Today's post is from Maren Kate, an entrepreneur who blogs about starting a small business, living extraordinarily and escaping the 9 to 5.

I always hear the stand by "You shouldn't live to work, instead work to live". It's true, I guess, but it always confused me because I truly love what I do, so I have no interest in just working to live, instead I love to work. Now to some this is a sign of workaholicism - but I disagree. I feel like calling productivity a disease is kind of silly in the first place - I mean if you love what you do, are happy and not only aren't hurting anyone but you're adding to the world - how can that be wrong? It's like saying that Mother Teresa was a compassionaholic or that someone who loves to write day in and day out is a proseaholic. So loving-work-aholics, unite, it's our time to shine and to show the world that work doesn't always have to be tedious and with a little creativity & persistence it can actually be one of the best parts of your life.

How to Love What You Do

1. Do you do what you love?

It's a basic concept. If you hate numbers and you work as an accountant you're going to hate your job and most probably your life. If you love writing and you work as a blogger you're going to enjoy life and feel as if you're job adds value to your overall existence. So ask yourself, if I could do anything in the world & get paid a decent wage for it - what would I do? Then figure out a way, come hell or high water, to do just that.

2. Don't get mired in the things you hate within your business.

Too often entrepreneurs start a business based around what they love, but within a few months are hating their lives. The problem is that instead of doing what they love in their business they've tried to become everything to everyone. Thus the artist starts balancing the books, making sales calls and learning HTML when all she wanted to do was paint. Make sure that when you start a business you either A. love the admin side of things or B. find someone who can do that for you while you focus on what you love and are great at.

3. Love where you work.

I had a job as a receptionist over summer break when I was 18. It wasn't a hard job and for the most part I liked the answering phones and filing a bit, but I went home every night crying. Why? Because I hated (with a capital H) where I worked. It was a window-less, cubicle, cell of death, nothing but white walls surrounded me and the horrible lights above me made me literally ill. If I had been doing that same job next to a bright open window, with warm wood walls and a cool summer breeze blowing in - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded it at all. Loving where you work is incredibly important, especially when you are work shifting from a typical 9 to 5 into a career or business where you have freedom of location. Choose wisely, pay attention to your inner aesthetic needs and you'll find yourself 100 times more productive and happy at work.

Making the shift

Shifting from living to work to loving to work isn't an easy one, that's why so few people do it. Most people won't leave their comfort zones or force themselves to truly consider what they would be happy doing. Call it fear, call it negative self image, call it whatever you want - the point is that it's prevalent in our society. So to be different, will be difficult. But the pay off is oh, so worth it. Think of it this way - if you love to work you'll be 5 to 10 times more productive, easily. So you could cut your 8 hour work day into a few hours and still have the same results when you start loving your work vs. when you live to work you'll try to put off your work as long as possible. So you can slave away in a 9 to 5 for the next 30 years, living to work and not be very happy - or you could take a year to figure out what would really make you love to work and do that for a fraction of the time for probably the same, or more financial reward. When you love your work your whole world gets better!

When the student is ready, the teacher appears-- Buddhist Proverb

I consider myself a life-long  learner. I TRULY enjoy the process of learning about new   ideas, concepts, recipes, languages, cultures, and ways of being. As a person with a portfolio career, who has worked/continues to work in different arenas, I have learned the power of informal and formal education.

My father often says, that he received his degrees from  U.C.L.A > The University of the Corner of Lenox Avenue in Harlem.  A great deal of his education came from growing up in Harlem.  The "lesson plans" were not always structured, planned, or even safe, but they were life lessons taught by people, situations, and life experiences. They were lessons that have shaped my father, and in turn me and my sisters.  The important early childhood message of valuing informal education is one for which I am very grateful.

I have been fortunate to experience a very good "formal education." I also have been able to be a participant in wonderful professional development sessions that have spanned topics areas including coaching, "difficult conversations," educational reform, human trafficking, project management, the art of Zen cooking, among others.  I attend film festivals, university lectures, and discussion groups. These structured programs and workshops have truly enriched my personal and professional life.

And yet, I am a firm believer in the teachers and teaching situations that present themselves to us on a daily basis as we life or mobile lives on planes, trains, in coffee shops, in the nail salons, and on the "corners" of streets around the world.

The skill for many of us, involves being open to hearing "life lessons" from people who may look and sound different, and as my father says "may not have a lot of letters after their name." 
 
We can go many places with this conversation. We can focus on organizational structures that may only value certain voices; we can acknowledge that many of us have been taught to value specific social capital; we might even be able to venture into the area of multi-tasking, where we are often texting, tweeting, updating our status, or talking on our mobile  phones - -keeping ourselves busy, and not available to connect with people. Or, we can focus on gratitude, and being grateful for the opportunity to meet so many different people who in their different lives bring richness to our learning and day-to-day living.

It has happened more than once, that I have been going about my day, and have come in contact with someone who has helped me see something differently, shared their story with me, or simply showed a sense of warmth and sincerity that can be a treasure in our fast paced world.

I once titled a piece that I wrote "the Sheroes and Heroes Among Us."  I think many of us have heard of stories from people that are our neighbors, colleagues, etc. that are powerful.  Sometimes, the stories are not BIG, or even about heroism.  Sometimes, the stories are very simple, and the learning just as important.

Some recent stories and teachers for me:

• Engaging in conversations and learning from the taxi driver in Washington, D.C. who has been driving in a city for over 30 years, who has experienced the issues of gentrification, race relations, and the changing of political parties as an insider;

• Learning about the current substance abuse counseling work of the car service driver that worked in the fire department in downtown Manhattan on September 11th;

• Hearing the fascinating story of the woman in the nail salon that came to the U.S. for a better life, and took the dangerous journey familiar to many immigrants;

It can mean reflecting on the life of the young soldier on the plane, who was heading back to base, after coming home to bury a friend.

Their stories, sense of humor, and commitment to what they do, are part of my ongoing learning.

Questions to ponder:
-    How do you value our informal education?
-    Where are your "corners" of learning in the world?
-    Do we value some voices over others?


Photo Credit: Jeff

Recently I polled some fellow workshifters on the twitter network asking about what some of their biggest challenges were when working out of the home office. It was an interesting find because quite a few folks said that the biggest challenges included trust and communications. After having been a professional workshifter for the past three years I can honestly say that I concur with this challenge. So how do we deal with them? I've created a few methodologies in which I live by on a daily basis. I hope these help. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Would love to get your take.

1. Always be honest. Recently I fell ill to a nasty flu bug and needed to take a couple days off to recover. I was very open and honest with my team and did everything I could to minimize the impact on the team for those two days. Look, people will see right through a lie. I've always found that being honest whether it's for a sick day, a family event, or anything really is the best policy.

2. Keep Good Logs. I keep logs of everything I do on a daily basis. For me this happens in two places. I use Evernote for my digital logs and a yellow note pad for quick notes and a second hard copy of my daily logs. Evernote is an application that runs in the cloud. You have access to these notes on any computer with the app installed as well as the majority of all mobile devices. I am an iPhone user and absolutely love it!

3. Don't flood the email. I have found that throughout my career it's best not to flood coworkers email. This is inefficient and wastes a lot of time. If I have questions I try to note them on my pad and send one email with all the items if possible. As workshifters I know there often feels like there is a disconnect between you and the main office so email is a great way to let everyone know you're busy. Resist the temptation and be conscientious of others time.

4. Clarity in Communications. make sure that you are clear on the methods of communications used by your team. Maybe they use Google docs and spreadsheets, maybe they are heavy users of GoToMeeting and Citrix products. there are many ways to communicate but be sure to find clarity there. If your organization has no clear communications system or methodology it might be time for you to do some research and lay out a plan!

5. Do Amazing Work. This one is obvious right? It's really hard for your boss to come down on you with fury if your work exceeds expectations. This is the number one way to build trust and make sure you are always in the communications loop!
 
What do you think?


Photo Credit: Assbach

Much like the shirtless dancing guy in the amusing but compelling video above, workshifting is a physical movement--but instead of flailing your arms, you seamlessly move the location of where you do work. One day, you're meeting your manager online from a coffee shop.  And the next, you're prepping a client presentation while sitting at an airport gate.  This is all possible thanks to the World Wide Web and its wondrous ways of allowing us to use remote technologies.

• www.workshifting.com ;)
• "Work Unchained: Workshifting and the Competitive Edge of the Anywhere Office" [podcast, eBook]
• "Leading Virtual Effectiveness: Four Strategies for Effective Communication in a Distributed Workforce" [eBook]
• "The Top Ten Strategies for Managers of Mobile Workers" [white paper]
• "Presenting the Business Case for Web Commuting" [white paper, podcast]

Some people workshift because they can.  Some view workshifting as a triumph of technology, others a triumph of humanity.  At my company, we workshift deliberately.  We believe that it empowers our staff as well as ourselves to add value and remain creative.  We believe that people work differently, and they should be able to decide how and where to do it.  We view work as "art", and artists always have distinct methods of extracting their best.  

If you are a small business owner and you workshift deliberately it's important to be able to articulate why you workshift  as you begin working with larger and more traditional clients.  

The reason is simple.  If you don't have a good answer, it just might make you look small.  But if you do have a good answer, it just might make you look innovative.

What do you think?

I recently wrote about a friend of mine who hosts a successful, productive workshifting collective from his home office. I'm a veteran workshifter, and to be honest, I really like working all by my lonesome in my office or studio. So I was especially curious to see how and why a group of workshifters had created a cooperative work environment. Here's what I learned during a visit to the team's HQ.

The Team
There are currently five people on the workshifting team -- four are founding members who adhere to regular work schedules and one member is a PhD candidate who occasionally uses the space to work on her dissertation. The regulars work in IT support, software programming and Web communications. Most of the gang boasts a comfortable level of technical proficiency, which is an advantage for troubleshooting glitches as a group and never leaves any one person with the responsibility of being onsite tech support.

The Scene
The group works in the master suite on the second floor of my friend's house. Garfunkel, the housecat, perches in a handmade cat tree steeped in southern exposure. Boxes of tea collect dust atop a side table (this is a group of coffee drinkers, mostly), and a Britta pitcher sits in the center of the large, multi-person worktable. The walls are painted a fresh shade of Mediterranean blue, and a red exercise ball rests in the center of the room.

Origin
With one member of the workshifting collective hailing from the UK, I wanted to know how all these remote paths had crossed. It turns out that the founding members of the group all attended the same church and had been working off and on in pairs at local coffee shops. My friend proposed that they officially set up shop in his house and see how things took from there. They've kept to a regular schedule ever since.

Balance
Opening up your house - and your work rhythm - to other workshifters certainly comes with the risk of personal and professional disruptions. Even the closest of friends may have radically different expectations and behaviors in the workplace. It shouldn't come as any surprise that workshifters absolutely must have compatible working styles to successfully share professional space. And they also need solid, straightforward communication skills to be able to say, "Hey, I'm taking an important call. Can you please turn the music down?"

Food
These folks may work outside of the traditional office, but that doesn't mean that the traditional office food culture doesn't factor in. One regular told me, "This is where I consume the best food of the day." The gang tends to eat en masse -- either cooking in the house kitchen, eating out together or bringing carryout back to the workplace. On the day I visited the group, I arrived during a lunchtime break. Food that day had been delivered courtesy of a workshifter's husband.

Benefits
According to the group, a significant advantage of workshifting as a team is being able to leverage the synergy of working together to increase personal productivity. Another biggie is creating a strong sense of community and supportive social network. For the mother in the group, having a greater work/life balance is key. Across the board, creating a space that has fewer "home" distractions (like responding to a stack of dirty dishes) is a perk of working with other workshifters in an office environment. And being able to leave workspaces intact at the end of the day without packing up every last office artifact (as one must do at a coffee shop, for example) is a huge benefit.

Recommendations
If you're considering hosting or joining a workshifting team, keep in mind the following:

•    Individual job types have a direct impact on the team. For example, if a workshifter's job requires her to spend the majority of the workday on the phone, she may not be a good fit for a group of folks who spend the majority of their time concentrating on writing code or copy.

•    Work styles must mesh well, period. Music in the background could be a delight for some and a distraction for others.

•    Create a designated workspace that doesn't interrupt the flow of the underlying household. The flipside is that a messy house won't negatively impact a designated workspace.

•    Build a workshifting community that feeds your own productivity and reduces any feelings of isolation that you might have.

•    Be wary of (and quick to weed out) candidates who treat the occasional remote workday as a day off. This type of energy can easily erode the productivity of the entire group.

When I asked if the group had a disaster plan - we live in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 types of weather - my question was met with uproarious laughter. OK, no disaster plan. Obviously not a deal breaker. But it's clear that this team of consummate professionals has discovered and implemented a healthy, productive workshifting cooperative. I'll leave you with the wise words of one of the regulars: Workshifting allows you to fit "work into life, not life into work."

What do you think?

We started this blog with the goal of building a community by providing content and resource material that was tailored for workshifters. The community was not built based on promoting products or services, although the occasional promotion is ok (just don't be "that guy"), it's based on fulfilling the need for information and the desire of sharing a common interest.

Over the past year I've watched as solo-preneurs chat with large enterprise companies about a wide range of topics.  It's less about what they are talking about, and more about the fact that they are talking, discovering and to enabling. Many of the questions and conversations are fielded and managed by the community.  One of the biggest lessons learned, is that once the community takes off, the community is in control. However, their desire for a consistent diet of rich and tasty content only grows with the community. So stay on it.

Another lesson learned is that your services are talked about alongside competing services.  Gasp!  I know it's hard to swallow, but your services are not right for everyone.  At my company, we absolutely love our products, but we know one size does not fit all.  We hope we attract customers that are a perfect fit.  Sometimes we don't and we definitely hear about it.  If you're going to build a community you need to be ok with that, because much of the conversation extends beyond the blog and takes place on Twitter, Facebook and other community blogs.  

What's really fun is watching the conversations that have little or nothing to do with technology. Common topics include comfortable office chairs, pets, marriage, diet, travel and about everything in-between. This is a nice lead in to one of, what seems to be, the hardest areas in managing a community and that's being REAL.

You could also replace REAL with HUMAN, HONEST, TRANSPARENT, etc. The point is it must come from the heart. You really and truly need to care. The community has low tolerance for corporate speak and canned responses. If you do more listening than talking, it will start to come naturally.

Online communities are not the exclusive domain of companies. We all belong to communities, online and in the real world. There is your Facebook community which you maintain, monitor and contribute to. In this day and age, it will become most people's first experience with a community. Then you may be belong to a car club, or cooking group and neither of which are online.  

As workshifters we often build a community around our co-working locations. You probably know the person that works the espresso machine, a few of the regulars, etc. This real world community probably extends to the web in the form of check-ins on Foursquare (who doesn't want to by mayor of their joint?), photo uploads to Flickr and messages in Twitter. If you're thinking about starting an online community blog, take that same casual demeanor and move it online. Be consistent, be transparent, be real.

My top 7 lessons:

1.  The community is in control
2.  Be the best electronic version of yourself
3.  Listen more than you talk
4.  Keep it really interesting
5.  Monitor and contribute daily
6.  Don't let questions or comments go unanswered for more than 24 hours
7.  If you don't genuinely care, don't do it

These lessons aren't particularly earth shattering, and you may read similar advice on other blogs. What's important is the application of the lessons. Much like when you read a book on a topic that's important to you. The reading of the book is not the measurement of success.  You are not striving to be an excellent book buyer. What matters is the practical application of the advice.  

That's my opinion, what's yours?


Photo Credit: Niall Kennedy

Where you work.
 
I know, I know--a cubicle is a far cry from a jail cell, but there are some similarities.  People who are outside of both are happier.

Telework Research Network reports that 41% of workers who have the option to workshift are "very satisfied" with their jobs, compared to only 27% of those who are office bound.*  And other research suggests that more virtual employees are "engaged" than their peers who work with their entire team present (34% vs. 28%).**

Clothing choices
When you work from home, you can wear what you want--that includes your most embarrassing (and comfortable) pair of sweatpants, something you'd never be caught dead in at work.

This flexibility, along with the other work-life balance benefits of workshifting, can secure your company the best, most talented employees, since 72% of employees say flexible work arrangements would cause them to choose one job over another.***

Driving to work.
 
Spare yourself the bird, please.  Workshifting saves you a headache and could take 10 million cars off the road, if a workshifting policy was in place in the U.S.  It's estimated this policy could also prevent over 95,000 traffic injuries and deaths, save over $11 billion in accident costs, and lower highway maintenance costs almost $2 billion a year.**

Now, let's put the brakes on for that!  Are you in?



I have to give credit where credit is due.  The concept of these graphics comes from Indexed (http://thisisindexed.com/). The ideas, however, were all me--so I'll take the blame for that.
*Lister, Kate. Workshifting Benefits: The Bottom Line. Telework Research Network, 2010.
**Preston, Camille, PhD. Leading Virtual Effectiveness. AIM Leadership, 2010.
***Montero, Phil. Work Unchained: Workshifting and the Competitive Edge of the Anywhere Office.  The Anywhere Office, 2010.
 

A friend of mine started workshifting full-time about eight months after I took the plunge myself. I was still basking in the glow of my own good fortune at being able to workshift 2,000 miles away from HQ and was, of course, thrilled for my friend who, as it turned out, was a tad apprehensive about working day in and day out by himself.

In an effort to ease himself into his new workshifting routine, he invited me to work in tandem at a local coffeehouse called the Black Dog, a great workshifting venue with generously sized library tables, ample outlets and a tomato-basil pizza that makes my knees buckle. We made a few attempts to coordinate work schedules, but things never came together.

His craving for a larger group of colleagues led him to poll other workshifters he knew in the area to see if there might be any interest in working regularly from his home as a group. He discovered that there was actually a mighty big demand for this type of arrangement.

Soon after (and perhaps to the chagrin of his tolerant wife), the dining room table was recast as a permanent conference table. A post-it note went up on the front door inviting the crew to "Come In." A larger coffee pot was procured and a band of workshifting regulars poured through the front door of his home in the heart of a residential neighborhood to work independently, together.

My friend has since converted the master bedroom suite, which occupies the entire second floor, into a much larger collaborative workspace. (Like I said, his wife is a tolerant woman.) The setup looks less haphazard than the dining room table with its nest of cords underneath and allows the living space of the house to flow more naturally. The new office digs look incredibly professional and polished--just as you would expect any other office out in the world to look. It's less "home office" and more "office within the home."

The first time I saw the suite workspace, I said, "Hmm, I could see myself working here. Are you hiring?" Though I didn't land a permanent placement, I was invited to observe the collection of workshifters on a typical workday and interview a few folks to see how things looked from their side of the multi-workstation table.

I'll share my observations of the collaborative workday and my conversations with some of the regular crew next time.

Would this type of arrangement work for you?

As much as I love supporting local coffee shops, sometimes when I travel, particularly in Europe, I frequent Starbucks.  Why?  For workshifting purposes.  I ain't on a vacation, baby, I have a business to run.  They always have a multitude of outlets, plenty of open space, don't mind you camping out for a day.  And, of course, the seminal ingredient for any workshifters needs - WIFI (not free, though).  

But now, they have done something that will make workshifters the world over rejoice!



What do you think?