Canada’s meeting place for freelance writers and creators
Established 2010
Canada’s meeting place for freelance writers and creators
Established 2010
If you’re a freelancer, it’s likely you spend some or all of your time working from home (WFH), and that you do so regularly, save for a few field days to sample the atmosphere at the nearby coffee shop. But today, even if you’re traditionally employed, you’re likely to be allowed at least one day at home. Maybe you even find yourself advocating for more, as the freelancer secret is out—time in a quiet space without the distractions of the office can great for deep work, not to mention a closer proximity to your neighbourhood is useful for lunchtime errands.
What we longtime freelancers also know that working from home is a privilege. After all, before it became mainstream, we valued this lifestyle perk so much that we were willing to go 100 percent commission for the opportunity. Over the years, we’ve gained some insights on how to do it right, from maintaining productivity to online visibility to ethical errand running. Here are a few tips to help you enjoy the best of this lifestyle.
Longtime freelancers will tell you that your biggest challenge to productivity are the fridge, the couch and the bed. Avoiding these temptations, especially when you’re less busy, means taking yourself seriously as a WFH worker, plus finding ways that work for you to structure your day. Many freelancers find it useful to establish working hours, whether they be the office standard 9 to 5 (my preference) or what works for their family (many freelancer parents start early and end at the school bell so they can pick up their kids after school). Another route to feeling like a Serious Professional is to be showered and dressed for work. On the flipside, many establish a post-work routine (walking the dog or snuggling the cat) to formalize an end to the day. Setting lunch breaks (when possible, away from your desk) plus a standard 15- minute afternoon break also adds structure that sidesteps burnout. Work with your energy levels too if you want to feel good through your day. If you’re a morning person, schedule deep work for those times and the administrative tasks for that 3:00 pm slump. If you don’t know your energy cycle, spend a week actively tracking it first. Other common productivity tips include blocking out your time for similar tasks (invoicing, answering email) so you are not constantly switching from one to another, and batching common tasks (I write blog posts several at a time to get in the groove).
Another secret that longtime freelancers know is that it can be challenging it is to remind people you’re in the room when you’re on the laptop screen your colleague hauled into the boardroom. To increase your visibility among colleagues gathered in person (or even when you’re all on the Zoom call, prepare in advance for the meeting by reviewing materials and coming up with questions. Even if you don’t have much to ask or to say, make an effort to speak up at least once during the call. Show up on time and keep your attention in the room even if it’s easy to be scrolling online or working on another project while hiding online. Regular check-ins on projects are another way to remind colleagues that even though they don’t see you two cubicles away, you’re still there working your tail off. I like to send updates on longer projects every few days or at a progress point. No client has ever complained that they are hearing from me too much. If you use a project management tool, make sure that your progress column is always up to date.
We all imagine that we great at working from home but wonder if others are taking advantage. As a longtime self-employed worker, I realized that there can be a real impact on my work schedule if I take that extra time to do the dishes, then put on a load of laundry, then water the plants. One of those tasks fits into my break, but add too many and suddenly you’ve spent the morning on errands instead of work. I try to leave the dishes in the sink and the plant watering to the end of the day. Employers use the harsh term “time theft” to refer to using work time for personal errands, but the effort to balance your home while at work can be a slippery slope. Be real about what fits into a reasonable break schedule, and leave the rest until later. And if it is convenient to get the dishwasher repaired during the day and your break expands to twice its usual length, maybe do a bit of overtime that day. By working on your productivity and also demonstrating to your employer that you are serious about your work-from-home status, you can make a good impression while still enjoying the benefits of both. Suzanne Bowness is a longtime freelance writer/editor whose book The Feisty Freelancer: A Friendly Guide to Visioning, Planning, and Growing Your Writing Business was published in January 2025 by Dundurn Press. Find out more about the book at www.feistyfreelancer.com.
