Office Space
Posted: Tue 17 February, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »As of today, I’ve started work in an office in central Milton Keynes. I’m still working the same contracts and so on, so it’s not a new employer or anything. It’s just a different environment, allowing me to separate work and home a bit.
While I can work from home (and have been for the last few months) I still find it’s easy to have days where I’m demotivated, and can’t really be bothered to get on with work stuff. It’s easy to be distracted, to never really get into “work mode”. In general I can get away with it, because the productive days outweigh the non-productive ones – but I don’t want that to be the case.
So I made some enquiries, and an office space had just become available in one of the buildings I’d emailed. It’s designed for start-up businesses – which I am/have – and is ideal for one or two people. Less than £200 a month (which is also a business expense anyway) including utilities and wifi/internet, right in the middle of Milton Keynes. Pretty much ideal.
I’ve got it for a minimum of three months – which takes me to just over the current end-date for contracts – and then a monthly-rolling renewal after that. If things go bad, one month’s notice and I’m done.
It’s another positive step, and one I hope will work out when it comes to balancing work and home life a bit better.
But it does make me feel a bit grown-up too, which is kind of odd, to say the least…
Business Account
Posted: Fri 13 February, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2014/15, Bankruptcy, Business, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »Among other ongoing things, I finally got confirmation today that I’ve sorted a new account for my limited company, so I can start doing things properly come April.
There’s still a bundle of other things to sort out along the way – but it’s a major step forward.
It’s progress for me personally as well, because this account has needed credit-scoring to get it started, and it’s still been accepted. That’s definitely A Good Thing, and bodes well for the future.
Flattened, But With Progress
Posted: Mon 9 February, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Business, Change, Creativity, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »I don’t know what’s been going on this last week, but I’ve been feeling pretty wiped-out all week. Not health-wise as such, there’s been no illness or anything to speak of – but my mood has just been flat and a bit demotivated. Not depressed – I know that one way too well – but just…. tired. I guess it’s just been one of those weeks.
Despite that, though, there’s been progress with other stuff.
As well as the normal work – which I’ve still been able to get enough done on – I’ve also finally got a business bank account sorted for once this contract comes to an end. Considering everything else that’s gone on, that’s quite something, and I’m really pleased about it.
I’ve also finalised the paperwork for renting the office for the next few months, so that should be a go from next week, with any luck.
So it’s all looking pretty promising. The first month of this year has already been more positive than pretty much all of last year. I’m not counting my chickens just yet, but things so far are looking up.
Now if only I could get back to being a bit more motivated and driven about it all…
Connected
Posted: Sat 24 January, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Geeky, Getting Organised, iPhone, Work-related | Leave a comment »This weekend I’m off seeing friends Oop Norf, and because of working from home, opted for the easier option, leaving home early, stopping off at a services most of the way to where I’ll be, and working from there for a few hours.
It actually worked out pretty well – surprisingly so, in some ways – and meant I didn’t get stuck in tons of shitty traffic.
The surprising bit was that where I stopped, up at Hartshead Moor services, my phone had a full 4G data service – surprising, because Hartshead is pretty much the bum-end of nowhere. But still, 4G. That meant I could connect from laptop to iPhone using WiFi, which then gave me data via 4G, without having to pay a penny to the on-site extortionists of BTOpenzone et al.
That, to me, is a complete win. I’ve got unlimited 4G data through my phone contract (I know, it’ll still have a ‘fair-use’ limitation or whatever, but I’m well within that anyway) so it’s saved me the money of a connection through BTOpenzone, and won’t even hit my phone bill.
There are some bits of this modern life that I really quite like…
Business Progression
Posted: Fri 23 January, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Business, Customer Services, Domestic, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »This week has actually been pretty positive when it comes to sorting out things for my own company again.
As mentioned earlier in the week, I had a look at an office to rent – and signed up for it. Annoyingly, it’s not available until mid-February, but that should still work out fine for what I want/need. It’s only a little place, but it’ll give me the time, space and office I want, and allow me to do a lot of other stuff too.
At the same time, I chased up the farce that has been the application for my company business account. It’s a long story, and one I won’t bother with ’til I know more, but it’s been bloody annoying. Standard bank incompetence, and hardly a great way to get business in, but well, we’ll see.
What with those achievements, plus the car MOT and so on, it all feels pretty positive! Most unnatural and surprising…
Office Space
Posted: Mon 19 January, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Introspective, Own Business, Sociable, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »With the way work is going this year, I’m going to be looking again at renting some office space for the time being.
Last year I rented a desk in a shared space for a while, and that worked fairly well, but wasn’t perfect for a number of reasons. So while that’s still an option, I’m looking at stepping things up a bit this time round, and actually doing a proper office.
As with all large towns, there’s a number of options available in both Milton Keynes and Bedford, and I’m looking at my first one tomorrow. It sounds promising – designed for small and start-up businesses, monthly contract, central Milton Keynes and so on – but I need to see it and figure out the necessities. I’ll write more about it in the coming days, I’m sure.
Why do I need some space like this?
Well, I’ve got a lot of work coming up, and while working from home is OK, I find that it’s occasionally difficult to keep up motivation when there’s no real push to be “at work”. Also, I find it’s suddenly very easy to not actually interact with anyone for several days a week, and that’s not ideal either. I know I could easily become very hermit-like and insular, and I don’t actually want to do so.
So renting an office space will at least give me back a commute, a journey to/from work, and because the building is shared with a number of others, it’ll probably allow me to make some connections and interactions along the way. Never a bad thing.
Renting a desk is OK – but limits me to the times the main office is open, which I found more restrictive than it could’ve been, and limited the available hours I had. I’m hoping that a rented office will give me more flexibility, enabling me to do longer hours when necessary and so on.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens and how it all shakes out. I’ll know more by the end of Tuesday…
An (In)Auspicious Start?
Posted: Fri 9 January, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2014/15, D4D™, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Work-related | Leave a comment »This first complete week of the year has been both good and bad.
Up until yesterday, it didn’t feel all that great, particularly with the dose of Ick I’ve had for most of the week. I hadn’t got done a lot of the work I wanted to complete, and there was a bundle of organisational stuff that still needed doing this month. Which was all fairly bad, and not exactly contributing to the “start as I mean to go on” intentions I’d begun the week with.
Then yesterday I started sorting out the organisation stuff – chasing up a couple of things that’d been annoying me and hanging over the Christmas break – with positive results, as well as sorting out things like the car’s MOT, and a couple of other bits that needed doing.
There’s also been a dollop of good news today that means life is going to be chaotic – but profitable – over the next three months. I’ll write more about that over the weekend, I think, but it’s all good.
So while the first bit of the week was shit, it’s ended on a pretty good note. So all told, I’m currently pretty optimistic for 2015…