Working from home

This post is designed to give a few tips on working from home, not strictly a photography related post but one of the things often over looked (i certainly did) is how tough it can be working from home.

When i first left university and decided to set myself up as a freelance photographer I worked as many start-ups do, from their own house. In fact i worked from my desk, in my bedroom, and i struggled. Working in the same space i slept and relaxed meant that i could never leave work alone and email was left constantly on. At first this seemed great, the 10-14 hour days would help me get work quicker. Nope, the long days were just a mix of procrastination and depression, without a finish time to look forward to.

Anyways, i was fairly lucky to have some advice from my dad who runs his own business from the house and also from business link who i mentioned in the previous post.

If you can, work in a dedicated work area

This avoids a lot of the common problems associated with working from home. If you do not have office space or are trying to keep costs down then just setting up a dedicated office space in a spare room would be a great help

Fix up, look sharp!

No need for a suit and tie but making a distinction between the clothes you wear at home while relaxing and those you wear when working helps differentiate the two 'lives' (as well as making the distinction you need to wear the clothes)

Walking

This may sound loopy and may not work for you but really helped me. Every morning when i am working from home i will get dressed and go for a 15 minute walk, ending up back at my house and ready for work. Doing the same at the end of the day can add some closure to a days work

Human Contact

You learn pretty quickly that most of us are not designed to be sat in isolation for days on end. It is a good idea to get as much support as you can from other local freelancers and home-workers. Arrange to meet up each week if only to get out of the house and talking to real people.

Work

This one may seem obvious but what i really mean is 'make sure you are making new work'. Unfortunately it is very easy to slip into the idea that if you are out shooting  then you are not generating leads and contacts. But constantly shooting new work is a great way to keep sane, remind yourself that your re a photographer not an administration assistant and keep the portfolio choca with exciting new work. After all if you spend 6 months in your room and finally manage to get a meet, it will be embarrassing if your latest work was your final year project from university!

Planning

Get yourself a whiteboard or make a plan online. A year long plan, a 3 year business plan, and most important when working from home - a weekly plan. Not to say that each hour of each day has its own task to be completed although this is not such a bad way of working. More just to make sure that there is always a list of tasks to do each day and week, have goals to look forward to, personally i just love making lists with tick boxes and checking them on completion but most likely you are a little more normal, so find what works. Make sure there is time for lunch away from the desk if possible and plenty of opertunities to get out of the house.

Now i should say that these tips helped me but may not help other people, and that i am not recommending turning a work-at-home career into your average 9-5 chore. but there are things to be learned from different styles of working and just because we work as freelancers doesn't mean we should work 24 hours a day and drive ourselves to depression, drink or angel delight for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ive been there!

Please feel free to post any advice or tips below. 

www.mjohnstonphotography.co.uk