I’ve been freelancing for a while now, almost 2 years, so I’m almost a pro. In theory, anyway.

I spent the first year working stuff out.

What exactly did I want to do? Translation? Copywriting? SEO? Marketing?

How could I do what I wanted to do? Creating a website, finding clients and networking.

How could I make a living from doing what I wanted to do? Setting prices, sending invoices and getting paid!

This newness kept me busy and distracted, I didn’t notice the days whistle by as I huddled over my desk or slouched on the sofa of my local café.

 

Yet, slowly, I started to realise that something was quite right. I couldn’t quite put my figure on it. And, then it hit me. I missed being with people, chatting by the coffee machine and having a “quick drink” after work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a recluse. My free time is filled with people, friends and my running club. I’m talking about the daily social contact with colleagues at work, exchanging a few words and seeing new faces (even if you don’t really like the person). Working on your own is, obviously, a solitary business. I sometimes wake up, have breakfast and settle down to work and before I know it is 2pm and I haven’t left the flat.

 

I talk to my clients and some of them are very nice. But, it’s still not the same.

On the day I didn’t leave the house until 5pm, I decided enough was enough.

I vowed to work “outside” more often whether in a café or the local library, preferably with other friends who also freelance. The problem is my friends don’t freelance. Aside from their lunch breaks, they’re confined by the working hours I’d struggled so hard to escape from.

I ranked by brains for a couple of seconds and quickly come upon the idea of signing up to a co-working space. As you may remember, I’d already looked at some of the freelancing cafés scattered around Paris, but I wanted something more fixed that would provide the opportunity to see the same people again, and again.

And, so the co-working hunt began!

To Be Continued…