HUBBUB

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Tim Dwelly, puts the trend in context and asks: what facilities do these free agent businesses need to thrive?

It will come as no surprise to Freelancing Matters readers to hear that the UK workforce has been shifting fast towards ‘free agent’ working over the last ten years. Interestingly there has also been a big shift to working from home.

We have used Labour Force Survey figures to show that, between the two census years of 2001 and 2011, the number of self-employed homeworkers in the UK rose by 24% to over 2.3 million.

This group, what we might term live/work businesses, is the fastest growing part of the workforce. In stark contrast the number of commuting employees rose by only 1.9% in the same period. In many regions and counties where live/work business is prevalent, the contrast is even bigger.

In Cornwall, for example, self-employed homeworking rose 88% between 2001 to 2011 while commuting employment fell 6%.

Despite all the hard evidence, many of those in economic development (often commuting employees of large organisations) continue to think that the UK economy depends upon large ‘high growth’ companies with staff who travel to a workplace.

I beg to differ. The combined power of micro entrepreneurs in the UK who sensibly choose to work from home is not to be sniffed at. And it’s incredibly good news for carbon reduction too (let’s leave that for another blog).

Those who work mainly at/from home are overwhelmingly likely to be self-employed or running a company – at least two thirds of the total, the data shows. Why? Simply because it’s more affordable, more convenient and (in an age of rapidly advancing technology) the equipment needed is easy and cheap to get.

These ‘workers’, to use an old Marxist analysis, now control their own means of production. They own their own computers, iphones, scanners, printers etc. They can communicate with a global market via broadband. And they can subcontract to associates rather than take on staff. Why wouldn’t you run a business from home?

Not only do we (I am one of them) represent over 40% of all businesses and most start-ups in the UK. We are also the pioneers of flexible working. If councils, government departments and big companies want to know how flexible working works best, surely they should ask the people who do it? Or even – here’s radical – consider whether to employ contractors not staff more in the future?

But it’s not all rosy. What about the downsides of working this way? Isolation, invisibility, family life intruding (and vice versa), problems using a home that was never designed as a workspace. These are the challenges. How can they be tackled?

One answer is to join a workhub.

These are workspaces offering membership, not just permanent workspace. They offer facilities such as meeting rooms, video conferencing and other high end equipment. Workhubs are fast emerging all over the UK to support live/work businesses, as numbers rise.

On workhubs.com, google maps show where workhubs are available and what they offer. An ‘office when needed’, workhubs are the equivalent of a business gym: members sharing great equipment rather than each buying their own. They are surely the future of workspace, especially for those running live/work businesses.

At their best workhubs are also beehives of collaboration and networking. Unlike the local Costa or Café Nero, there is no background music and you will often know who those people are on the sofa nearby doing business with their laptops.

Workhubs offer the kind of business buzz you just won’t get in your home. And you can access it when and how you want to.

It’s quite simply ridiculous.

Launching a business into the world’s leading business hub (America, that is... sorry workhubs) from an 18’ x 12’ former bedroom in my home... ‘What are you thinking, Sarah??’ ‘Got ideas above your station again, have we??’

Who’d have said it would ever be possible to make a name for yourself in a massive country across the Atlantic Ocean, from the comfort of your own home?

Well, thanks to Bill Gates, Royal Mail and Alexander Graham Bell it’s been a bit of a doddle really. Well I say doddle. The phones, internet and delivery logistics all work a treat. It’s just sometimes the lonesome decision-making doesn’t always pay off!

That aside, it’s truly amazing how global possibilities have opened up to pint-sized businesses these days. When things don’t go as planned in one country (and believe me, I know all about that!) it really is possible to literally take a giant leap of faith and try your luck in another one.

Ok, admittedly, you do need to have a product that fits their market, a way of accessing that market and a way of delivering to that market – and perhaps one or two champions IN that market!

But, how does one achieve global presence from your armchair?

Well, it’s all about projection.  How do you want your business to show up? How do you want potential customers to perceive you? Who do YOU want to be doing business with and what are THEY going to need to see in your business to hook them in?

And there’s one, very simple answer to it all...your web presence.

'Til next time,

Sarah

Thank you, lovely workhub types for helping us seedlings connect, project and grow!

It's 9.30 am and I’m on the train from Leighton Buzzard to London. It's a really quick route these days, 36 minutes from door to door so I don't have very much time to write this, but being the chief bottle washer at a very busy little workhub I have to grab every opportunity to write a blog or tweet a bit.

Running a workhub isn't all I do. I own a small business-to-business design agency and I'm also employed by a recruitment firm as their marketing director.

From conversations with other small workhub operators my situation is not unusual. Most of us started up our workhubs on the back of another business, seeing opportunities to develop interesting spaces into places interesting people could work in.

Whenever I meet another multiple hat wearing workhub owner I see that same frazzled expression that can't quite mask the satisfied glint in their eye...

FunkBunk has been a hive of activity over the last week. Everyone seems to be busier than they can cope with and there is talk of growth floating around the studios.

I tend to be the first one in in the mornings so I can stock up the amenities, but this last week when I've arrived at 7am there have already been people in, clutching coffee and blinking at their screens in the way that only someone who started work at 5am will do.

This busyness equates to a great atmosphere in the open plan rooms. Stress is eased with humour and advice is shared, helping anyone overcome the stickiest of situations. The only problem with everyone being so busy is that no one has time for a beer on Friday!

It seems like ages since we ran a social event here at FunkBunk and with the head count steadily rising we are working on ideas for a social event to tie in with a charity such as the 'Help Creatives Re-Create' (by Design Taxi).

The aim is to help other creatives who have had their livelihoods disrupted by the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand.

Good times for good causes.

Sam

Jelly has caught on in the UK in the last 18 months, with more than 60 groups springing up from Norwich to north Wales and Edinburgh to Plymouth.

So much so that Shropshire Jelly founder Jan Minihane had the idea for a national event to bring together coworking fans, home workers and small business owners wishing to learn and collaborate.

She invited me and Fay Easton, who operates Enterprise HQ, the Ironbridge workhub that hosts some of the Shropshire Jellys, to co-organise The BIG Jelly, as we named it.

This project has made me even more aware of the benefits, both personal and business, of workhubs and coworking to the lone freelancer or small business owner.

From a logistical point of view the event has been facilitated by the same technology that makes coworking possible. 

Living in Somerset, there’s no way I would have been able to participate without regular Skype calls, file-sharing and emails, and all of our research was done online.

It wouldn’t have worked either without the collaboration and cooperation inherent in coworking. We have all been amazed and humbled by the generosity and goodwill of the small businesses we invited to contribute.

Even in these tough times they have been helpful and ready to give us the best deals so we could keep costs down as much as possible for this not-for-profit event.

Two or three brains really are better than one! Whenever one of us has been stumped, another has been able to come up with an answer or at least a (wo)man who can. And if not, at least being stumped in company feels less lonely.

We’ve all contributed our fair share of brainwaves too, and thrashed out any grey areas that might have foxed us individually.

Putting together an event of this size takes a lot of time and effort and inevitably there are setbacks and disappointments. Coping with those alone is hard, but picking up the phone and chewing it over puts everything into perspective again.

Working in a team makes you push beyond your comfort zone and try for so much more than you’d ever attempt on your own. Sharing the doubts and risks helps to minimise them and gives you the courage to push on.

I’m used to working alone and relying on my own resources so this project has been an eye-opener in revealing the possibilities of remote collaboration and the generosity of small businesses.

I talk about it often, but there’s nothing like personal experience to drive the lesson home.

I urge you to experience it for yourself by checking out your local workhub, going along to (or starting) your local Jelly or joining us for an information and inspiration-packed day at The BIG Jelly in Telford on Friday 25 March.

Find a Jelly

The BIG Jelly

This autumn I hoped against hope for a mild winter, as I have for the last few years, and once again I’ve been disappointed.

As a home worker I find extremely cold, snowy weather depressing and unproductive for several reasons:

• Sitting at a computer all day, no matter how many garments I layer on, is a guaranteed way to end up chilled to the bone
• That quiet eeriness of snow makes me feel insular and isolated. Little passing traffic and few pedestrians can make business life seem a long way away.
• It’s tempting to stay at home if it’s freezing cold. It can seem like too much of an effort to pile on even more layers of outdoor clothing, scrape the windscreen, warm up the car or gingerly pick your way down the road. And staying at home day after day compounds the feeling of being cut off.

Many home workers look forward to attending Jelly in their local workhub but in this cold weather a coworking community offers much more than a monthly respite from the well-known demands of home working.

All the workhubs I’ve ever been in have been beautifully warm on even the coldest days, with more heat than I could ever afford in my home office. It makes a nice change to work without gloves and hot water bottles.

Working in a community of freelancers and small business owners is a good way to feel part of something dynamic and connected to the real world.

You’ll meet the regular occupants of the workhub desks and offices, gain valuable contacts, get some advice or even some work. Just overhearing snatches of other people’s conversations can give you a new take on long-standing problems.

With a reason to leave home and a time to arrive for your session at the workhub you get a structure for the day that you may not have working from home. 

The trek through the snow doesn’t seem so bad when you get to compare stories with other hardy coworkers. As we all know, extreme weather brings out the best in us Brits and makes us much more talkative and helpful.

I wonder if workhubs experience a spike in occupation during spells of bad weather? Maybe it’s an angle they could use for marketing, particularly if the run of bad winters continues. As for me, I’m hoping against hope that next year is going to be mild...