How I work (no one told me about the admin)

If there’s one thing I really hate, it’s boring small talk. “How are you going? How’s work?” It’s not that I’m ever going to deep in on it on small talk, because the most is appropriate is “Oh, you know, the usual!”

I got to thinking about this because a lot more goes into working for yourself than it may appear.

To wit: I am currently sitting in Tokyo on a five hour long layover. I have spent the majority of my time eating in the lounge, and working.

I have spoken about how I am a work-centric person, and I have traded in corporate stability for flexibility which means that while I can pick up the kids at 4pm, or spend a whole day both kids then I’ll pick up work in the evenings (I am thankful they are great sleepers).

Some things I do I’m fast at (like writing and typing), and other things take a bit longer. There’s no shortcut.

Because of the flexibility of working for myself, this can be one day a week, or three days a week, depending on what I have on. Not only am I thankful that my kids sleep well, but we have very helpful grandparents who love taking the kids out for the day when I need it.

7am: I am not a morning person. I wish I was. But I also feel a bit gross if I wake up after 7am, so this is my limit. I wear something comfortable but presentable — currently in rotation is my Muji’s menswear quarter zip and Zara marine jeans which I’ve worn for years. If I need to head out, I’ll wear a coat on top. I don’t wear loungewear. Perhaps I should do a What I wear to work at home newsletter.

Morning: Usually try to do meetings in the morning before I get stuck in deep-thinking working. This can include client feedback calls, briefings and brand partnership discussions. Because I’m working with so many different people, it can be on Google Meets or Teams, depending on what programs so I’ve got them all on my computer. After each meeting I need about 30 minutes to write notes and decompress.

Mid-morning to early afternoon: The actual work. Newsletters came take a whole day of work, or several days, or even several weeks if it’s particularly research intense (such as my brand deep-dives), depending on how my week is going with other work from brands and clients. Brand work is dependent on the brief: sometimes it’s a big picture strategy, other times it’s copywriting, and similar to working on my own output, I can spend hours each day on it. If I’m stuck, I force out a bad draft anyway and come back to it later, or the next day, with fresh eyes. Ideas are cheap, and execution is much harder. This is the hill I die on.

3:30pm: Kids.

3:30–7:30pm — Dinner, bath, bedtime. We limit screens and definitely no screens after 4pm. We listen to a lot of music. The Australian Chamber Orchestra Classical Music For Kids is on high rotation. Dinner is around 5-5.30pm, and they’re having a bath by around 6.30pm, then in bed at 7pm and asleep by 7.30pm. The benefit of working for myself is that I can start the routine early.

8–11pm — Second work block, for deadlines or international calls. I have clients who are internationally based so often this is the best to speak to them. Also, not being a morning person means I do a lot of idea generation and focused work in the evenings. I like the quiet and the lack of interruption. Sometimes I attend work events that occur in the evening, but I try to limit them to preserve energy and also depending how much work I have on for that week.

With my newsletter, I always ask myself a question before it goes out: if I were a cold reader who’d never heard of me, and this landed in my inbox, would it remind me why I should unsubscribe?

We all get so many emails nowadays, we’re all being as fickle as ever and I want my newsletter to be one that you read — or at least, don’t delete.

Have I ever sent anything that I regret? No, but, this isn’t my first rodeo. But looking back, I’m always thinking about how I could phrase something more artfully, but I think that’s also what keeps one improving.

I’m also really aware of giving credit. If I get inspiration from someone’s post, whether it’s Mathilde Lacombe’s week-in-my life format, or Noora Raj Brown’s women series, I think it’s the right thing to do. Many of us are in the same boat, doing our thing, and I believe in the karma of supporting others and giving credit where credit is due.

Paid subscribers get the rest: how I edit, going from employee to manager then freelancer, and the mistakes that cost me before I fixed it.