Workspaces - Chris Garrett

What does your desk say about you? Why is your office the way it is? How does it tie in with what you do for a living?

I'm fascinated by people's work spaces which is why I'm starting a regular feature to show where different people spend their days - and to chat with them about what their desk says about them.

Today I'm honored to feature one of my favorite bloggers, Chris Garrett. Chris is one of those guys who make you wonder just what you're doing with all your time. He's a marketing and social media consultant, an author (his latest book is Problogger) and a prolific blogger with a large and dedicated following. It turns out that he's also a really nice guy. In fact, it was a video of his desk that first gave me the idea for this feature. Here it is:



When I saw all those toys, I had to ask why! So here's my Q&A with Chris ...

What are we looking at on your desk and what does that say about you?

I think my desk screams "geek". It is cluttered with nerdy toys, like R2 D2 and a light saber from Star Wars, a sock puppet monkey, "Bender" robot from Futurama and a Transformers toy from the 1980's. What you can't see just out of shot is more of that stuff on the window sill. One of the advantages of working for yourself from home is you can have on your desk whatever makes you smile, but I have to be careful to not be playing with the stuff when my wife walks in! My wife shares the other half of the desk and has her iMac set up there. Her side is much tidier and features a "The Boss" mug which says it all really.

What's the one thing in your office that you would rescue in the event of a fire. (You
only get one)

My cat, Tigger. We used to have two, they were brothers from the same litter. Casper was my "colleague", sitting on my desk or window while I worked for many years but he died recently. Now Tigger comes and visits instead. He doesn't spend as much time, just comes in to hang out then wanders off.

How did you get into what you do now?

It's a series of random events really. In the early 90's I was working at a college as a systems administrator. When they needed someone to set up their internet stuff I was the person who got to do it. I was setting up websites, routers, and all that before most non-nerds had heard of any of it, so when there was a commercial interest I was well placed. I worked for internet consultancies and advertising agencies as a web geek until I finally went off on my own in 2005.

What's the best thing about your job?

Freedom is the best part, I think. I can work from anywhere there is power and an internet connection, and since I have worked for myself I haven't had to miss a single one of my daughters school events.

What's the most common misconception about your job?

There are lots of misconceptions about my job, it's hard to pick just one. I think the most common is that I am here as free technical support, 24/7, to people that bump into friends of far-flung relatives. It's not unusual to get a call at midnight from someone I have never met asking how to fix their twelve year old computer.

To learn more about Chris, follow him on Twitter or visit his blog.

Cross-posted on my own blog.

Comments

[Paul]

And here I was thinking I was alone in having a hybrid of Transformers and Star Wars toys on my desk. Nice article all!

[Louise Fletcher]

Ha Paul! I suspect there are more of you than you know :)

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