Office Space 2.0: Business Without Cubes

If nothing else, the social web has made it easier than ever before to change how you work. For businesses and people seeking a more personal work flow, they can find it via Web 2.0 tools and other unique ideas born out of the Internet melting pot. From Google Docs, online document sharing and virtual assistants to telecommuting, mobile offices and coworking, there are hundreds of ways to customize your productivity.

Online application sharing and virtual office application use through tools like Google Docs, Long Jump, Peepel, and Open Office online has begun to build quite a head of steam as a viable option to expensive desktop apps. Having access to cheap and portable alternatives to traditional office tools has made cubicle obsolete for many. Especially for those who work in or around the technology industry, working away from the confines of a desk has never been easier.

One of the more popular approaches to this new, freer work environment is the trend toward coworking arrangements. Freelancers do enjoy the benefit of working from home, keeping their own hours and even coming to work in their pajamas, so to speak, but that often makes productivity difficult with no daily stimuli. That dose of water cooler conversation may look unproductive to the boss, but it often essential to get ideas flowing and help productivity flow. Coworking in one way to tap into that communal feel, Twitter has become another.

Coworking is a way for freelancers to get the communal office feel when they need it, without being back in the office. It is a way to recharge. Coworking spaces are popping up all over the country. Coworking spaces give people a lace to collaborate, share ideas, share equipment and find connections. Often people who share coworking space will produce side projects together, and enhance their work in other ways while helping each other out.

If you are a freelancer who is trying to make a Web 2.0 start up look bigger than it is, or who just isn't good with office functions, you may want to look into hiring a virtual assistant. If you are an office assistant with technical knowledge who wants to make a career freelancing, you might want to become a VA. Virtual assistants act as your window to your clients, just as a regular receptionist or assistant would, but without the confines of the office walls. VAs also keep your books and handle correspondence, customer service and more if needed, freeing you to create and manage your business.

Add in functional choices like VoiP or Skype, readily available WiFi in most larger cities, and a growing acceptance of the laptop workforce, there is less and less reason to hold people to an 8 to 5 work day crammed into suits and ties in an office. Sure, some personality types flourish in a cubical environment laden with rules and regulations, but that is no longer the norm. Without general acceptance of the new virtual office, combined with better adaptation of technology in schools and more education in science and technology, we'll be letting our children down. With the fast paced internet and current tech freelancers leading the way, it's time to support this new way of work and life balance.

Above image courtesy HorsePigCow