What I’ve learned as a freelance designer
Intro
In short, I’m a visual and interaction designer.
After I had my first child in late 2010, I’ve slowly come to realize that work-life balance is essential. My daughter needed a bit more attention during her first two years of her life. And the pressure of being in the office, as a full time designer, from 9am to 6pm every day was something that didn’t bode well with me.
I’ve had a long chat with my husband at the time and decided to pursue one of my goals in the short term: freelance and work at home while I raise my eldest child.
Now, this is not to say I would have my daughter in the same room with me while I work. That’s almost impossible, given that takes a lot more work to get things done. Instead, I would take more time being with her in the mornings and drop her off to her grandparents’ house before noon. And then work the rest of the day.
The next few pages explain what I had learned as a freelance designer:
Productivity
Work gets done much quicker.
When I really had nobody else to converse with in the room, I’d have a lot less distractions to deal with. Also, take into the account that I didn’t have to spend few hours a day commuting to an office and back. I used those hours, instead, finishing up work at home.
Also, I didn’t have to sit in my closet and run through all the possible combos that would match with my favorite blouses.
Most days, I even skipped putting on makeup, which would’ve been a total tragedy if I came to an office without it. But at home? Meh. My husband didn’t mind. And, surely, my small kids couldn’t care less.
So, in a way, I saved a lot of time from thinking about my personal appearance, as soon as I rolled off the bed.
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The disadvantage of that is… I didn’t put much thought on my personal appearance, as soon as I rolled off the bed.
There came a point when I started to look and feel as though I had let myself go. Not in the “zen” sense of letting it go. But more like “let me just wipe my hand full of Cheetos dust on my pajamas, because why not” letting it go.
So, I needed another incentive to get up in the morning and feel refreshed again. Being in pajamas all day, everyday, just wasn’t cutting it.
So I started going to the gym. The nice thing about this particular gym is that they’re open 24/7. And since my work schedule is a bit more flexible, I had hit the treadmill at any time of the hour.
When there were days that I needed some human interaction (besides my husband and kids at the house), I’d bring my laptop and work at a cafe with wi-fi. While I didn’t necessarily chat with strangers all day there, it was refreshing to see another intelligible species in sight.
Independence
Sometimes, it can be nerve wracking to talk in front of people whom I hardly know. Imagine pitching a project proposal to executives which, to me, is synonymous with standing in front of a firing squad. That’s how I felt for the first few client kickoffs.
But I’ve always liked facing these types of challenges. It has helped me practice become a better listener and a speaker (though I still have a lot of room for improvement), when I was usually the only designer in the room.
So, if the client is not happy with the results of the project, I’d take full responsibility.
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On the other hand, at my previous design agencies, I had a lot more support from my fellow designers, project managers, and the creative director. There was teamwork, collaboration, distributed responsibilities, … and happy hours.
I missed that. I think, as humans we are also social species. It’s how we create culture and gain a sense of belonging, in a way.
So, working at home for 4.5 years straight, it felt it was getting a little lonely at times.
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