Question: How do couples who BOTH work from home keep the romance alive and resist gauging each other’s eyes out?
Answer: They stop working from home and start coworking.
You might not know this, but Sourced is home to some of Laguna Beach’s hottest couples.
They’re kind of a source of inspiration in the office (...or, maybe that’s just to little ol’ single me).
All of the couples who work here lease a desk space, which they alternate using. While they’re not typically here at the same time (though sometimes the person not using the desk will come out into the coworking space!) this little cottage and community is like a second shared home to them.
Instead of rambling on, I’m going to let THEM tell you about how working out of Sourced has been a game changer for their work habits and relationships.
Today on the blog we’re talking to three of the Sourced couples, Felix and Ali, and Heidi and Jamie, and Ed and Lyla all about what it’s like to work at Sourced as a couple.
First up we have Felix and Ali:
What do you both do?
Felix: I'm a UX designer at Slalom, a tech consulting firm headquartered in Seattle - but I work out of the Irvine office. Ali is a design recruiter at Pinterest, based out of San Francisco but working remotely. And before you ask, yes: we met because she recruited me years ago at a different company :)
Ali: Felix is a liar. I definitely did not recruit him (boundaries people!), but my company did... and we did meet at work... :)
How long have you worked at Sourced?
Coming up on 1 year! How time flies :)
Did one of you start before the other? If so, what was the thing that enticed the other one to join in on the co-working fun?
Felix: I started before Ali. When we first moved to Laguna a little over a year ago, we were both working remotely - and going stir crazy! We'd seen Sourced a few times over the years and wondered what it was. When I finally emailed Michelle, within a week I was in the front room working and meeting folks. Within a month I had my own desk. Now Ali and I share a bigger desk in the back.
Ali: It wasn't so much Felix that got me onboard, as much as the fact that I was starting to have full conversations with our cats. I needed some human interaction, and the cabin fever was really starting to become a problem!
In what ways have your differences benefited you and/or become an obstacle?
Felix: Just realizing that both of us working out of our tiny 1 bedroom wasn't going to work out was a big first step. I'm a pretty social guy, so having a built in community/family of folks who do different stuff than me has been really great.
Ali: When we were both trying to work from home, it didn't go great. I am on calls so much of the day, and tend to go hyper-focused in between. Felix can be a bit of a... chatterbox, so having a place to go has been very good for us, and my sanity :).
Would you recommend sharing an out-of-home co-working space to other couples? Why or why not?
Felix: Totally! I know folks who are able to work together at home, but getting out of your space and meeting people is pretty energizing. It really does depend on the kind of work you do, but I'd say that mixing it up every once in a while can only improve your work and relationship. Besides, working in PJs on the couch at home sounds fun and glamorous, but really isn't all that it's chalked up to be.
Ali: YES. Particularly if you live in under 600 square feet and one of you needs her space... But I also love having a second space to share with Felix. We aren't usually there at the same time, but it's somewhere we can stop by and see each other, accidentally cross paths, and leave each other notes. It really feels like another home for us.
What do you love most about working at Sourced?
Felix: The people and lovely community Michelle has curated. The beautiful space. The fact that it's 1.5 blocks to my local surf spot :)
Ali: The atmosphere is truly inspiring. It's a place you just want to be, and it's hard to feel stressed in a space like Sourced. It's really become a core part of our social lives, too, and that's pretty special.
Adorable right? Did their cuteness just leap off the page and make you re-download Bumble? (or...was that just me?)
Second up, we have Jamie and Heidi (as told by Heidi).
What do you both do? Jamie and I (Heidi) run our leather earring business, Aha Crafted. Jamie is also a graphic designer and owns Jamie Alan Design.
How do your schedules and work styles differ?
I get up at 6 am and go all day. Jamie is a bit more leisurely-- he gets up at eight, works for a couple hours, takes a break around two, and then sometimes works until the night.
Has having a space outside of the home to work been important for you both? How so?
Yes! We really needed a space outside of our house since we both work from home. Even though we had our own work stations, we could always hear each other on the phone and really needed our own individual spaces.
Would you recommend sharing an out-of-home co-working space to other couples? Why or why not?
Yes! It allows you to hang out and enjoy your home together so much more. One of the biggest benefits is getting that time apart from each other. It allows you to not have so much “grey area” between where work ends and play + fun begin.
What do you love most about working at Sourced?
The people we’ve met and the energy that I get from coming here. I feel so much more drab when I work from home. I gain so much more zest and connection when I get up and come into Sourced.
Need I say more?!
And finally, we have the latest (and newly wed!) couple addition to the office, Lyla and Ed.
What do you both do?
Lyla: We both work in Tech — I’m a Senior Manager of Demand Generation Marketing at Salesforce and Ed is a Lead Technical Recruiter at Amazon.
We met at our first job out of college — and like most post-grad gigs, we weren’t exactly fulfilled or happy in our roles. I ended up landing an incredible job with a tech startup but I couldn’t figure out why I was devastated to resign. My best friend had to spell it out for me — she said “you like this guy, and you are sad to not see him everyday.” She was right and funnily enough, Ed’s best friend had the same conversation with him. We’ve been together ever since.
Did one of you start before the other? If so, what was the thing that enticed the other one to join in on the co-working fun?
Lyla: I started at Sourced a few months before Ed decided to join. We both came from very collaborative environments back in San Francisco, and I didn’t realize all the benefits of joining Sourced when I signed up. I was getting more out of it than the separation of home and work which was what I initially thought was all I needed. To my surprise, I tapped into a community that fulfilled and energized me — both personally and professionally.
We were skeptical at first because we didn’t want to be spending *too much* time together, but we realized it was a nonissue really quickly. Sourced is the perfect environment to collaborate with others (if you’re in the mood) or get laser focused on work (if you’re in the zone).
How do your schedules and work styles differ?
Lyla: I have several meetings throughout the day — video calls specifically. My day is broken up between calls with my team around the world and blocks of time to strategize and execute on our marketing initiatives. I can transition between the two pretty easily and I love working in a buzzy yet productive environment. I love the midday conversation or the quick lunch with a “co-worker.”
Ed is definitely most productive in a quiet, focused and distraction-free zone. He doesn’t love transitioning from personal convos to work calls — he’d rather start his day with a coffee and a chat and end it with a surf date. He prefers to socialize on the surfboard, not in the office. Luckily, Sourced is just a 2 minute walk from his favorite beach and our favorite coffee shop, Laguna Coffee — best of both worlds!
In what ways have your differences benefited you and/or become an obstacle?
Lyla: We know we operate differently and thrive in different work environments — we are very different people but with lots of common ground. We love that about each other — I didn’t want to marry someone just like me!
What do you love most about working at Sourced?
Sourced gives us the opportunity to have it both ways. Working from home together had its challenges because we both work on different wavelengths and that could be frustrating when you want to chat and it’s not reciprocated or on the flip side, if you want to focus on the task at hand without interruption.
Since joining Sourced, we don’t have that challenge. We leave the house every morning to go to our office space and we have organic opportunities for social interaction before, during, or after work. We feel much more in control of our day — we love that.
There you have it! If you and your partner are at home yelling over each other’s conference calls Mon-Fri, a desk space in the cutest, beachside cottage you’ve ever set foot in just might be the thing that saves your relationship.
Because couples that co-work together, stay together ;)
***Update: Since this blog’s original writing date, the author may or may not have found herself coupled up with another co-worker here at Sourced. No Bumble re-download necessary. Who knows? There might just be something in the air here for singles too…
-----
Written by Devon Walz. In addition to being a content creator for Sourced, Devon is mixed media fine artist and art educator. When she isn’t dreaming up new topics for the Sourced blog or chatting away with her co-workers, you can probably find her covered in paint and jamming out in her Santa Ana art studio. Find her on Instagram @devonwalzart and online at www.devonwalz.com.