Butler: Sierra Commons looks like the workplace of the future

Photo by Bob Lickter Nevada City Manager Gene Albaugh takes a picture while Sierra Commons Executive Director Robert Trent speaks at the Open House.

They are new contractors or emerging business owners who are seeking their niche in the worldwide workplace from the top floor of the seemingly impregnable Stone House building in Nevada City. Their tools are computers, knowledge and guile.

 My View by Pat Butler

The workplace and workforce of the future are taking shape today in Nevada City.

 Sierra Commons, which was little more than a concept a year ago, is now leasing space to 10 emerging businesses trying to make it in a world that seems to be changing as fast as high-speed Internet.

 They are contractors or small business owners who are seeking their niche in the worldwide workplace from the top floor of the seemingly impregnable Stone House building at 107 Sacramento Street. Their tools are computers, knowledge and guile.

 In manycases, they don’t know where their next job is going to come from. So they keep busy working, looking and building an ever larger network of business relationships.

 It represents a glimpse of what the workplace might look like for many of us in the very near future. Instead of hiring employees, more and more businesses are hiring contractors and paying them by the project.

 Nevada City and Nevada County have long been home to many independently employed individuals and telecommuters. Now, it is becoming a global phenomenon as companies learn how to conduct business and manage work flow online.

 It is, by every measure, a more complicated work world.

 Initially, the notion of working as an independent contractor has a cowboy appeal. The idea that one might be able to write his own rules while making a living has us identifying with those pioneers whose efforts and hardships we’ve likely never fully appreciated.

 After working alone for a while as an independent contractor, one starts to feel isolated even if business is humming along nicely through a brand new computer that sits on big, beautiful desk. It gets lonely working alone, even for men.

 This is where Sierra Commons, which is the brainchild of executive director Robert Trent, comes into play. It is a comfortable, affordable and professional place for the emerging business or new contractor who needs to stay tapped into the marketplace of ideas and wants that feeling of working in an office again.

  While I was attending Thursday’s open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony at Sierra Commons, I was struck by the amount of enthusiasm and camaraderie among the workforce there. Even though their businesses were in various stages of development, they seemed to be feeding off the other’s success and energy.

 If traditional jobs continue to fall by the wayside, we’re going to need more places like Sierra Commons. It provides that vital human connection for workers while helping us keep our communities together in a way that still makes sense to us.

Pat Butler is the author of My View. He is the publisher and editor of the Nevada City Advocate and nevadacityadvocate.com. If you'd like to comment on this column or any other matter, send an e-mail to pat@nevadacityadvocate.com.