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Before I went freelance, I remember sitting in my office every Friday afternoon with nothing to do because I finished all my work by 11 a.m.
For the rest of the day, I had to pretend to work. I mindlessly added color-coded highlighting to a Microsoft spreadsheet.
Meanwhile, beyond the fluorescent lights, scratchy carpets, and drywall confines lay an entire Friday afternoon of freedom. However, because I was a full-time employee, it only started at 4:30 p.m. Well, 4:35 p.m., to be exact, because I didn’t want to look like I was clock-watching and hurrying out.
Earlier, I probably had a good laugh with a colleague, the highlight of my day. Was it enough to make up for an entire afternoon aimlessly clicking at a screen? Not for me.
Fast forward to today, and I can do whatever I want with my Fridays because I’m a full-time freelancer and work alone. I can take the day off and spend it with my actual friends, or I can work until 5:30 p.m. because I’m in the zone and I want to.
“Don’t you get lonely?” It’s the question I’ve heard roughly once a week for the past eight years. People seem to think it’s the price of admission for escaping corporate office life to work freelance.
Yes, I work alone and at home every day. Yet I’ve never been happier or more successful.
From side hustle to solopreneur
Like most good millennial freelancer origin stories, mine began in a content sweatshop. I’d clock out from my marketing job and clock in to $5 listicles that evening. It wasn’t glamorous, but it funded my social life and taught me to write 800 words about used cars on a Tuesday night.
Then came the listing: a well-paying, part-time freelance writing gig. I applied, mostly for fun. I got the job and then did the math; this new side gig paid more than my full-time salary. That was all I needed to go full-time freelance.
Now, I work alone, wear activewear exclusively, and easily earn three times what I did in my old corporate life.
The truth about working solo
Working alone isn’t for everyone. You have to enjoy your own company and be OK commenting on the banal details of the weather in your head instead of out loud. But there’s no one to eat boiled eggs and tuna next to me, no clock-watching, and no boss to ask if I have “a sec?”
When I’m in my focus zone, I can put my head down, get into full productivity mode, deliver my best work, and smash my deadlines.
It turns out I’m not a team player and never have been. Group projects were a drag in school, and in the workplace, they just made me inefficient. I’m here to get the job done, possibly even enjoy it, and then spend guilt-free time doing other things that fill my cup.
Do I ever get lonely? Nope. However, I do have communities, just not the kind that involve office parties, forced fun, or passive-aggressive Post-it notes.
I’ve got two freelancer Facebook groups: one local, one global. I have WhatsApp threads that are equal parts client rants and dog memes. I’m a member of the Southern African Freelancers’ Association. And I meet up with a few business owners to caffeinate, commiserate, and occasionally co-work.
Is it a replacement for office culture? Hopefully not, because I left that behind for a reason.
Working alone is the ultimate productivity hack
When I’m at my desk, there’s no one to impress but myself, no one to interrupt the flow, and no one to schedule a “quick touch base” during my lunch break.
Instead, I get autonomy, solitude, and the ability to eat as many snacks as I feel like without any judgment.
Best of all, I actually get to choose to work with people I respect, on projects I enjoy, and in clothes I’ve had since the early 2000s. For me, that’s the real success story.
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