In many ways, innovation can happen anywhere, it does not really matter whether you have an office or not. There are literally examples everywhere of people, groups, and businesses creating innovation in products, services and within their business. However there is i think a catalyst that can drive innovation to occur. While there is no specific catalyst that will always drive innovation there is one that i imagine would generally help innovation progress.
The innovation that i believe drives many with no fixed office to innovate is the idea of making things, quicker, easier or just more flexible. Working without an office people often look for all of these things. The idea of No fixed office is based in increasing productivity, while bringing down the amount of time that you dedicate to creating or managing your business.
In most cases innovation comes from a need, anyone of the needs mentioned, quicker, easier or more flexible. In many ways when you work in a normal office much of the need does not exist. You often don’t need to think about how many things you have around price books, samples, brochures, and any number of other things that take up so much space. However when you have no fixed office you need to find ways to eliminate these things. Price books become electronic, then web based, and finally integrated between your back end version which updates your website as well. Which often can be automated. Which often can be seen as innovation straight away.
Another area that people will tend to try and automate, or innovate is invoicing, or accounts. Almost one of the key area’s that people don’t like to have to deal with any more then they need to. While this area often does not get innovated as much as automated, there are times that both will be important. I have seen systems and know of people that create elaborate systems, that require little effort from themselves but take care of so much of the important items required of them.
One of the most interesting aspects of the innovation that is created because of having no fixed office. Is the fact that the people who create the innovation think of it generally as just something they did, to make their life easier. To save some time to give them an extra 15 or 20 minutes for other tasks or to spend with their family. But most often the surprising aspect is that they think nothing of what possibly could be a giant achievement, and have great potential as a product to others, yet they see it has something they threw together to help them.
Having no fixed office really is the best chance and the biggest reason to innovate how you do business. Find a way to do away with the cumbersome amount of paperwork that you might have otherwise ended up with. Look for time saving automation which will cut your work day in half. Find ways to make it easier for customers to connect and deal with your business. Just get out there and take the chance and it may just help you see what is possible, and why having no fixed office is great.