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Ah. That’s better. Pardon me as I settle into my favorite chair in the living room with a view of the water. What was the question again? Why work from home? Especially why work from home on Whidbey Island? Even without a view, it can be worth it. Besides, if you’ve bought a house, why not use it? #WorkFromHome is more than a hashtag. Hmm. Maybe it is time to freshen my cup of tea.
Working from home
Working from home existed before Covid. People specifically moved to Whidbey to get away from the traffic of The Big City. They saved hours every workday in changing a commute from something that involved a few thousand pounds of vehicle for whatever fuzzy slippers weigh and cost. They saved money by making breakfast, lunch, and coffee in their kitchen. Looking up from a desk or a computer doesn’t end at a cubicle wall. Depending on the place, it can be the water, a forest, or maybe even mountains. If their house doesn’t have a view, it’s probably a short walk or drive.
None of that is news. But, the pandemic proved the value of staying home to work. It doesn’t work for everyone. People who make things might still have to go to a factory, assembly plant, or construction site. Office workers with the right company and conditions can operate as long as they have a good internet connection. To Microsoft’s, Google’s, and Apple’s chagrin, Zoom has become the new verb and noun for meeting online because meeting online has become so common. People in offices might be meeting online for global coordination’s. Why not meet from home? Put up an artificial background, and a spare bedroom can look like a penthouse apartment that has a view.
High-speed internet opened a pipeline that allowed #WorkAnywhere, not just #WorkFromHome.
That’s not news specific to Whidbey. Of course, that’s part of the point.
Working from your remote Whidbey home
Another enabler has been commercial flights from the mainland. For years, some islanders have commuted to job sites and client visits anywhere in the world with access to a good enough airport. They had to manage Seattle traffic. Now, flying from Bellingham or Everett negates the need for downtown traffic. Get a ride on the airport shuttle, and you don’t even have to worry about driving or parking. Remember that Amtrak runs by the island, too. Catch a couple of ferries and be in Canada.
Whidbey isn’t as isolated as it was, and yet, it is remote enough to be quieter, slower, and more relaxed. Sure, we get sirens, but probably not as many as in some mainland neighborhoods.
The thanks to the enablers don’t stop there. Delivery services like USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. mean supplies get delivered to your house, and things you need to send have options for how to get there, wherever there is.
Working from home can have its limits. The island does have business centers with their high-capacity printers and some supplies. That trip may require a drive, but the traffic should be more manageable. Also, keep in mind the services available from our libraries. Sno-isle Libraries can fill in gaps thanks to their high-speed internet, printers, meeting rooms (check for rules and schedules), and generally quiet meeting places.
Speaking of meeting places, particularly ones that are more commercial, be glad the island has so many coffee shops. Some even come with meeting spaces to rent for more commercial meetings, privacy, or solitude. And, of course, coffee. Maybe even tea and juice. The concept of working from coffeeshops is common enough that buying a cup of your favorite beverage can be like renting a table for a while. They’re running a business, too, so enjoy the expertise of the barista, the indulgence of good baked goods, and the fact that someone else will do the dishes. Start with breakfast or stay through lunch or dinner and remove those distractions. Or, skip the coffee and meet and work over a glass of beer or wine, and maybe a late day meal.
Check around. Enough people are working from home, or at least from the island, that co workspaces have popped up. They tend to provide some office services, and can be great places for networking and collaborations.
Got a bigger event?
The island is known for hosting seminars and conferences. Rent a space and find that attendees might prefer traveling to an island instead of a generic hotel backroom by some airport. Some sites are even listed as retreats, and retreating can be just what a group needs. Who knows? Maybe they’ll like Whidbey enough to make it a more frequent destination. Maybe they’ll even move here. Bring them to you.
The island isn’t a workers’ utopia.
It will work for some but not for all. Whidbey is Whidbey, which means stories about the bridge, ferries, power outages, and other island quirks. But then, no place is perfect.
In the meantime, boats and whales are cruising by. Calls from our varied wildlife outcompetes our occasional sirens and rare horn honking’s. Ah, there’s the sunshine. OK. Time to take a break for another cup of something, and time to quit looking down at a computer and look up to see if there’s a rainbow. And, there’s that delivery I’m waiting for. Maybe some exercising and stretching. That explains the sweats. Oh yeah, and there’s making a dinner that benefits from more preparation than hitting Start on the microwave. Work? Yes. But life is more than just that. Might as well live where you want to live, and fit work in around that.
If you’d like to brainstorm your ideas about working from Whidbey with some local expertise let us know and we will connect you!
