The Freelance Chronicles #6
Hello from month six of my freelance journey! COVID-19 lockdown (now in alert level 3) is still in place, but I am so pleased to let you know I am thriving! Work is still flowing in, and I’ve had just enough space to be able to dream up some new creative projects. More on those in a month or so!
This month has really just been a big race to be honest. I’ve embraced a huge amount of digital technology (yay for all my clients being accessible via Zoom and emails!). I’ve also embraced the good old-fashioned whiteboard. When you’re working with many clients on any given day, it’s not as easy as jumping into one calendar and seeing every meeting you’ve got coming up. In fact, there were so many meetings at the beginning of lockdown I nearly missed one. Implementing the whiteboard has really helped me stay on top of things as I can take a quick glance and see what sort of time I have available each day, and when all my meetings are.
Webinars are something that have exploded during this time, and I’ve been to plenty of them over the past month. I’ve spent time in a “social media strategy for small business” webinar and even a session on how we could embrace green jobs in our new normal world. It’s been a fantastic time for educating myself on topics I may not have had time to learn about before.
Which brings me to my third learning this month; how much time traffic and travelling steals from us! I’ve been able to work a full eight-plus hours per day, plus have time to let my crafty side out in the evenings, AND keep my house clean and tidy (ish). If I was still travelling around for work, I’d easily lose up to four hours of my day on transport time. Those four hours can really make a difference to energy levels, creativity, and general home upkeep. I’ve really learned that being able to have a lifestyle where you can invest a huge amount of high-quality energy into your work and still have energy left over to invest in things you love is the lifestyle I want to maintain.
Bring on the new normal!