Productivity and office space, and notes from our meet up on 1st October 2025
Posted by Paul Silver
On the 1st October, 12 freelancers met up in the Battle of Trafalgar pub in Brighton to talk all things self employment and tech. This is some of what we talked about:
- Ruby on Rails drama
- How Python avoids one party being over controlling
- When clients or bosses don’t understand that technology has limitations
- Tilly Norwood – AI actress
- The early days of HTML and building web pages
- Home automation – does buying new hardware make more sense than recycling old?
- Car security is much better than it used to be (potentially unless you own a Hyundi)
- Shipping material to Mars
- Space elevators – the maths makes sense but they are a wild idea
- A big box with only a plate in it? Intriguing
- Updating a mobile app when you don’t have hardware to test it on
- Holidaying in a van
- The awkwardness of our tax system
- Positive attitude changes after taking a Tony Robbins course
- A dog can help you see the positive in life
- Having a place to work outside of your home can be vital for productivity
Productivity and office space
Some people love working from home and one of the advantages of being a freelancer in tech is working from home can be your standard day. Very rarely have I worked in a client’s office in my 21 years of freelancing.
For others, working from home can be very bad for your productivity. Distractions like the washing, something needing to be fixed, something needing to be cleaned, can be easy routes to procrastination.
I spent my first three years of freelancing working from home. First from the corner of my living room, which was large enough to ignore the work related stuff when I wanted to relax, and then from my bedroom, which was horrible as I’d need to clear my desk onto my bed in order to get space to work as my flat was small and a bad shape to fit workspace in. I then moved work to a shared office space a friend was starting and spent a few years there.
The main block to me getting an office was cost. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to bear the extra cost of a desk in a shared office on top of my rent and other bills. Once I’d bitten the bullet, as my girlfriend and I wanted to move in together and my work had to go somewhere else, I discovered I was so much more productive I was earning more than enough extra to afford the office.
Going to a dedicated work space helped set my mind into work mode, which was great for productivity, as was being able to walk home and forget about work on the way. I was more relaxed at home, and more into work at work. Terrific.
When we managed to buy a house, I moved out of Brighton and work moved into our box room. That’s better than working in part of home that’s for other things, but I missed working around other people, so now I use a coworking space twice a week when possible. That gives me a mix of working in a dedicated space around other people who are working, which helps beat my procrastination, and I’ve made friends and learnt about new things there too.
If you find you lapse out of work and into distraction a lot at home, I can thoroughly recommend trying drop in style coworking, or a full time desk for a while to see if it changes your attitude to work. It is an extra cost, but I’ve found it’s one that it was money very well spent for me.
Brighton is full of coworking and shared offices, we’re going to try to compile a list of ones you can try soon. Watch this space.