Working from home too often means being ‘always on’. And when you’re juggling daily meetings with home schooling, taking calls from the closet when a partner or housemate bags the kitchen table, and accidentally ordering ten kilos of carrots instead of ten actual carrots from click-n-collect, you’re more likely to abstain from any and all optional activities.

Unfortunately, that natural knee-jerk keeps us from taking the oh-so-important helicopter view of our businesses. That’s exactly why it’s key to carve out time and dedicate it to business adjacent activities.

As COVID continues to wreak havoc with plans and person-to-person pursuits, we at the Canberra Innovation Network are putting out a range of activities that will help you with your innovation by taking a step back from it.

Fundamental to our Virtual Coworking community are a few amazing outlets for your creative energy that will allow you to think out loud — without annoying your bubble!

• The Accountability Club meets on Thursdays at 11:00 AM, and is a forum where anyone can drop in, set a “big hairy audacious goal” and be held to it by their peers. This highly effective method is bedrock to CBRIN programs and workshops, and the informal nature of the club means you can share your stetch goals in a safe space. “Don’t open the wine until I update the Quarterly Report with August’s info” is just as valid as “Acquire 10 new customers and write a blog for my website”, and there’s room for everything in between.
• Warm up your glue gun for Tuesday Community Crafternoons at 3:30 PM, regardless of your medium! Sew-ers and staple-ers unite in this fun forum in which you can share ideas, get feedback and, who knows, perhaps find the perfect partner-in-crime for an Etsy store collaboration sensation.
• Have a cuppa with likeminded folks who are keen to connect at a Remo Morning Tea! There’s nothing ‘regular’ about this ‘Remo’ version of the office mainstay — for one, there’s an abundance of new faces to make friends with. For another, the technology offers a welcome, spunky spruik of the Zooms we all know too well by now. And finally, the cake is calorie-free when consumed digitally. We swear.
• Get the expert advice you’ve been putting off because it seems too tricky during Office Hours. Virtual Coworkers are invited to book private slots with outside specialists in a number of fields, so whether you have a niggling question about HR, or an accountant quandry, or a dilema that might require a lawyer’s attention, you’re able to get some crackerjack advice for absolutely nada dinero.

For more information on these and other benefits of Virtual Coworking, check out our site and direct questions to Candace Rhind. We look forward to seeing you online!