My writing career began as an outlet, a creative hobby, in addition to my role as a full-time babysitter. Then it became a nice little side hustle, with a few perks, like products to review and free tickets to events. As I invested more time in monetizing my words, coincidentally, I started losing daycare clients. My freelance writing was slowly replacing my formal income, and with the start of a new calendar year, I took the plunge and made writing my full-time profession.
I wrote in cafes and at the library, but mostly in my own home, which was convenient but not always comfortable.
Working from home in my pajamas might seem like living the dream, but the truth is, once my workload shifted from 'a simple blog post or two a month to a full-time schedule, balancing my laptop on my legs on the couch or in bed has become unmanageable.
Related: The Truth About Working From Home
First of all, it was just plain uncomfortable. My legs and back were crying after six hours of writing curled up on my bed without any ergonomic support. But second, and more importantly, I felt like I wasn't taking my new venture seriously. It didn't seem like a real job if I was just doing it from the kitchen table or an armchair.
So I decided to carve out a little corner of my house for my new business and to treat myself like a creative professional rather than a mom who got lucky with a few successful posts.
I started by moving the avalanche of toys left over from my daycare closing and assigning a corner of my dining room as a desk.
I went to a Scandinavian big-box store and selected two white 'L' shaped desks that fit perfectly in the corner of the room. Assembling flatbed furniture is definitely not my forte, so I left the hard work to my mother-in-law and husband, instead of taking on a more creative project. I painted individual letters in all my favorite colors and glued them to a cute arrow sign spelling out my new "HUSTLE" mantra.
I also bought a matching white desk chair, pink accessories and blanks and a new set of stationery and notebooks.
My office helps me treat my writing like the business it is, rather than an obsession that leaves little room for other areas of my life that deserve attention.
Sitting at my new desk, with all my pretty things around me, and my inspiration notes nailed down for emotional boosts felt like a real writer. But more than that, I felt like a business owner. For the first time in my life, my earning potential was only limited by my own efforts and abilities. My monthly salary was limited only by the extent to which I intended to follow my currency.
The total cost of my new office was around $500:
Desk:$239.99
Chair:$169.99
Accessories:$58.72
Stationery:$31.59
The first morning I walked to my new office, cup of coffee in hand, feeling productive and energized. It was like the first day of a new job. All my resources were organized and I had a place for everything I needed. I hit record time on a few lesson plans, a reported feature I had been slow to complete, and worked on all my monthly bills and expenses in advance.
My office is a house where I can work. A place where I can channel my efforts and start drawing clearer boundaries between work and home. When I work from my bed or couch, I can easily forget all the time and still find myself hard at work until the wee hours of the morning. My office helps me treat my writing like the business it is, rather than an obsession that leaves little room for other areas of my life that deserve attention.
My $500 office more than paid for the projects and assignments I was able to complete quickly.
I tend to approach all areas of my life with an all or nothing mentality. This explains why I'm so passionate about the things I choose to invest my time in, but it also underlines why I sometimes feel overloaded.
Setting work schedules when I sat at my office and writing for hire initially worried me, as I thought I would refuse to work and my productivity would slow. Instead, I've found that when I'm at my desk, I write faster than anywhere else. It's quality writing time, rather than the variety of junk-food outlets I was capable of when I worked every hour parked in front of the TV.
My desk is one of my favorite places in my house and the only space I can designate as a "child-free zone". My son has obeyed my rule that this is the mommy zone and doesn't even try to turn on my swivel chair which is a minor miracle.
My $500 desk more than paid off for the projects and assignments that I was able to accomplish quickly. Its value, however, is much more than just boosting my results. It's helped me take myself seriously, value my personal time, and remind myself that even though I'm working from home, it still works and I need my own special space to hustle.
Related: 4 Ways to Make the Hustle Feel Natural
