I’ve been a self-employed blogger for a good 2 or so years now and before that, I was a self employed online business owner, which I sadly closed down in August this year. So it’s safe to say that I’ve had a lot of time, practice and experience of working by myself and for myself and first and foremost, it is not easy. But it can be incredibly rewarding. One of the biggest and most important elements of working from home or being self employed is the physical space in which you do your work. Have I spent hours and hours of my working life working from my bed? Yes, absolutely, I’m not perfect and if I had the money and the room to give myself an actual home office, you can get your bottom dollar I’d be Pinteresting the crap out of it. But at the end of the day, there’s lots of elements which we can take into consideration when thinking about our work space when we’re self employed.
Comfort is key
Comfort means different things to everyone and whereas someone might find garish bright green walls comforting, someone else might not. So finding the right comfort for you (not what Pinterest is telling you to do) is super important because we will always work better if we’re relaxed. You can incorporate a lot of home decor items into your working space or your home office, plants, trinkets, books, vases, ornaments and lamps will all make a room feel more comfortable but not too homey.
Space
This ties in a lot with the comfort element but thinking about your space in terms of size is important too. Is your space too confine for what you’re doing? Is your business on the creative side, where you need space to work and create without any extra worries? I work from a computer for 85% of the time, so obviously I don’t need very much space for that and can do it almost anywhere but not all businesses are created online and you should try and allow your space to reflect that. Which leads on nicely to the next point…
Is a virtual office space right for you?
Of course when you’re self employed and/or working from home, you have the luxury of deciding where to work. Sometimes though, working from home can blur the lines and in your head you’re a powerful and put together business person but in reality, you’re sitting in your pajamas with pizza stains down your front and your hair looking like a birds nest. And sometimes, those more chilled days are great and can be really productive but other times, we need a little bit more help to get going.
That’s where a virtual office space from Signature Works might be a good option for you. Providing you with a professional business address, mailbox, free landline number and various other perks, a virtual office space might be a logical and smart step for your business. It also gives you access to meeting rooms at hugely discounted rates, if your business requires that or even a discounted office space for yourself, so if you’re not feeling productive working at home and a coffee shop isn’t doing it for you, there’s a good alternative ready and waiting.
Mess and clutter
If you’re self employed, you need to know what is what and where everything is. It’s your business, your product and your mess and when you work for yourself and don’t have any extra hands to help, letting everything get into a big messy state isn’t ideal. Because you’re the one that will have to sort that out at the end of the day. Investing in storage to keep things organised may be a good option or just ensuring that you tidy up as you go – just like you might do if you’re cooking in the kitchen – to ensure things don’t get out of hand.
Change of scenery
If you’re not feeling it in your own home one day and shared office space isn’t working for you that day either, just a simple change of scenery can make the world of difference. That could be as small as a different room in your house, a coffee shop or outside in the park if the weather is okay and your work allows you to do that. I always mix up my tasks throughout the day so I’m not sitting there staring at my computer screen, in the same position, in the same room for hours on end! A small change of scenery can do the world of good.
If you’re self employed and/or work from home, I’d love to hear about how you manage the space you work in? Do you ever use a shared office space or a coffee shop?
* This is a sponsored post