Today, I decided to give everybody an oral peak in my business settings, and in particular how I us a mobile office instead of a set location.
First off, I don’t have an official office, or at least one dedicated to my side businesses. I guess you could call my “laptop and laptop case” my official office, because wherever I go with it, I can do work and be productive! To be honest though, I probably spend at least 60% of my time in a spare bedroom that has a desktop computer in it as my “unofficial” office! While I don’t use the desktop as much as I use my laptop while I’m in the room, sometimes I do have both up doing work. When a guest stays the night, I go down into our media/library room and work there instead (I really do love having a laptop!).
At work I’m limited, my employer has a proxy server than limits me from going to sites such as gmail.com, etc… So instead I use the local library (which is about 2 miles away) as a critical part of my mobile “side business” office! Using the library as a mobile office has served me well for years. I go at lunch so the crowd is minimal (maybe 10 people come and go the entire hour that I’m there), and it’s naturally quiet. Internet access is provided, the air is perfect with heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, and there is even a small pond outside if I want to escape for a second and take nature in. In may ways it’s like a Corporate Park area!
Lately, I’ve been using my time at the library to do research and learn more. Why pay someone to teach you when you have a wireless connection at the library, not to mention all the books I could pickup and read… The library is something that we all pay taxes to run and a lot of us just let it go to waste? Why not take advantage of the potential to use it as a mobile office? Plus, when you are traveling, most cities have their own library, just sitting there, neglected, waiting from someone to come in and use the great free services!
It I were retired or had enough money to stop living my life in a cubicle, I would take advantage of the great mobile office like environment that libraries provide! I would then travel more, using the mobile office setting that is available in almost every city (and most of them provide internet access at their library too).
If your on vacation, the local Library’s mobile office is just sitting there like a faithful dog, waiting for you to pay it some attention!
Even if you don’t like the library, perhaps go to one and try it out for an hour. Try to think of it as a mobile office instead of a place to borrow books, you might surprise yourself and find that you can do a lot of work there! For instance, this entire article was written at the library that is less than 2 miles away from where I work…
It’s free!!! Try it, you may find that it beats paying big bucks to rent office space!
Bests,
Don
I used the library once as my office. My home internet was down, and I had to get a project done. It served me well, but the library is quite the trek from home for me, so I only use it in emergency situations.
Good point! The library would definitely have to be close to where you live or work. At both work and home, the libraries are less than 2 miles away, so that makes a huge difference!
I commuted to college for 3 years of my education, so I pretty much lived in my university library (and those were the days before wifi and I didn’t even own a computer). It is indeed a great setting to get work done without distractions. We had 10 uni’s in my town, so sometimes I’d switch it up and study with a friend from another uni. I know. I sound ubber dorky library hopping, but it is great.
In College, with a roommate nicknamed “Hemp”, I too camped out in either the library, computer labs and study halls. I guess I realized the value of library during that time 🙂
On Ubber dorky library hopping, I did the same, and I still like to check them out in cities I visit (I did in Denver).
How dorky am I lol…
Great idea, i also did this a lot of time during my college. While i was on college i also work freelance and often time i do my work at the library, just lucky they had a very good wifi connection.
This is a great idea for a change of scenery every now and then. Don, which Denver libraries did you check out? 🙂
I love the library. The main central library is less than a mile away and the university library is even closer. We go to the library at least twice a week, but I don’t get much done there because the kid is a handful…
The library is something that we all pay taxes to run and a lot of us just let it go to waste? Why not take advantage of the potential to use it as a mobile office? Plus, when you are traveling, most cities have their own library, just sitting there, neglected, waiting from someone to come in and use the great free services
I also love working in a library near my office. Everyday after work, I head down to the library and work on my side jobs. This allows me some quite time before getting home. In the library, I get to concentrate more compared to when I am working at home, thus I feel that I become more productive.
I love going in library. When I was in school and then in College and university I always used library. Until now, when I want to become more productive and want to use my time better, I go to the library. In this way I’m more focused and find a working environment.
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I just discovered that brilliant idea after we had some pretty bad heat here in LA. Many of us living near the ocean don’t have air conditioning, so I went to the library. It was nice and cool, and quiet so I could focus. I wish I would have thought of it sooner!
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