But they are often not really that accurate. There are always things that seem to push one to take up another. Things like commuting to work, gets taken away from the time for ourselves. Sleep gets cut back when something comes up. The more that comes up the more that gets taken away from personal time and sleep.

This is really where having No Fixed Office, can come into it’s own. When you are working for yourself, (or even to some extent for someone else) and you are not restrained to a set office, with set office hours, you have a lot more freedom to work, when, where and how you like.

Working can start to take on a new and more exciting point of view. As before you often would be stuck working from 9-5 in a fixed place, where you often may have been stuck to your office or cubicle. Once you can break this you can be much more freely able to work when it is easier for you to work.Maybe the following scenario might strike a chord for you;

Imagine waking up a little late, maybe 8am, taking a walk, before enjoying breakfast. Around 9.30 sitting down with your laptop, to check your email, complete a few quotes, and call a client or two. Followed by a little bit longer lunch break. The Afternoon finds you sitting at the local coffee shop with your laptop working on some projects for your clients, for a couple of hours. You get home and prepare a home cooked meal.

You Spend the evening working on one of your favorite hobbies. Then you realize, you only spent about 5 hours working today, and managed to get about twice as much done as when you used to work in an office, and did it feeling more relaxed and with not surprisingly more time to the things you enjoy.

Maybe that is not everyone’s idea of the perfect work day, but you change some times around, and change what you are doing at different times, and the same can be adapted to fit almost anyone’s perfect workday.

While you may be thinking no workday can be perfect because i have to work. Well this is something that does not become a problem when you are working in a way that you have more free time and get more done. Which is the whole reason i see having No Fixed Office is good. You are anabling yourself to have more control and to approach the day in a way that you are more comfortable with. Which you would hope could only be a good thing.

As it currently stands, i have a collective 212 posts between the two blogs, made up of a range of posts, from short quick tips, right through to some quite expressive posts, that i share my thoughts and ideas on different topics. While i this is a milestone for me, considering that i never thought writing would be something i would do let alone be able to accomplish this sort of scale. Even though for me this is an achievement it is quiet low on the overall scale, in comparison to what some other bloggers have created.

Another area that i have really worked on and just started to learn on the tip of the iceberg is traffic. The actual traffic to the blogs is still relatively low. However the more that i work with my blogs and methods for gaining traffic the more i realize that it is not something you can force. You can create potentially better reasons for people to visit but at the end of the day, people will often only visit if you create something that they want to read.

As part of my learning about traffic, i ran across the concept of social media, while i had been using social media, in a personal respect for some times, eg Facebook and Myspace, it was not really to drive traffic to anything, it was to connect with friends, and that was about it. So i found you can share more than your life, this helped a little. Then i found myself seeing Twitter, like short messaging for the internet. So i took a look it seems that it has been one of my more successful steps, in building additional traffic.

Overall though when i stopped and thought about it, i have close to 8,000 twitter followers, a currently unknown number of readers on the two blogs, and when it all comes down to it, i am still a small guy in the blogging world. It is something that i am planning to work on and grow, however i want to do it the right way. Which may or may not end up how i expect, and may or may not see some direction changes as my blogging already has. But i know for one thing, i am not looking to give it up any time soon. Post frequency may vary and content may vary, but i will keep at it.

For some people this can be a challenge. A challenge that for some they cannot get past and end up carrying what could almost be mistaken for over night luggage just to the coffee shop to work for an hour or two. What you really need to consider that much of the things that we associate with an actual office, or working are in fact redundant, not needed or just dead weight.

So it really comes down to the question. How do you know what you do need and what you don’t need. To some extent this will depend on just what type of business you are running. However in almost every instance there are quite a number of things that can be done away with, especially with the current technology that is available. But before we look at some of the things that are not really needed, lets consider the potential basics that you may want to consider.

• Laptop – Really if you are going to be moving around to a coffee shop, bar, or any other place frequently, then a laptop is essential. It may be possible to get by without a laptop, however it may generally make things more difficult.
• Accessories – A Wireless mouse (if you don’t like the touch pad on laptop’s, Mobile Broadband modem, if you want to be sure of internet access, and a Carry bag that will fit the laptop, charger and just these couple of accessories.
• Notepad & Pen – Just always handy to have something to take a note on that can usually be flipped back through.

In reality this may essentially be the full extent of what you need. For some there will be other specialised equipment, a photographer needs a camera, a DJ needs music, and a mobile bank lender, may need a printer to print contracts. You will know from your business just what you really do need and what may be a luxury you do not really need for your business, at least what you need with you.

Consider some of the things that you may not really need now.

• A lot of paperwork – While some business still rely on hard copy paperwork, there should often be little need to take it with you, unless you are going to a specific meeting where you need it.
• CD’s – Be it programs or music, you really probably don’t need it with you. By all means if specific software you use, needs the disc then you need it. But if it is just a habit to carry your little folder of Cd’s everywhere, you could easily lighten your load.
• stationary – While you may think it is needed, generally it isn’t envelopes, paperclips, etc etc are all things that can often be left at home where you are more likely to need them.

Along with these items thare are often many other’s that can easily be done without, and not only make your load lighter, but mean you have less distractions when you really need to get your work done. Which is really what it comes down to when you go out to work, that is what you need to do, not be going through piles of papers, or searching cd’s for a file or such, but getting focused on your work and making the most of your time.

Even if you do actually stay with the concept of an actual office, there literally are some area’s that you must have an office. One example is that of a Bank. They need to have many offices, for the most part having an office is n economic of scale for them, it works out cheaper. But also there are other factors, security, formality, and customer expectation.

Another good example of a job or profession that would find it very difficult to work without an office, is a Medical Surgeon. While it is possible to make there job mobile (as is needed in things like war zone’s) the general expectation is that they will work from a hospital, which is a fixed location.

One of the other areas that it is difficult to take away the physical location, is that of fast food outlets, and restaurants. While to some extent they are potentially location free (eg takeaway), for the most part they need a certain level of equipment. Need to meet particular standards and in general people expect to be able to go to the same place to buy the food they want. While it is possible in some businesses to change people’s expectation of being able to go to a specific place, with this industry it is not something that is so easy to change.

While there are some exceptions though, they are for the most part few that really cannot be run or changed to run without an office. So give it a try and see just what you can imagein as a change from trying to work with an office you may not really need.

While there are many different factors that you need to consider when setting up a business, the decision in regards to having an office is often the one decision that many people see as more a which office to lease, rather then a do i really need an office. Really it actually comes down to a case of in very many cases an office just really is not needed.

Of course there are some areas that just literally would not work without having an office, but for the moment they are for another post to come soon. But there are also some businesses that really do lead themselves to having no fixed office, as we discussed not long ago in a series, the idea of an Internet business can easily be worked without an office, and literally only needs a computer with access to the internet and a little knowledge.

While there may be these two extreme’s, there are a group in the middle that in a fairly large portion of cases more so lead themselves to a default thought of where to place the office. When in reality these same businesses may be just the sort of business that you can easily get away without having an office. Ok so i have talked about it you say, but what are some of the options which may actually work without an office.

A very good example is Financial Planner. For a great many people in this field an office is seen to be essential, often with a very high quality fit out. Expensive equipment and extra staff. Most people would think that i am crazy even suggesting a financial planner could operate without a proper office. But it is not such a great step, there are probably quite a number that would already be working without an office, and it means that they can offer just a great service to the customer, but they offer this service at the customers convenience in their own home. Which as you can imagine for many people could be a great benefit rather then a detriment.

Another example could be the business of just about any sales company. Be it a company offering mobile phone services, insurance sales, or even marketing services. These are almost all services which can easily be offered working for anywhere the sales person can do their selling, connect to the internet and submit applications and with a mobile printer have the contract printed and signed, in less time then they may have taken to possibly have to make two sales calls because they had to go back to the office to get the contract.

Really working with no fixed office is easier and more possible then you may care to consider, it is just a case of really thinking, not where to locate your office, but what potential there is not to locate your office in any particular location.

While this has meant i needed to take leave from my normal job, as you can see from me posting here today it is not something that will stop me in my business. Having no fixed office means that i could be writing this post from anywhere, in bed, at my desk at home, or given i had the access and was in the situation from a hospital bed.

This is probably one of the benefits that you do not want to have to make use of with having no fixed office though, as i know i do not like being unwell, or being confined. However it does go to show that when you work with no fixed office, you really do have everything that you need to work at home, or wherever else you may be as long as you have your laptop, or an Internet connection.

Unlike when you work in an office where you need to have a minimum set dress standard that you generally dress to, working from no fixed office is much more free. When you need to think about dressing for the situation there is really no pressure, that if you are working alone at home, or at a coffee shop or anywhere else, who is their to judge what you are wearing.

On the other hand if you are working with no fixed office and you are going to be seeing a client then you need to be a little smarter. You need to take into account what you are dressed like when meeting clients whether you have an office or not. The fact that meeting a client in a coffee shop, does not really change what in a business sense may be expected from you by the client. In other words just because you dont have an office, does not always mean that making your whole business appear real casual is the best option.

Finally being a little more free to wear casual clothes can help you financially as well. To purchase a wardrobe of just enough business clothing for 1 week could easily cost $1,000+ depending on wheather you went brand name or not, and if you needed a suit or not. While for the most part the casual clothing you may already own, and would probably cost only a portion of this amount to supplement with a few more outfits.

There is almost no denying that by far a great number of people would probably prefer the second scenario above. However, probably the same majority of people are currently living out the first scenario, compared to those actually living the second. Maybe for everyone the distance is not the same, maybe some people are just 5 minutes from their office, maybe others are further. But what it comes down to is that these people are fixed on the idea of doing work at the office, even if it means that they have to waste an hour of their time to get to the office to do the work.

Having no fixed office almost erases this problem entirely and gives you a life that you don’t have to worry about the wasted hours in going to an office, that has you relying on that location to do your work. When you have no fixed office you can choose to work and often get that work done in less time then it would take some other people just to get to thier office. So really it is all about choice, and the choice that you make to spend time going somewhere that you may or may not like being and going somewhere that you enjoy the atmosphere and that opens up your creative ability.

In some respect for me this is a challenge of theories, i have always wanted to have a specific office, well maybe not office, but store that i can use not only to work from but to sell direct to customers from as well. But the more that i read and the more that i am discussing the idea of no fixed office here the more that i realise that a store is not something that i need to make my business whole. All that i really need to do is make the most of what i have available to me which is the flexbility to work anywhere, and really to do what i wish to do when i want to, and not be bound to having to go to some fixed location to do my work in. It is really all about choice.

THE LAPTOP – $1,299.00

The laptop that i am currently using is only about 2 or 3 weeks old, it is a Toshiba Satellite A300/W01. This has a Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0Ghz, 2GB of Ram, a 320GB Hard Disk, 512MB Dedicated Graphics Card, plus all the other things you would expect, like CD/DVD burner, wireless, etc. My primary motivation for purchasing a new laptop not long ago was the ageing battery in my old laptop was not giving good battery life, often only around half an hour before needing to be charged. With this new laptop i get anything up to 2-3 hours.

THE PRINTER – $449.00

The printer that i use is a Hewlett Packard CB460 Colour Inkjet Printer. This printer has since been replaced by a newer model.  However, i have found this printer to be more then suitable for the few times i need to print something out. It operated on a rechargable battery, and uses standard cartridges that are commonly available for many of the HP Printers from around the same time. While this has been something that i have used it is maybe something that i could have done without. I have maybe used it half a dozen times, however it would have been used much more if i had taken my business in a different direction, similar to which i had been thinking at the time of purchase.

MOBILE BROADBAND – $39.00 PER MONTH

This is the one thing that at this point has enabled my portable office more then anything (except maybe my laptop as i need this to use the mobile broadband). I would get no where near the amount of writing for my blogs, or development time for my business website, if i did not have the mobile broadband. Primarily because i prefer to write directly into the blogs online rather then write it in another program and then did to change all the formatting. I mean either way can work, it just depends on your preference.

BACKUP STORAGE – $129.00

I have a small drive for backup at the moment, it is a Maxtor one touch drive, with a 40GB capacity. It is a small and light and operates from the USB port for power and data transfer. While the dirve is small, it more then meets my needs. This is mostly because the large majority of my data takes a fairly small amount of space and i dont have massive amounts of data.

THE CARRY BAG – $199.00

This is the most important part of my portable office, because really if i cannot actually move everything i need easily then what is the point in having the equipment to begin with. The bag that i have is actually more of a overnight bag that is made by U.S. Luggage. There is a notebook sleeve that slids in the back of the case, which helps protect the notebook from damage to some extend. Then the main compartment easily holds the printer. and there are plenty of pockets to hold chargers, my mobile broadband modem, and backup drive. Additionally if i did have to travel overnight this would easily hold a change of clothes.

All up my total cost has been around $2,076.00 upfront and i have the ongoing cost of $39.00 per month for the mobile boardband.  Which when you look at it does not seem like a lot of money and it isn’t really. When you compare it to what an actual office i could have easily spent this much in just 2 or 3 months leasing the office, before putting furniture, computers, or anything else in for that matter.

One point that i would like to make before moving forward is that while i do operate my own business really from no fixed office, and 97% of all my writing that i do for this blog, as well as my other two blogs (My Personal Blog, and My Doubling Project) is done completly sitting in Cafe’s, or other local places. This is made possible because i have a Laptop, Mobile Broadband, and maybe more then anything a will to do this somewhere different.  The main thing that i tend to do from my desk at home, is graphic work.

While i do most of my own business from home, i do also have a job which is not so flexible as my own business, it unfortunetly requires me to be in one location. While it is not truly an office job as i don’t as such use a computer, or in fact get to sit in one place much, it requires me to go to one place, which at the moment is not going to change because of the type of job that it is.  For me i have the ability to see both sides of having no fixed office, on one hand i have the flexbility, but then i also have a fixed location job.

This leaves me for the most part in an interesting position. As you may have noticed from much of my posts already, i am very much of the believe that everyone should be able to work from no fixed office. However as i really do need to admit, there is quite a lot of times that No Fixed Office, is not entirely possible, especially when you are working for someone else.

Really my goal in the near future is to attempt to move completely away from working for someone else and work solely from No Fixed Office.  This is something that i believe will be entirely possible, and is more so something i just need to make a reality then anything else.