• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Training for Translators

Online courses for translators and interpreters

  • Blog
  • Classes for translators and interpreters
    • Consulting
  • Books for translators by Corinne McKay
    • Translate my books
  • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Cart

Sep 23 2013
Corinne McKay

A co-working update

Inspired by Judy Jenner’s post about her first three months of co-working, here’s an update on my own co-working situation.

Brief background: about this time last year, I came to a few realizations.

  • Next year (now this year), my daughter would be starting middle school and would be getting more independent.
  • My husband, who used to work at home, now works at an office.
  • A lot of my longtime friends who used to work part time or be home full time are now working full time or are busy with other things. Of course I still see them, but they aren’t around as much during the day.
  • After 10 years of working at home, I needed a change. What used to seem peaceful and blessedly quiet started to seem isolating and lonely. I realized that I had to take action when I saw a really cute outfit in a store (second hand, naturally!) and then thought “Where would I ever wear that? It’s not like I see anyone during the work day.”

And well, I’m a doer. So I decided to do something about this situation and find myself an office outside the house. Fortuitously, Boulder has no shortage of co-working spaces for all flavors of freelancers, and after touring four or five of them, I found “the one,” in a beautifully renovated old building right in downtown Boulder. I’ve been happily working there/here for the past nine months, so here’s a quick FAQ about the experience.

Q: How do you like co-working in general?
A: Three words: I love it. It gets me out of the house, it gives me some semblance of a boundary between home and work life, it forces me to get my work done in a defined period of time, it gives me an excuse to wear something other than workout clothes and it gives me interesting people to talk to. When I get up in the morning, I feel like I have some place I need to be, which is a feeling I enjoy. I ride my bike to my office, which is also nice: it’s a 20 minute, not too strenuous ride, just enough to get the blood pumping in the morning and the afternoon. When I get home in the afternoon, I feel like something happened during the day; I feel like I have something to talk about, other than “I sat in the office/guest room, then I washed some dishes, then I sat in the office/guest room some more.” Admittedly, a lot of these factors probably have more to do with me than with the objective realities of freelancing, but there you go. Those are my reasons!

Q: How much does the office cost and what do you get?
A: I pay $350 a month for my own desk, and I keep all of my work stuff there. I also get use of the building’s conference rooms, unlimited coffee and tea (plus they wash the cups…that alone is worth $350 a month) and I can eat in the building’s social club for an extra fee.

Q: Who else works there, and did you know them ahead of time?
A: My building has private office suites and a group work room. I have a desk in the group work room; there aren’t any other translators here, and I didn’t know anyone else in the building ahead of time. I really like both of those aspects: it’s interesting to work around people who do totally different jobs than I do (IT, PR, law, corporate writing, etc.) and it’s just enough social interaction. I have something in common with a lot of the people in the building, but I can also get work done without feeling like I have to socialize.

Q: Are there any negatives?
A: So far, not really. I feel that the improvement in my enjoyment of the work day and my increased productivity are well worth $4,000 a year. In fact, this year is on track to be my highest-earning year ever, despite the fact that I took a month off this summer. So I think that my perception that I’m getting more done in the same amount of time is probably accurate.

Q: Any advice for other people considering co-working?
A: Make sure you find the right spot, because all offices are not created equal. The first place I went to look at was everything I *didn’t* want in a co-working space: in a basement with no natural light, empty vodka bottles in the kitchen (seriously) and more of a tech-startup vibe than a word nerd vibe. The office where I ended up has the feel of a really, really nice library with a great garden and a lot of nice art. So the physical space has a lot to do with it; at least more than I thought at the outset.

Other co-workers, any thoughts??

Written by Corinne McKay · Categorized: Freelancing, Money, Working from home

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. patenttranslator says

    September 23, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    “empty vodka bottles in the kitchen (seriously)”

    That is so selfish!

    They should leave a little bit for coworkers!

    This would be considered bad manners even in Russia!

    Reply
    • Alina Cincan says

      September 24, 2013 at 6:54 am

      Steve, your comment made my day :))

      Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:15 pm

      Definitely! And this is in Colorado!!

      Reply
  2. TransBunko says

    September 23, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    “I feel that the improvement in my enjoyment of the work day and my increased productivity are well worth $4,000 a year”

    I love this, I think translators in particular need to be very attuned to their time value, especially because we have more flexible schedules. Really great to hear about co-working. I haven’t tried them out, but this makes me want to 😀

    Anthony

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:15 pm

      Thanks Anthony! That is a great point about time value: giving up the office would be an easy way to save $4,000 a year. But if you only think about frugality (even as a very frugal person!), your business is going to stagnate.

      Reply
  3. Luciana Meinking says

    September 24, 2013 at 2:10 am

    I really liked your text, thanks for that.

    Reply
  4. Viviane Blais says

    September 24, 2013 at 2:57 am

    I enjoyed reading your post, Corinne. But while I agree that it can be nice to get out of the house and see other people during the day, it seems to me that certain jobs are more appropriate for co-working than others. I would love the idea if I were a graphic designer or some other creative type. But as a translator sharing an open office space, I would be concerned about getting the peace and quiet that I need to concentrate and get my work done. Isn’t this an issue? It’s the main reason that I quit my last job and started working from home.

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks Viviane; I think it depends on the actual office and on your personal noise tolerance. My tolerance for ambient noise is pretty high (too many years of working at home when my daughter was really little!)and my office is pretty quiet, so it works. If someone is on a long phone call, I just put on my headphones with instrumental music and it’s fine. But I agree that if you’re in an office where people are constantly making noise and walking around, it would be annoying.

      Reply
  5. Caroline Le Cavelier says

    September 24, 2013 at 5:46 am

    Thank you for sharing your experience, this is very interesting.

    Reply
  6. 1stclasstranslation says

    September 24, 2013 at 7:45 am

    Definitely food for thought! My life-partner is also my work partner and because we both do work at home and almost always on the same projects, we’re together virtually 24/24, 7/7. Sometimes this can definitely become overly intense.
    Though we live in a large apartment in a favourable quiet location at the bottom of a steep hill – on which it is technically forbidden to drive (an ordinance that is not respected by all) – our two-floor space is laid out in such a manner that every room leads sequentially into every other room. The impact of this is that we can always hear whatever else the other one is doing – even their breathing if it happens to be agitated! – and it also makes it too easy to disturb the other partner’s concentration for no good reason if we’re not each totally engaged in our own individual tasks.
    Perhaps an office-sanctuary would be a very worthwhile asset – we could always skype each other if we were feeling lonely :).

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:11 pm

      Thanks for your comment; I love the expression “office-sanctuary.” Sometimes I call my office my “girl cave,” which is kind of similar! My husband and I shared an office in our house for 2 years, and I agree that even when you get along very well, it’s a challenge. Plus it’s just nice to have something to talk about at the end of the day. Now that we work in separate offices, we do talk or e-mail several times a day so I think that Skype could work for you!

      Reply
  7. Tatjana Dujmic says

    September 24, 2013 at 7:55 am

    Thank you Corinne for sharing your experience (I also enjoyed reading Judy Jenner’s post).
    One things that comes to mind is data security. When you say that you leave all your work stuff at the office, what about confidentiality? I mean, we often have to sign NDAs and in my working field (finance) data is especially sensitive (not to mention laws that have to be complied with). I’d like to hear your thoughts on this 🙂

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      Thanks Tatjana! A few thoughts: I don’t usually work on highly confidential documents, so it’s not a huge issue for me; I work on a laptop, so I do bring it back and forth, and I always lock the screen when I’m not at my desk; the building where I work is pretty secure; you have to check in with the receptionist to get into the building, and my office is on the very top floor, where no one would go unless they were coming into that office. But I agree that if you work on very confidential documents, working in a public office presents some issues to think about.

      Reply
  8. astrid says

    September 24, 2013 at 10:12 am

    I knew I wanted to cowork, the minute I decided to freelance. “A basement with no natural light, empty vodka bottles in the kitchen” sounds like a complete nightmare though! I co-sign on the importance of shopping around to find a place/places that suits you

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:07 pm

      Thanks Astrid; yes, definitely true. Going into it, I thought that co-working offices would all be fairly similar but they are not. Best to look around, or think about starting a small co-working office if there isn’t one near you.

      Reply
  9. Lucile Frégeac says

    September 24, 2013 at 11:45 am

    Thanks for this post Corinne! I love coworking (I share a space with an illustrator and a graphic designer): I love that I have established regular working hours, and my turnover has also increased in spite of some more time off too 🙂

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:07 pm

      Thanks Lucile, that’s interesting to know about your income! More money with less work is always a good thing!

      Reply
  10. Benjamin says

    September 29, 2013 at 1:06 pm

    Coworking is something I have always wanted to try. Unfortunately it’s still a bit too expensive for me. But whenever I can, I go for it. It’s seems to bring together the advantages of working independently and sharing an office.

    Reply
    • Corinne McKay says

      September 30, 2013 at 3:05 pm

      Thanks Benjamin; I agree, very good way to put it!

      Reply
  11. Tess Whitty (@Tesstranslates) says

    October 2, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    Thanks Corinne! Exactly the questions I had. I am inspired to take the leap, but unfortunately there are no co-working offices in PC and it does not seem Worth a half hour commute one way. Next step is to arrange one myself, so keep inspiring me.

    Reply
  12. Judy Jenner (@language_news) says

    October 3, 2013 at 7:09 am

    Go co-working! My office even has cool stuff like free yoga, free happy hours, and free mentoring sessions with high-profile executives. I couldn’t be happier with my choice, and I am paying less than $100 a month — crazy (I go once a week).

    Reply
  13. tradutorabr says

    October 3, 2013 at 8:24 am

    Dear Corinne,

    Thank you for sharing you co-working experience with us. I heard this is getting really big in my country, Brazil. Apparently, there are whole buildings being bought by companies in São Paulo, just so they can rent offices for people to share (and profit, of course). Here in Sweden, where I live now, this seems to be going on for a while. With the harsh winters that we have here we definitely need a reason to leave the house. A cozy place, where we can have some company while working and some fikas [a couple of coffee + something sweet] in between tasks, sounds like the perfect incentive for me.

    @Judy: Free yoga? Wow, you really found the right spot, haven’t you? I am seriously thinking about moving to your country now… 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Va te faire encorder ! | (Not Just) Another Translator says:
    December 17, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    […] convaincu par les locaux, plutôt austères. Je me suis également souvenu des sages paroles de Corinne McKay (« Make sure you find the right spot ») ou encore de l’expérience de Judy […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to the Training for Translators mailing list!

Learn from our blog:

  • Being a freelancer and being a parent: postcards from the other side
  • OT: A week in Sayulita, Mexico
  • February master class: Editing and proofreading, with Karen Tkaczyk
  • 2022: the year in review!
  • A test of Cymo Booth as an interpreting back-channel
  • The books I read this year
  • How to prepare for and pass an interpreting exam: master class on Tuesday!
  • Freelance tasks to do before January 1

The original career how-to guide for freelance translators. Over 12,000 copies sold!

Search the Training for Translators blog

Copyright © 2023 · Training For Translators · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're OK with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. To view this website's privacy policy, click About>Privacy Policy. Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT