Photo by *Solar Ikon*

This is a guest-post by Chris Bowler.

With all the technology available to us today, no matter what your company’s setup is like, you most likely have a few virtual coworkers. Most corporations today are at the very least a heterogeneous environment — traditional offices mixed along with off-site coworkers or staff working from home. Some companies are completely virtual. And research suggests that the biggest challenge to having an effective team is trust amongst these coworkers.

Why is trust so vital to a successful, productive team? In the simplest terms, a team works together to be productive. And in order to work together, rather than work simultaneously, team members need a level of comfort with the abilities, competencies, and intentions of their teammates. Trust enables a team to focus on tasks at hand rather than protecting each member’s own interests. The interests of the group become the interest of each individual.

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I was recently given the opportunity to interview someone who runs a stylish co-working environment in Montreal, Quebec: Station C (pictured above).

Patrick is one-half of the partnership who founded the workspace. In this interview he discusses why you might choose to co-work over working from home and how you can make the most of your co-working experience.

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Photo by ~ My aim is true ~.

This is a guest post from Joshua Clanton, a freelance web designer who blogs about web design, creativity, and productivity.

Do you remember a few years ago when social commentators were talking about how the western world was quickly becoming a post-literate society? Though it may be a bit premature to say what will happen in the future, with the rise of blogging and the ubiquity of email, it seems that the death of writing has been greatly exaggerated. And for those who work online, writing is even more crucial than it is for brick and mortar businesses, since it often replaces face to face interaction.

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Photo by Danilo Paissan.

They are: the perfectionist, the ‘done is good enough’, the devil on your shoulder, the workhorse, the innovator, the technophile, the guilt-tripper, the workaholic, the scheduler and the friend.

Which inner-boss are you working for?

This post will identify 10 breeds, as well as explaining how you can make the best of them.

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Photo by Todd Baker.

You don’t have to answer to a boss.

You can work the hours you want.

You can work from where you want.

You can choose your own clients and ventures.

You can do things your way.

With those things in mind, it’s no wonder that being self-employed is often seen as something worth envying. When I tell people what I do for a living, it’s surprising how often I get the response: “Wow — how can I do that?”

Most of those who’re envious of my workstyle earn quite a bit more than me — so it’s obviously not about the money!

In truth, I think it all comes down to one thing: the assumption that being self-employed must equal a stress-free lifestyle.

I think the root of this idea is that the toughest aspect of work is answering to others. Once you remove that from the equation, it seems logical that stress would leave with it.

This is not quite true. There are a million ways to earn a living through self-employment, but you will always have to answer to at least one person: you.

How would you grade your inner-boss?

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When you want to find the best of anything, Google shouldn’t be your first port of call. SEO is certainly useful for some webmasters and bloggers, but from a searcher’s perspective, it can mean that top results aren’t as good or as relevant as they could be.

If you’re looking for reading material, doing research on a particular topic, or collecting themed links, I’d suggest you use Del.icio.us. Take your topic and think about the keywords people would use to categorize content on that topic, then search for those keywords using the top right-hand searchbar on the main page.

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Photo by pdsphil

So, you haven’t yet made it to the Caribbean. You’re not telecommuting from a sunny, tropical beach.

I hear you. I’m not there either (so don’t look for me just yet).

Despite not having the beach and palm trees outside your window, you can still like the place you work. You might even grow to love it — particularly with the help of these clever, savvy and useful writings on creating a super-cool home office environment.

The categories are: general tips and improvements, building a home office, DIY projects, Zen stuff, uncluttering, design, productivity and organization, low impact and tax.

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