Make sure your desk is well lit. If you can, sit yourself near a window/s. These are great for giving you a break from staring into a monitor all day. Open them up when you can to give you that fresh feel.
- Keep your desk as clean as possible. When you have a clutter free workspace, it feels great, and you can focus on your work instead of that pile of rubbish that looks like it call on you at any time.
- Don’t eat at your desk. Take the chance to have a break from the computer, and get outside if possible. Escaping the office even just for 20 minutes to get some lunch really helps you come back in the afternoon with a bang. Plus, crumbs and keyboards don’t mix! Make sure you clean the office as often as you can, to cut back on bacteria and all that nastiness.
- Get a plant. They add some life and color to your desk, and also apparently purify the air.
Finally, Remember, we all work differently. Some people’s brains are going to prefer a relaxed attitude to where they work. Others are total compulsive neat freaks to the point of everything around them been exactly perpendicular to other objects. Never forget, you have the flexibility to try working all over your house. Perhaps you have more than one space you could use. Your a freelancer now, so don’t forget that. You need to make everything work for you and no one else. Your the boss!
Ok. So that turned out to be a bit of a mammoth of a post. See you soon for part 2 And don’t forget to blog, tweet & promote this post if you enjoyed it.
Where do you work? Do you have any tips or questions for other freelancers?
Posted in Workspace | 2 Comments »
