Do you dream of a life where you can work from anywhere?

Jewel Mlnarik, co-founder of WorkFrom.co wants to help you! She’s been working from home from coffee shops and wherever else strikes her fancy for the last 15 years. During that time she has mostly worked as a developer and product manager as an employee, freelancer and entrepreneur.

Her need for sunshine drove her to work more and more away from the office. Her evolution as a mobile worker parallels her transformation from an employee into an entrepreneur.

These two drivers of change are so intertwined in her work, it seems as though she has always been working toward building her current business WorkFrom.co without even knowing it!

Appropriately, she met her business partner, Darren Buckner in a coffee shop in Portland. During their first encounter, he told her about the basic business concept behind WorkFrom he was thinking about. She was immediately hooked.

If you’re trying to figure out how to work from home, on your own or even how to work with a business partner, this episode is chock full of amazing insights from Jewel. After listening, you’ll truly be able to work from anywhere!

Life Skills That Matter In This Episode

Learning what makes you personally productive.
Being open to new opportunities.
Building community.
Become someone that can work anywhere.

How Jewel Works and Thinks

Wake up time: It varies but can be as early as 5am and as late as 10am.
Core work habits: Her most important habit is her “daily wrap”. She plans her day the day before, so she can start the next day hitting the ground running. She also regularly assesses the alignment of her resources.
Definition of success: Nailing down a sustainable revenue model by the end of the year for WorkFrom.
Ideal work environment: Definitely needs natural light! Her ideal workplace depends on the kind of work she is doing. For highly focused work she likes to be on her own and in a quiet place. If she is doing collaborative work with others she likes meeting in a coffee shop or a back patio.
Regains focus by: She’ll take a walk and listen to music. She also understands the benefit of a good night’s rest for maintaining her focus. She also has a “life advisory board” for support.
Favorite productivity tool: slack for communication

Inspirational Quotes

“Advocating for my needs enables me to be more productive.”

Coaching Advice

If you are a woman or even a guy, who’s interested in becoming a coder, Jewel has some very useful advice for you . . .

1) Ask yourself, “Why do YOU want to become a developer?” Connect with that part of yourself that really wants to be a developer.

2) Decided what type of work environment you prefer. If you think of yourself as a trailblazer or enjoy fast-paced work, you might thrive in a lot of “bro-heavy” tech companies. Of course, there are plenty of progressive tech companies now concerned with creating a diverse workforce.

I also asked Jewel to provide some advice on working with a business partner. She recommends . . .

1) Do some “business dating” first before committing to a partnership. Date and get to know one another like you would in your personal life.

2) Consider starting with a trial period of say 3 or 4 months. Without forming a legal business entity, you can sign a contract outlining how you’ll work with each other and identify 3 goals for triggering the formation of a business.

3) Think of the worst case scenario that would threaten the partnership and think of solutions for how you both would resolve that problem.

4) Take the time to meet people who have worked with your potential partner. Vet them like you would a new hire and ask questions to help you understand their work style.