Freelancing Advice: Get an Office?
February 16th, 2007 (12:08pm) Anne Zelenka 16 CommentsTweet This
Web designer Cameron Moll is leaving his freelancing career after 18 months to take a traditional job. He says “it was a blast while it lasted” and shares his tips for succeeding as an independent.
Here’s a good tip on smoothing out your cash flow:
Smooth out revenue flow with residual income. As a freelancer, I launched Authentic Jobs to assist companies and applicants with targeted job seeking, with the added benefit of creating a more consistent income for myself. Hourly and lump sum billing, as many of you know, isn’t always consistent month to month. Supplementing that income with recurring revenue — hosting, product sales, advertising, a web app, etc. — isn’t only wise but often essential, too.
I’m not sure I agree with all his advice, however. He suggests that freelancers get office space outside their home:
Secure office space within 6-12 months. One of the most challenging aspects of freelancing is you can’t turn off work. It’s always there; omnipresent in the forefront of your mind, any hour of the day, just about anywhere you are. You need to separate work and play, business and pleasure. Regrettably I never did. I worked entirely at home, and I now look back and wish I would have provided a physical and mental partition between work and family simply by finding office space outside of the home.
Whether or not you need to lease office space depends so much on the particulars of your situation. Working from home is one of the main reasons I love web workerhood. Though it’s true I don’t have a strict boundary between work and family (my version of “play”), I wouldn’t give up starting work in my bathrobe at six am, wearing shearling-lined slippers all day, and getting the laundry done during work breaks. Plus, given I have a dedicated office in my own home, I couldn’t justify the expense.
What about you? Do you think a freelancer needs office space outside the home? If you’re already freelancing, what important lessons have you learned?
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
I agree with Cameron on the office space issue. I think I would benefit from having a separate work environment. I mean, I can still wake up and start working at home in my bathrobe at 6 am.
But it is necessary to be able to ‘turn off work’ and just be at home.
I think this is a highly individual decision. Some people have a huge problem placing boundaries between work and “not work”. Some don’t. It partly depends on whether you have a spouse and children cohabiting with you and how well they respect your work time, and on how much the “call of the fridge” or the TV or whatever lure you away from focused work.
I have never had a particular problem with working from home and would find the considerable expense of a separately leased office quite a burden and far too much like cubicle-ville. Eliminating the stress of a commute is one of the big plusses of working from home. And in the winter, minimizing non-critical trips to public spaces means you’re much less likely to catch some left-handed jungle rot and be sick for two weeks.
I would advise people to “keep it simple” and work on self discipline and boundary setting … the results of pure work-at-home are much less expensive and more rewarding than the dubious prestige of having your very own leased office, unless you have the sort of business that just demands a place for clients to come to. Even then, you can often rent meeting rooms on an as-needed basis for that sort of thing.
I agree as well – I began working my entire day at home for a month and it simply didn’t work. I have a three-year-old and a wife and all of the other home-only distractions. I would get lost in household chores or activities. I moved to an office with just myself and it’s been amazing – I’ve boosted my productivity like crazy. The office is for work and I take appropriate breaks and home is for family/play. I still can do some work from home if I need to, but I try not to. For anyone who doesn’t have an extremely specific reason to stay home, don’t!
I agree with Cameron as well. I go back and forth from working on site to working at home. I have to say I prefer having a separate environment for work. When I’m home I also feel like work is always just two steps away. I either work entirely too much or don’t work enough. Sure, its about discipline but its a better feeling for me when I come home after a good days’ work and just relax, completely relax.
figgy
What kind of office space do you recommend? How can I get the benefits of the office without the burden of an office (too much $$$)? Do you share office space with other web freelancers?
If you don’t have dedicated office space at home and you have young kids, then definitely. :) That’s my situation, and finding an affordable sub-lease was the only way I could be productive.
Mileage, as they say, varies. I actually like having the little ones underfoot in our home office. Watching our youngest learn to walk right now. But it’s certainly not for everyone. Yes, I’m less efficient than I would be in a cubicle – but on the other hand, I’m less disconnected from our kids growing up than I would be.
As a web worker who does own an office, I can say that while private office space does help me focus, it doesn’t really make an impact on my ability to “turn off” work when I get home. I generally work 9 to 5 at my office. But I often do a few extra hours of work in the evening, and sometimes I’ll take care of personal business at the office. There’s no hard boundary for me.
As Bob said above, it really comes down to self-discipline. I think the benefit of having a dedicated work space is putting yourself in the “work” mindset. In that case, a designated “office” area at home might do just as well.
If I find the isolation of working at home too much, I go to a coffee shop. Thanks to learning about co-working at Web Worker Daily, I would explore than before I would rent an office just for me. Why trade isolation at home for isolation I have to pay rent for?
Sure, many freelancers love the life specifically because of the flexibility that working at home allows. But the negative to that is exactly what Cameron Moll pointed out. If you’re the type of freelancer who must have some separation between work and personal life–in order to maintain a sense of normalcy, sanity, etc.–then working at home can require such a level of discipline that it sometimes just can’t be achieved. In which case, I would definitely advise the person to rent a small office space if it’s financially feasible.
Some time ago, one of the prominent figures in my city’s advertising community bought a building in the artsy area in town, in which he not only houses his own small design studio but also rents out inexpensive work space to other designers. I’m sure it’s been a godsend to the several freelancers who work out of that building.
Bottom line: If you’ve worked a traditional job for several years, then becoming a freelancer, in many ways, is the most unnatural, fish-out-of-water, nerve-racking experience you may ever go through. (As exciting and ultimately satisfying as it may be.) So I advocate trying to maintain some normalcy in your life–not just for yourself, but those around you as well–by whatever means works best…
HHhhmmm. Personally I like working from home. Sure there are downside and balance issues and I don’t have kids, but I like being able to fill the odd slice of downtime at the weekend with work, and go and play middle of the week.
However I do wonder about taking advice on how to freelance from someone who did it for 18 months and pulled the pin because he didnt like it/couldnt handle it. I of course respect his decision and hope the church makes him happier, but it’s like taking relationship advice from your constantly single friend, just a little suspect.
I like working from home. I don’t long for an office: besides, as well as web-working I have a kennel and the two combine so well. The dogs get me away from my computer at various points during the day. The only time I miss an office is when meeting clients: but in Stockholm there are enough places you can rent for meetings if necessary. Plus people like meeting in cafes and restaurants, getting out of their own office.
I’m not sure if I’m unique in this, but if I lurk at home for more than a day or so at a stretch, I become lethargic and dull-witted. I feel unclean — Maybe it’s a lack of exercise.
Short version: I need to get out of the house more or less every day, so my usual routine is: Get up around 9am, answer emails and run through any loose ends/leftover tasks from yesterday. Then I shower, shave, ride my bike to the local cafe, do 3-4 hours work there. Have a nice lunch, come home (or go to client site, depending on what’s happening), finish work day at 6pm. After that, Emails in the work folder stay unread, Mobile phones go on silent, Work phone number diverts straight to voicemail.
I believe with good time management, you can still work from home and not be strapped to the laptop. If you dedicate certain parts of your day for work and certain parts of your day for home life and stick to the plan, it’s as if you’re leaving the office for the day. Easier said than done, sure, but with practice it becomes easier.
I think if you have a dedicated work-space at home an outside work office is not something you truly require.
However, if you need to meet frequently with clients your home office may not be appropriate, and in that case I feel an outside office is needed.
Of course, this is just the opinion of someone who doesn’t operate his own business (although he dreams about it), and works the regular 9 to 5 grind.
Regards,
I agree on the office space issue or at least getting out of the house. I find it easy to treat your job more casually if you are always at home. There is nothing wrong with firing off some emails in the morning or doing some work late into the evening at home, but nothing beats getting up every day and doing “real work”. One thing my partners and I have been doing is just meeting at libraries and coffee shops. Not ideal but it beats having a lease.