By Scott Wills

Image from iStockPhoto

One of the most important questions any freelancer will ask themselves in the early days of embarking upon a life of being one’s own boss, is do I work at home or do I pay rent and get my own office? The decision should not be exclusively based on cost, there is also an overhead of efficiency. Can you be trusted to work diligently and efficiently in your own home or is the temptation of distraction too much? But what most people might not consider, is a third alternative, and this alternative may be the perfect compromise between working at home and the office: your local public library.

The library is an office away from home, and, brace yourself for this, it’s available to you entirely rent-free! But that’s not all. It’s quiet enough to allow you to work productively, but it also gives you the option of a real-life corporate office if you so desire, with the gentle flow of both young and old drifting to-and-fro while you work, and all with only the quietest of noise and disruption. If you are particularly imaginative, you can even pretend the entire library is your own organization; take it a step further and imagine all the people in the library are your employees, and they’re being quiet because you’re the boss and they don’t want to upset the boss. Not that I’ve ever thought that, of course. Far too busy freelancing for that kind of imagination…

Owning your own laptop is obviously an advantage if you are to operate out of a library, especially if you are a designer for example, heavily reliant on specific software. It’s a tool that you’re familiar with and it is loaded with all the applications you need to get your job done. But maybe you’re a freelance writer, or an illustrator just wanting to draw some sketches – the library is also for you. An illustrator may appreciate the large desks which libraries seem to always have available, particularly those near any kind of window offering natural light or a reminder of the world outside. All the people and books around you may serve as further inspiration to you and your work. A writer meanwhile, as well as using a desk and her favorite pen and paper, does not necessarily need her own laptop, as the majority of all libraries nowadays are amply laden with free computers allowing one to write and edit electronically for free. Are you spotting a theme here where everything is free?

Fast and free Internet access is also ubiquitously abundant in the majority of public libraries, meaning that the freelancer is always connected for e-mail or instant messaging with clients. If you really want to reduce your overheads and only plan on working weekdays, you could stop paying for a cable modem or DSL connection at home, and tap into the free wireless connection that a local library may offer. Those $30 - $50 savings per month quickly add up over a 12-month period.

Freelancers needing complete silence may want to find a local library that offers personal study rooms. Some larger central libraries allow you to book small, soundproofed meeting rooms, entirely for free, which you can use to work in uninterrupted silence, or maybe even schedule it in advance and invite a client to meet there. This is very useful if ever you need a neutral yet professional environment to meet a client when you work at home and don’t want to invite clients to where you live.

Image from iStockPhoto

Using a library as an office actually minimizes the potential for distraction: Cell phones are typically turned-off, there are no TVs or music fighting for your attention in the background like what may happen at home, and there is less chance of general interruption from a friend or family member who lives with you, or someone perhaps knocking on your front door trying to sell something or deliver a package. This alone should sell you the idea of using the library to make you work more productively.

The library offers everything a rented office can offer, probably except for privacy. If privacy and potential solitude is worth paying for, then the library may not be for you. But for those on a tight budget and need to work away from home, your near-perfect office environment may be closer to home than you thought.

If you can withstand the pretentiousness, your local Starbucks® coffee shop is another place-away-from-home that can be conducive to creativity and productivity. The free wireless connectivity is always an attractive draw, but if you’re looking to burn candles throughout the midnight hours, a local coffee chain with 24-hour accessibility may be a better alternative. Some people love the atmosphere of a coffee shop, even people who are busy working on laptops, but remember that unlike a library, coffee shops are not a public service, and it is expected that you purchase consumable items while you stay on their premises. For the small price of a pot of coffee every couple of hours, this might be the cheapest rent you’ve ever paid!

Quite similar to a coffee shop, but without the potential caffeine addiction, freelancers may also like to try their local book store. It’s becoming more and more normal these days for book stores to compete with competitors by extending opening hours and offering comfortable furniture for customers to sit down and read books and magazines. Book stores actually want you to stay longer in their stores by making it home-from-home. Take them up on their offer and work there too! The book store environment is very similar to the library environment and it has the added advantage that you can access the latest and greatest reading material for free. Stuck using a particular software feature in the middle of a design? Go check out the computing section! Need to quote a writer for the new article you are writing? Just take a walk to the shelves where autobiographies are sold! Larger-chain book stores also typically offer restrooms and food/drink outlets. Remember, the book stores are delighted if you stay inside their stores. They think that you’re more likely to end up buying something the longer you’re there (which is somewhat true), but it’s also likely that their comfortable environment will allow you to finish your latest project!

There are other alternative working environments one may wish to pursue, and this is especially true for creative freelancers. For example, I know that many designers are influenced by their natural surroundings – whether that be the fresh air of the countryside, with green landscapes and a quiet breeze that carries the peaceful chirp of birds up above, or an urban environment, with the nearby chug of city traffic enveloped in the security of concrete towers. Try working in a different environment when you are brainstorming or when you are initiating ideas for a new project, you may be surprised by the results. If a pencil and a notepad on a picnic blanket down by the river is not your scene, maybe a laptop balanced on your thighs, while listening to your Apple iPod®, in the middle of an urban metropolis is what inspires you to create. Find out what works best for you.

Even if you are currently working from home or have your own office away from where you live, I encourage you to taste the feeling of working somewhere new. Even if it’s just once. Maybe you’ll be more productive than you’ve ever been before, maybe you’ll be less productive, but part of the adventure is to take the opportunity to try something new, and possibly find a new and better way of working.