The Way Of Working That Works For You

I learned a lot in college, as is the point of attending. While in school I learned I'm passionate about history and art, something I knew I had faint interest in when entering, but had no idea just how deep that fascination went. I learned how to develop film and print photos in the darkroom, and how to sculpt a vase with ceramic clay. My most important skills acquired from my years in the classroom: research, analyzing that research, and then writing about it.

It's those skills that transfer well into a marketing career. After all, marketing is researching a business and their demographic, analyzing that information, and putting together a plan with it. Since I'm a content marketer mostly, the writing about the information comes in handy too.

However, it was not college where I learned most about life. That I learned from motherhood. And from freelancing I'm learning the most about myself.

When you're teaching someone else how to navigate through life, you learn a heck of a lot about it. You find yourself teaching your son, "People who say 'I can't' never get anything done. Say you can!" "Never give up. Keep trying! If the first thing you try doesn't work, try again in a new way until you get there." "One step at a time!" As I'm saying this to him learning to pedal his bicycle or tie his shoe, I'm realizing I need to listen to these words as much as he does.

Freelancing, working from home, and being a single mom are a daily exercise in juggling my way through life. This juggling has taught me more about myself than I ever realized I didn't know. Who knew all these years I'd been living life the way I thought I should rather than in a way that works for me and my personality.

For instance, I hate being chained to a desk (hence quitting the office job to work for myself from home) and at the same time I thrive on having structured routine to my day. Because of this, I get up every morning and make breakfast, make coffee, get dressed, and drive my son to day care just as if I were off to an office where I'd punch a clock. Keeping set working hours, dressing for work, working from my desk instead of the couch, all keep a semblance of structure to the day, and yet I'm not being restricted.

When I do work from home I sit at my desk, but I don't work from home every day. Something else I've learned to accept and incorporate into my day is the fact I'm highly extroverted. Kinda odd an extrovert wouldn't love working in an office where they're surrounded by people right? Well, here I am, the example of an extrovert who likes to work for herself by herself.

The truth is, freelancing is much better for my extroverted-ness than office life was. I love meeting new people as much as being around familiar faces. Working from various coffee houses around town gives me those opportunities to meet new people, and being mobile allows me to meet my clients in friendlier more comfortable settings. All the while, the drama of office relationships aren't a bother and the pressure of meeting rooms and presentation materials are almost non existent.

The point I'm trying to get at, and I'll just come out and say, is the only thing we should be doing is finding the way of working that works for us. I had no idea when I graduated college I'd be better off freelancing than being on payroll. When I had my son I started getting ideas about working from home so I could have flexibility to spend more time with him. Now I've made it happen and I've realized this is the right working style for me.

If you're not already working in a way that's best for you, then I insist, meet yourself and accept yourself so you can be yourself. It's the only way to be.

The Coffee House Office

Nowadays, if you visit a coffee shop in Orlando during the day, whether it be Starbucks or a little local hole-in-the-wall, you're likely to encounter the mass of freelancers setting up shop. You'll know them by the open laptops, headphones in their ears, papers and notebooks scattered over the table they'll occupy for hours at a time, and they're those pesky people who take calls while you're trying to read your book over your flavored coffee beverage. 

What can I say? Coffee is apart of our culture. For so many of my cohorts in this business, 2 am is when they tell me they're the most creative. The problem with that being your preferred time to work is that your clients are conducting business at the normal 9 to 5 hours. This has led to a high dependency on caffeine for many who work in the middle of the night but still have to "show up" during the day. 

More than just the coffee, the draw is getting out of our home offices for a while. Working from home doesn't always need to mean being at home. Personally, I need my time being exposed to other people or I'd go crazy. We're not all introverts who choose to work this way because we're too antisocial to handle an office full of people.

In fact, the choice to work for myself from home was a big one for me. I labored over the fear I'd become lonely and end up miserable. The coffee house office was my solution though, and swayed my choice to cut ties with the corporate life. Turns out, I get to be more sociable. Instead of the same faces day in and day out, I meet new people frequently.

For a social butterfly like me working in a social industry, this is quite perfect.