I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Those gorgeous photos on my website? They are nothing like my actual office. Mine is … ummm, a little less Pinterest-worthy. Yes, there’s a lovely coffee mug (or two), but there are also two broken coloured pencils, a headless Playmobile princess, a lint brush and a collection of hair ties.
To one side I have a beautiful view of the forest and hills, to the other side I can gaze upon my fold-out clothes drying rack. It may not be spectacular, it might not be a cool co-working space, but it suits me and the needs of my family.
If you’re wondering if it might work for you, I’m going to talk a little about what I found difficult when starting out.
There are two particular challenges I faced when I started working from home. The first was actually getting started in the morning. I would send the kids off to school at 7:45, then make a cup of tea, sit down at the kitchen table (still in my PJs) and scroll through facebook. Then, suddenly I would check the time and realised I’d just spent half an hour liking pictures of my friends’ babies and reading riveting posts about other people’s children’s weird rashes or somebody’s problem with their neighbours.
I would shake myself out of my stupor, run upstairs, shower, dress, start up my laptop and then think: what now?
I spent time every morning making little decisions like, should I proofread this now, or should I send out an invoice? Should I read those articles from sfep, or should I contact Lisa about next week’s project? I was wasting time each day by not having a plan.
I finally wised-up and started making sure I was ready for the day by the time my kids went to school. I now often go for a quick walk, just to wake up my brain and my muscles. I sometimes listen to a business or editing podcast, sometimes I dictate lists to myself (the dog walkers in the forest must think I’m a bit nuts).
I have limited working hours and I now use them more efficiently. I set aside time for invoicing, marketing and professional development. So now I don’t have to think about when to do it. It frees up brain space for ideas to pop through.
The second thing I struggled with was feeling isolated. When home is the office, it can sometimes get a bit tiring. I struggled for a while with feeling like I was always either home by myself in the office (or cleaning and cooking), or home with the children, with occasional trips to exciting places like the supermarket and playground. By the time the weekend rolled around I was dying to get out and do things, but my husband would want to enjoy some relaxing time at home!
Again, the answer lay in becoming a bit more organised about how I spend my time. I sometimes go the local library and work there for a change of scenery (and a croissant). One morning a week, I meet up with a group of local freelancers at a cafe for a chat and to do some work. Lastly, except for when a client has a tight deadline, I try stick to my set hours.
Now, just to totally contradict myself, one huge advantage of freelancing is the ability to spend a few hours working on a rainy Sunday afternoon to free up time to do something nice during the week. Flexibility is wonderful.
Proofreading is not something you can do eight hours a day, non-stop. I usually need a break every hour to make sure I stay fresh. This is when working from home becomes so efficient; I use that break time to put on a load of washing, prepare the vegetables for dinner, sign the never-ending school notices.
Ok, so sometimes breaks are also spent sitting on my balcony with a cup of tea, chatting to a neighbour. That’s the beauty of freelance life.
Takeaway: set good habits in place so that you can enjoy the benefits of working from home. Be disciplined about how you spend your time so that you’re not feeling guilty about working when you should be spending time with your family, or guilty about spending time with your family when you should be working!