Publishing lessons

Just under an hour ago the UK broke its hottest ever recorded temperature and it is still getting warmer. Some estimates predict the previous record will be broken by 10%, for a country filled with houses designed to retain heat and no air conditioning, this makes for a very uncomfortable experience.

With everything else put to one side, this makes it incredibly hard to work from home as my house is 15 Celsius (approximately 27 Fahrenheit) warmer than a typical summer day and climbing. Luckily, I made the decision not to work from home today and I’m currently sitting in a co-working space with air conditioning.

Co-working spaces

This isn’t an unusual thing for me, in fact I rent a desk fulltime in the centre of Bristol and work most days away from home. Sometimes if there is something specific I want to do such as recording a video or hosting a live stream I will stay at home, but I try not to.

Air conditioning is certainly one advantage, but let’s take a look at some of the others:

Getting out of the house

Having a desk away from home gives me reason to leave the house each day, it requires me to do some walking, and helps separate working life from home life.

Interacting with people

As a one-person company I rarely interact with others outside of email, by renting a desk I sit in a room filled with people in the same situation. We often go for lunch together, play games, and chat when someone needs a break from something stressful for a few minutes. It provides a lot of the benefits of working in a team without needing to be part of the same company.

A different perspective

Over the years I have sat by many different types of people, from web developers to shampoo salesmen, from marketers to quality assurance professionals. It has helped me look at things from different perspectives, given me an insight into how other businesses do things, and even helped with connections. A shampoo salesman may not sound like the obvious partner for a board game publisher, but both of us dealt with global logistics and they provided a lot of insights from a very different perspective.

Mail and storage

I get all my mail sent to my co-working space, along with samples, and products. With a receptionist at the door it guarantees I wont miss packages or get distracted by the doorbell during calls, and allows me to go on trips to conventions without the fear of something getting lost. I also store things at my office which helps reduce all the things I need to keep at home.

Personally, I’ve found co-working spaces have had a large positive impact on my day-to-day life. Having this space among others has helped make being a one person company much more viable and enjoyable, and if you work alone at home every day, I’d recommend giving it a try.