Lovely Girl   +  workspace

By Roxane B. Salonen

Though I’ve been working as a freelance writer for years now, this fall marked a change in how I do business, bringing it to a whole new level. The steps leading up to the change began six months ago. They included:

• Upping my networking efforts
• Choosing a new business name
• Creating a mission statement
• Hiring a designer to create business cards
• Building a stronger Web presence
• Re-creating my own office space

This last step was particularly important, perhaps to me more than anyone else. Since I typically meet my clients on their turf, it’s unlikely they’ll ever see my office. But I see it. And as a mother of five, I had let the area where I do most of my work slowly be taken over by children. I knew that with the impending launch of Beauclair Communications, I needed to reclaim my working space, and do it in a way that would encourage comfortable yet diligent work habits.

So, over the summer, with a general plan in hand, my husband and I worked to make this happen. We did some retouching of wall spots that had been damaged and re-organized my office area.

We cleared off an area that had become overtaken with piles and turned it into a spot for laptop work, complete with coffee maker and mini-fridge.

It might seem superfluous to have a coffee maker in both our kitchen and in my lower-level office, but I know the moment I step into the upstairs kitchen I’ll feel compelled to stay a while and clean. This arrangement has drawn an important line between business and domestic tasks during daytime working hours. It’s helped me combat some of the distractions that tug at me as I work in my at-home office.

My office and our laundry room abut, so for the first time since I've occupied this space, I've introduced a simple fabric separator that helps block out other distractions. When the curtains are drawn, I’m in working mode and less accessible. When office hours end, the curtains open again.

It's not a perfect setup. I'm sure there will be revisions in the future. But I feel great about the chances I’ve been able to make, all well within my budget, as well as how things are going so far. I'm intent on producing quality work here and making this a place where dreams are realized.

I want to add that even those who lack ideal office space can be creative in their planning to make the best use of the space they do have. In his book On Writing, Stephen King described using a closet for his writing work. When he became rich and famous, he moved into a roomier office with a beautiful wooden desk, but he quickly realized that the work he produced there was lacking, so he returned to a more modest corner. Our working space need not be extravagant to be productive.

This is a space where I’m able to be productive. It's a space that has little splashes from my past and present, along with some helpful prompts for the future.

Now that I’ve reclaimed this space for my business and re-created it to fit what I do, windows leading to new opportunities are beginning to come into view, and I’m ready.

What space have you carved out for yourself where you feel productive, energetic and alive?

Roxane B. Salonen’s new business, Beauclair Communications, is a culmination of her many years in the communications field. She’s an award-winning freelance writer, newspaper columnist and children’s author. She also hosts a radio program each month in her home of Fargo, North Dakota, and blogs at Peace Garden Writer.