The One with a New Office

Having an office has been a real life saver for me.

When you work from home, it’s ridiculously easy to just – keep working. Particularly if Flea is away, I can find that I sit at my desk at 9am, and I’m still there 12 hours later. And the dog is looking at me with a sad, sad face.

About two years ago, we moved into an office close to my house. It was (almost) perfect. A five minute drive from home, midway between our house and Flea’s school. The landlord was a friend, and my financial advisor in the office next door.

The (almost) though – it was a biggie.

The Internet was atrocious. Some days, I’d be working and find that the broadband went down 20 or 30 times a day. And it was slow. We put in a second, back-up line but it was just as unreliable as the first line.

Getting the Right Broadband

Words can’t express how happy it made me to be spending £120 a month on Internet service and still have to work from home whenever I needed to upload or download anything bigger than a postage stamp.

When you work in social media, the Internet is just as essential as electricity. And I still can’t fathom how in 2017 there’s no minimum guaranteed speed on a broadband connection. Our service provider’s position was, “You have a connection, there’s nothing we can do about how slow it might be.”

Charming.

Over on the EE website this month, I’m sharing some top tips for finding the right broadband service.

For me, the key is finding a service that’s reliable – and do talk to friends about network speeds before committing. For all my wisdom on this subject you’ll have to head over to the EE website, or check out their full range of services.

In our case, the solution was a new office – and a new broadband provider.

I did work at home for around a month over the summer, and it was miserable.

When you’re not dealing with phone interruptions from friends and family, you’re feeling guilty for not walking the dog, or doing the washing up. And it’s all too tempting to sit down to “just check that email” or “post that Instagram” when you should be spending time with the important people.

This time, we’ve opted for a co-working space where we can share space with other young businesses.

It’s a quarter of the price of our last place, and has access to lots of lovely extras. Alongside meeting rooms and a swanky kitchen there are relaxation areas, a pool table, and an endless coffee supply.

And a working, high-speed Internet connection.

Which is the most important thing.