
There is a local coffee place here in town, Blue Star Coffee Roasters. They make a wonderful cup of coffee. But they are also ready to share their passion for every aspect of sourcing, crafting and brewing a great cup of Joe. Washington State may be the apple capital of the country (sorry New York), but here also, seem to grow mountains and coffee shops with equal pride and prominence. What Blue Star offers is not just the practice of sustainably sourcing and hand-crafting coffee blends for a fresh fix, but with the coffee bar at their roasting plant in Twisp, WA, they offer far more: hospitality. The coffee bar is an extension of the passion that sustains the art of making coffee. It also becomes a place to gather, connect, share life, a place of intersection of diverse people, stories, hopes, struggles, joys and fears, around the coffee and pastries. Don’t worry, this is actually about how the workplace is getting reshaped in the Gig Economy. Stay with me…I’ll get there.
The coffee bar is an extension of the passion that sustains the art of making coffee. It also becomes a place to gather, connect, share life, a place of intersection of diverse people, stories, hopes, struggles, joys and fears, around the coffee and pastries.
I think I’ve always connected the idea of freelance work with a picture of someone sitting at a local coffee shop, with a laptop over a sheaf of papers, coffee mug perched nearby, perhaps a pair of glasses resting gently on a book. Though I technically can be lumped into the category of the millennial generation, I am somewhat new to the digital sphere. At least, insofar as the degree to which it shapes my working life as a freelance writer and consultant. In looking around at what’s happening with the changing freelance workforce, it seems that the traditional physical workplace is being redefined along with what it means to work. Digital doesn’t mean disconnected, yet neither, it seems to me, does it necessarily mean autonomous.
From the local coffee shop or library with a reliable wireless connection, has grown a myriad of innovative work environments that exist outside of the traditional corporate office. For some contractors or small businesses that rely on travel and mobility (like builders, inspectors, and the like) vehicles have been adapting to on-the-road organizational needs, like Nissan’s NV200 Cargo Van. Startup business incubators are not new, and places like Syracuse’s Tech Garden are intentionally built and designed to facilitate the birth of ideas through mentoring, collaboration, and offering resources and programs both to budding entrepreneurs, but also to the local community.
While being a freelancer is in essence being a business entity all to yourself, it is a bit different than creating a company. Freelancers are, well, independent, often with little overhead to manage. As more and more traditional companies, small businesses, and startups use freelance talent to supplement needs within the business in an on-demand way though, individuals are coming in and out of the corporate space, or coming in to form temporary teams around projects and initiatives. Sometimes collaborative and administrative tools like Skype, or Basecamp, or Asana and even Facebook and instant messaging apps can help connect individual freelancers or consultants to the entities they serve, across great distances, but often there is still a need to connect in person. And not just for the benefit of the employer, nor to fulfill an attitude of work that is becoming quickly archaic.
Coworking spaces around the country have proliferated, from an attempt right here in the Methow Valley in the Methow Base or other great shared office spaces around the country as featured in this article from the Nomad Capitalist: http://nomadcapitalist.com/2017/02/22/best-co-working-spaces-us-2017/. These types of shared-office arrangements can feature dedicated spaces for a more full-time work schedule or a more flexible drop-in-as-needed approach. Some host corporate events, presentations, collaborative sessions, have kitchens, the ubiquitous coffee bar, printing & (of course) Wi-Fi, soft, comfy spots to think, and clean, no-nonsense spaces to get down to business.
Whether it’s the kitchen table, a spare bedroom, a spare desk at a new client’s place, a hotel room across the world, a private rented office, or a shared office, the ways in which creatives, freelancers, consultants, and contractors of every stripe find to work are growing as organically and seemingly half-hazardly as the amorphous digital economy itself.
At the moment, I often work alone (and cry in my office closet). In undergoing a transition from being immersed in a 9-to-5 type office environment to working 100% remotely, alone, I’ve come to appreciate the value of community. It is difficult to be in close proximity to what you may perceive as your competition, but more often than not, I’ve found that there is a way to work with other people and shared ventures without tension, getting inspired and giving hope in return without fear of losing yourself or the mission you’re on. We can talk all day long about what traditional companies should do to make the physical space more conducive to incoming freelancers and consultants, or the value of coworking spaces to drive energy, ideas, and a healthy sense of competition, but what I most miss is hospitality (see, I told you I’d bring it all together).
We can talk all day long about what traditional companies should do to make the physical space more conducive to incoming freelancers and consultants, or the value of coworking spaces to drive energy, ideas, and a healthy sense of competition, but what I most miss is hospitality (see, I told you I’d bring it all together).
All of us, both digital creatives, task-oriented freelancers, virtual assistants, entrepreneurs and managers within the traditional corporate environment, need to work together with grace, and understanding, to find a way forward in the midst of change that isn’t always clear or easily navigated. Much in the way that many third-wave coffee shops intentionally create a space of hospitality and community, we need to be thinking about cultivating an attitude of hospitality in the digital sphere.
Whether “digital” means a brick-and-mortar company with a digital presence or an entirely virtual company, the approach to collaboration should be founded on a principal of inviting community, safety, open curiosity, questioning that might go against the establishment, but that is welcomed anyway. The other side to that is individuals need to intentionally practice submission to ways they might not agree with. It is an attitude of intentionally connecting, communicating, being open to new ideas, but having the courage to come to a conclusion and for others to submit to that conclusion at the end of the day in order to move forward toward a greater goal. It requires someone or many people to show leadership, provide a covering, not of strict authority, but experienced guidance, to welcome many individuals into the mission and vision and knowing how to let them shape it without derailing the original intent—giving up power and influence by actually being influential with others, and inviting their best in return.
I don’t think there is an easy answer to how, and where, people should work. But the reality of more people shifting to an independent way of working, means that entities can be formed more loosely, collaboration is more fluid and the pace of innovation and change accelerates. Efficient collaboration needs to move beyond issues of ownership and assets, while still acknowledging the need for mutual respect, security and confidentiality.
We all need to be mindful of the mission we have, the message or change we want to bring to the world, and craft a way of working that best supports that mission, message or change. My wife and I have lived with other people as a young married couple, and have brought others into our home to live at different times. What that taught me is that I need to practice an attitude of hospitality in my day-to-day life. If I can open my home to strangers, share life with them, intentionally create relationship and be a better person because of it, then why do I tend to blow past people worthy of that relationship during the workday simply because I’m busy?
Do you want to create an inviting atmosphere for traditional and non-traditional employees and independents to come together? Pour a cup of coffee and be ready to invite someone into an on-going conversation about what matters and why. Be willing to be interrupted. Practice hospitality, and you may find welcome in unlikely places when you least expect it.
