3/14/2016

Living La Vida Freelance - Adventures In An Ever Changing Office

We've all witnessed the freelance faux dream. It's less about the work, and more about the Instagram worthy coffee art ran through several editing apps. I should know, I'm just as guilty as everyone else when using the #freelancelife hashtag on social media. Who wouldn't want to trade a regular, rent covering income for the freedom to do their morning (caffeine) run in the middle of the afternoon? 

That said, I do love working as a freelance photographer. I feel lucky that I get to do what I love everyday, and enjoy the flexibility it offers. Occasionally that does include things like choosing which bill to ignore, but on the whole it's a very positive experience and my office can be wherever I plug in my laptop.

Coffee shops are wonderful, but they can easily become an expensive habit. I much prefer working from Sweatpant Central, where I can roll out of bed at 7am and be staring at my email, in my pjs, with a cup of tea by 7.15.
It can get a little lonely though, and perhaps more critical, it's very easy to get lost in a cute-article-click-hole. There are two websites which have helped to overcome these issues and made me a much more productive person in the long term. The first is called Coffitivity, a site which generates the gentle, ambient noise of a coffee shop. It doesn't distract me in the same way that music does, but manages to make me feel less alone. The second is a game changing Chrome extension called StayFocusd. It blocks all websites other than those you tell it not to, so when I'm really swamped, I use it's "nuclear" option to bar everything other than my email and calender for a set amount of time. 

Your tools for working are also key, especially when dealing with large files for editing. The XPS range of laptops from Dell are a freelancer's dream, with a large, high-resolution screen and Adobe RGB profile being brilliant. In addition to being portable, they also have clever back-lit keys which are perfect when working late into the night.

What are your top tips for being productive? I need all the help I can get, so tell me in the comments!

Until next time,

Diana xx

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* This post has been possible thanks to Dell, but all thoughts are my own.
All images (c) Dell.

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