Where do you work? I don’t mean that 9-5 you may or may not have, I mean, where do you brainstorm? Where do you mastermind and create your latest projects or grind out ideas and turn information into products? Do you roam? Do you have a home base? What does it look like? What do you listen to? What’s around you?
The video below details my physical office set up, how my moonlighting “command center” is set up, and what I surround myself with while working. As I’m working up some pillar content on how business is going at IT Arsenal, the lifestyle business connected with this project, I wanted to show you how I work in a quick 2 minute video, and ask…how do you? I’m sure there are ways to learn from each other.
*The video quality sucks as I captured it with a photo camera but the audio is very clear.
While I’m creating my empire, tearing things of my own creation down or building new ideas up I’m often…
- Listening to various instrumental music, classical to techno. Words distract me.
- Staring at or reworking my “Board”.
- Drinking a glass or two of “calimocho”, a cheap red wine and soda mixture popular in Spain.
What does your empire building environment look like while your hard at work?
“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.” Daniel Burnham
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Chad, the blogs fine! Everyone starts somewhere, check out my other site http://itarsenal.com if you'd like some help and have me on board for that. Thanks for the office space sharing….using someone elses space (in this case your dads) was something I didn't think about…but why not. A spare office, a spare bedroom…a new environment gives your mind an air of possibilities which ends up going into your work. Thanks for the feedback!
Rob, really interesting, thanks for sharing. The balance part was key…finding that amongst remote desktop and sitting in a good working environment….I spent a good 2 hours a panera bread doing work yesterday and it really helped…the home office was %100 less distracting after a good break. Thanks for the share!
Thanks Moon! I feel like all of us have our version of this “board” somewhere. would love to see the set up!
hah, Bobby…half a desk? Thanks!
I am just starting out blogging and pursuing the whole lifestyle design thing, but being a student I have great places to work at, Library, Student Union Building, Cafeteria, Dorm Lounge, Dorm Lobby, Coffee Shop, and being in L.A. there is no limit to the number of interesting places you can sit down to do work in. While at home in Arizona, I do work at home, yet as you said this becomes stressful very quickly. To deal with this I will make trips to my dad's company office where there is always an empty desk somewhere for me to use. Thanks for the post!
P.S. My website is still in development, hence the lameness
I'm in the process of shutting my office down, and setting up “command central” at home. The setup will be similar to yours, I have a 7×7 ft space connected to our living room that is being overtaken by my desk and computers.
My assistant and I are going to work virtually most of the time, with a few hours per day at a colleague's office that we do tons of business with. Most of our work is project-based, so this seems like it will be a good mix.
The two spaces should be seamless as far as tools go, using remote desktop to work from anywhere as effectively as we need to. Hopefully this will allow for a good balance of focus and environment shifts, as you described working from home has its drawbacks. Gotta switch it up when you need to. I think having another place to go is vital, whether it's an office, co-working space, or otherwise.
Nice post!
-Robb
Your setup is sooo close to mine, actually the board that you have up… I have the same one. I was (am?) going to make a video about my work setup but thought to wait until after the move. Cool stuff.
Cool idea for a video. I work from my room too, but had to move half my desk out due to no space in my bedroom. If I kick out one of the roommates I'll be moving all that into there.
Aha, yeah working with someone you know is great fuel! I wish I had that day to day back and forth. Awesome Tony…keep hustling! Lets keep chatting it up.
Yeah, always educational. Do you do anything drastically different or less or more? Thanks Jonny
I enjoyed the video. It is always great to see how others do things. Thanks.
Nice setup — well when I'm moonlighting I work from home but I try to get out as much as possible during the day. My friend and I are starting up a co-working space environment where we invite like-minded entrepreneurs to work with us in one office space…we stay focused on our project for a long awhile and when we come to a mind block we ask for advice — its not bad if you want to change things up.