There’s pros and cons to working from home.
Pros: Wearing whatever you want. Working from the couch. Making homemade lunch.
Con: Working by yourself every single day.
It can feel lonely sometimes. Sweatpants or not.
In the past year or so I’ve seen several people I follow on Instagram share how they started inviting friends over to cowork together.
One of my favorite entrepreneurs, Sara at Between The Lines Copywriting, actually started hosting a ‘coffee shop’ in her house where she invites WFH friends to connect.
I LOVED this idea.
And then, a few weeks ago, I was at a friend’s place for our weekly Survivor watch night and a few of us were talking about the pros and cons of working from home.
(Turns out ALL of us occasionally struggle with the loneliness and monotony of working by ourselves.)
I shared the ‘cowork from home’ idea I had seen online. My friends also loved the idea.
So I just blurted out:
What if I host one next Friday?? We could call it ‘CASUAL FRIDAYS’??
I had three ‘count me in’ responses right away.
Of course, I went home and IMMEDIATELY created a cute branded invite on Canva.
I created a group chat. Shared my (adorable) invite graphic, and asked everyone to book it in their calendar for the following Friday.
Now, a past version of me would have gone WAY too hard for this.
I saw adorable videos online of people hosting ‘cafes’ in their homes and decorating their perfect kitchens with Pinterest-worthy signs and I just thought… That’s great, but that’s not going to be me.
Instead of going all out with decor or feeling bad my house isn’t more ‘aesthetic’, I just tidied, made snacks the day before (muffins and pasta salad), and checked that we had a few different kinds of tea in the cupboard.
That was it, and it was perfect.
When the Work-From-Home pals arrived on Friday, we settled in on the couch.
I put on some ‘Wild Rivers’ as some cozy working music. Offered tea and a muffin whenever someone arrived, and we all got to work!
Most of the day was spent working. But we took a break at lunch and ate pasta salad in the sunshine.
One of my friends brought a loaf of bread to share.
Sometimes we would chat.
At one point we all shared a few wins from our work week so we could celebrate.
We all refilled our tea cups over and over.
I didn’t know how it would go. I wasn’t sure how productive we would all be. I wasn’t even sure how much we would all enjoy working together.
But we just DID it. And it was such a great day.
It felt fun, wholesome, and light-hearted. Plus, we all actually got work done! It was honestly such a great way to end the week.
Will we do it consistently? Honestly, not sure! Someone did already offer to host another one in a few weeks though, so I think that’s a good sign.
Whether this is a consistent thing or not, it feels SO good to just build what you want to exist in the world.
Instead of waiting for someone else to start the book club of your dreams. Or the coworking friday. Or the running group. Or the mom & toddler park days. Or WHATEVER you’re waiting for someone else to create.
YOU can start.
YOU can create what you wish existed out there in the world.
That goes for communities you wish existed. Or businesses you wish were out there. Or events you want to attend. The list goes on.
Obviously, it doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.
But it’s nice to know the option for YOU to build the thing you want is always there. And it’s not always as hard as we build it up to be either.
🤠 What’s Cool…
I have been LOVING this notebook. I’ve really been in my ‘writing things down on paper’ phase and this is the perfect notebook for lists, client notes, and more.
I need a notebook to have good-quality paper, of course, but my biggest necessity for a notebook is to lay flat. I struggle SO much when the covers won’t stay open and make it tricky to write.
I also love the price point, color and pattern options, ribbon bookmarks, AND it comes with tabs to create your own ‘sections’ in the notebook. You can also order this in dotted or blank versions!
📚 Currently Reading…
As part of my 10K race training, I downloaded Fall of the Giants by Ken Follett on Libby a few weeks ago and I just finished it this week!
The story follows five families as they navigate the impacts of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and women’s suffrage.
It’s been a while since I got into an audiobook, so it took me a bit to get hooked by this one. I did love that Dan Stevens narrated (any early Downton Abbey fans out there??) and as always with Follett, the characters and historical storytelling was great.
I found this book enjoyable, but not as memorable as the other books of his I’ve read. I still WAY preferred the Pillars Of The Earth!
🍊 Working On…
Here’s what’s going on at Belle White Creative HQ this week…
Industry Research & Visual Concepts: New website project starts this week so I’m starting with a BUNCH of industry research and creating some visual concepts to shape the design.
Making Pasta Salad For The Week: Pasta salad is SO simple to batch and have for lunches and dinners all week. Plus, it just tastes like Summer. I use cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, and then whatever other vegetables or greens we have in the fridge. I dress it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Fuelling Myself With Sunshine: Walks, bike rides, eating lunch on the patio, sipping coffee outside… This week I’m spending as much time as possible out in the sunshine and fresh air.
Finalizing a Copywriting Project: Excited to finish up this batch of case studies I’m writing this week to deliver them all to my wonderful client.
Monthly Reflection & Planning for June: I love doing my monthly reflection and planning for the following month. Here’s my process! I also typically review my budget from the month and review my vision board for the year.
Thank you so much for being here and chat next Wednesday,
xo — Belle