Where I Work
My husband and I are starting over in a new career. We are both learning to write and have started a small local newspaper. We had to face fear of the what ifs...like; "what if no one wants to write for our paper?" "What if no one will advertise?" etc.
We don't have an office, but our newspaper is about having to start over, and it's about creating a business without any capital. We want to build a coffee house.
My office is a humble beginning. It's a TV tray in the basement of a friend's house. We now have enough articles to give ourselves a first print date! My next office will be our coffee house!
How I Created This Space
It has to be the easiest office space in the world. Get a folding TV tray. Open it up. Put your laptop on it, and leave enough room for a cup of coffee. I have a comfy chair, a throw rug, a lamp, and a peculiar looking Macaw parrot carving on a stand. It adds color! I have a radio playing; and I have my CDs close by on a little stand next to my chair.
My whole "office" space is less than a cubicle provides, but when you have a dream, you'll do what you have to just to be working on the dream!
Tips and Tricks
- If you have a dream, that's what you need to get started. I needed a place to write and design graphics for our newspaper. Of course I want a fancy office inside our dream coffee house; but if I wait for that, I will never get started.
- Learn to be content with what you have to work with, no matter how humble it is. For me, a folding TV tray and my old laptop is all I have. It's all I need for now.
- Find free software you can use until you get ahead financially. For instance; I want Adobe InDesign for our newspaper. However, I am using Scribus to start, until I get enough money to afford InDesign.
My Equipment (Computer, Printers, etc.)
I have an old Compaq laptop, a laser printer ($55 at Staples). I went in to buy ink for my InkJet ($90) and saw the laser for less than the ink! One cartridge lasted me two years! I have a US Cellular air card for Internet access that I can take where ever I go.
My Favorite Thing About This Space
My favorite thing about my small space is the fact that I have space to work on the newspaper. My husband and I don't have our own home yet, and a new start is a blessing! I like that I can work on my dream job instead of just dreaming about it.
My Least Favorite Thing About This Space
It's not our dream coffee house! Our newspaper is a coffee house documentary, and I long to be inside our coffee house, writing a story about the entrepreneurs we meet in our coffee house.
