How Ignoring Your Work Space Costs You Time & Sales
Collaborative post
This summer has been very significant for me in blogging-terms. No, I haven’t signed a book deal or won a £10,000 brand contract.
I’ve had a blogging day.
Yes this summer, hubby booked a day off work to take care of the kids so that I could have an entire day blogging. In fact it happened twice – one day in July and one day in August.
Significant
I know it might not seem like a big deal, but to me, it was a huge step. It symbolised that my blog was important.
Hubby is the breadwinner in our house. I am the stay at home parent. That means, as a family, we work around hubby – he’s the one who has deadlines and meetings and important phone calls.
But for two days this holiday, my blog took priority.
For me, it felt like a big step – like we were acknowledging that this little piece of internet is valuable. It has a place in our family. It’s not just a hobby that can be squeezed into the margins around everyday life.
Blogging
But, you see, it’s true – my blog is important. It’s important to me. It’s important to my kids (even if they don’t know it). Without my blog, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. My blog has given me so much, and has given our family so much.
- I am more confident
- I have career prospects
- I am earning money
- We’ve had some amazing family experiences
- My opinions count
- I have something that is just mine
- I am interacting with people
- I using my skills
- My family are involved in my work
- I can work from home
- I am negotiating
- I have professional responsibilities
Blogging isn’t just about tapping away on a computer; it has propelled this stay at home mum into the business world.
I never imagined I’d be emailing companies and negotiating with them. I never dreamed I’d be selling advertising space. Who would have thought The Daily Telegraph would be interviewing little old me?? And yet here I am.
And I’m loving it!
The catalyst
And what was the catalyst? What really transformed this little hobby (that I fell into by accident) into a viable business? Quite simply, I stopped calling it “my blog” and started calling it “my business“.
I am a big believer in the power of words. And it’s amazing how labelling something differently can really change your attitude towards it. This isn’t just a hobby anymore. It’s real. It has potential. I can see a future in it. And it’s a future I want.
So what’s the next step in the master plan? Simple – I want a proper office; a work space of my own.
I have spent both my blog days sat in hubby’s office, and my productivity has sky-rocketed. It’s the same principle – I am sat in a power chair, looking confident, feeling capable, ready to make those contracts happen. I am in a professional environment so I feel professional.
A work space of my own
Yes, sure, you can blog from anywhere. That is, after all, the beauty of it. But sitting up at a proper desk, with my notebook and pens stacked neatly beside me, gave me a confidence in my blog that hadn’t been there before.
As well as tackling the mountain of scheduled posts I’d need to maintain the blog through the holidays, I managed to negotiate four brand contracts sat at that desk.
So now I’m pitching for a work space of my own!
- I want something bright and colourful (to reflect my personality)
- I want clear, uncluttered spaces (probably not going to happen if I’m sharing the room with hubby!)
- I want modern
- I want somewhere that’s a real contrast to my house, so that I walk in the room and instantly switch from “mummy” to “business woman”.
The Penketh Group
The Penketh Group specialise in office design. Their website is full of eye-catching, colourful designs and it’s just the sort of thing I’ve been imagining. Obviously I would need to downsize a little as they focus on large office spaces for multiple people. But the bold prints, white furniture, and multi-purpose work spaces are exactly what I have in mind.
I may need to win a few more contracts before I can do a complete overhaul of our little office room, but for now, I’ll start with a desk. Move over hubby – this mama has work to do!
I’d love to know – do you have a specific work space at home? Do you feel more in control of your work when you’re sat at a desk? Or do you prefer the laidback approach? Is your blog a hobby or a potential business?
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Penketh Group. All opinions are my own. For my details, check out my disclosure policy.
I have a dedicated office in our home. I guard it with my life and Hubster knows he has to knock. He used to use barge in and totally throw me off my projects since he was babbling as he entered. I told him he wouldn’t do that to a colleague and he couldn’t do it to me. I also have “work hours” that he knows not to bother me during unless something is on fire. #BlogCrush
So great that your blog is thriving so much, it is a brilliant site. I love the tip about calling it my business instead of my blog. Really interesting read xx #blogcrush
Love what you say about labelling and about calling the blog ‘your business’ – I can so see how important this is. And great you got 2 blogging days! Love the photos doe inspiration for workplaces. #BlogCrush
Aaaaww how exciting to have your very own space!!!!I think it’s so much easier to concentrate and get things done if you schedule some work time. #BlogCrush
It sounds like you’re taking really positive steps with your blog – I can see how calling it your ‘business’ makes a big difference! Unfortunately, I know the days of having my own office are probably years away – we live in a small two-bedroom flat with little space, so my ‘office’ is an easy chair. #dreamteam
I do it all! I have an office space that is a quarter of the children’s playroom, a converted garage that was once my whole office. I also have a small desk in the bedroom, a writing desk if you will with no printers or other bulky things, just a very minimal space. BUT, I mostly sit on the sofa with a cushion on my lap, like I’m doing now, in fact I have 2 cushions on me, and my laptop and tapping away! If I need to do something ever so important I will sit upright at my desk to concentrate fully!
I love this idea, but I definitely need a bigger house first!! I try and blog once baby’s gone to bed, and then I’m too tired… need to remind myself to focus on it and think like a business not a hobby- great advice #brilliantblogposts
I couldnt agree more. I had no work space for so long and was moving from place to place to place and it just didnt work half as well as it does now I have my own work space!
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime
Congrats on all you’ve achieved. We have an office but to be honest its more of a dumping ground and will soon become my daughter’s new bedroom so I’m going to be stuck. Hopefully in the next house. #ablogginggoodtime (from weeks ago, sorry! just catching up with more than the minimum!) xx
Good for you! I work from home often for my day job so have a workspace set up in the junk room (literally have to step over boxes to get in there). It’s not very relaxing and increasingly messy. It is still my space though and if I’m in there, I’m much more focused. Only trouble is now I flit between work and blog when should be concentrating on one or the other! Oops! Good luck with sorting your space 🙂
The living room is my work space usually with a child on one knee, a cat on the other and the laptop floating around somewhere in between. We have a tiny box room that I really need to take over as my space!