Areas of my life improved a lot when I made a career shift. From engineering to content creation to build my online business, I gained so many perks I’m 100% grateful for today.
That everyday insane commute to the office? Not anymore. Those 5-minute interval alarms every morning? Ha, gone. I can wake up anytime I want! Going inside a factory and sitting in an office near a sleepy, snoring workmate? I’m so happy it’s over. Spending more time with people I care about the most? Now a reality. It’s the BEST thing ever.
But despite all these amazing privileges, life is far from perfect. Building a sustainable online business is very hard. And it’s even harder without a dedicated workspace.
I must say, it’s the biggest oversight I had when I shifted careers. I could have built a nook beside our house to serve as my office when I still had enough disposable income. Having a spot designed for productivity could have helped me focus and create more.
Currently, I work in different places in our house. I spend most of my time working in my bedroom and in our living room. Sometimes, I work in our dining room and on our house’s terrace. Outside our house, I work in different locations. Coffee shops. Food courts. Parks. Malls. I only wish that our little city had a decent library.
It sounds cool and it looks fancy that I can work anywhere I want, right? But the truth is, it comes with a lot of disadvantages. Having a nomadic work setup entails more tasks on top of the tasks for your projects. Get this, productivity is only one of the issues you might encounter.
Let me tell you more about the challenges I face and the solutions I’ve come up with for them.
Before we step into the main ideas I want to share, I want to share something.
I’m Eljon, and I’m glad you’re here. This blog is where I share my journey, lessons, and insights about travel, spirituality, and online business, all with the goal of connecting with people who share the same passions. Posts like this are my way of inspiring, sharing ideas, and building a community.
To discover more about what I do and what this blog is all about, visit my homepage.
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Physical Discomfort
My first issue is something everyone working from home can relate to. It’s physical discomfort.
How come? Well, you know, I never had a proper place to work in our home when I started blogging. All my life until then, I had seen home, especially my room, as a place to rest, not to work.
So, when I began building my blog, I only had whatever was in our house to use for work. Bed, sofa, dining chair, dining table, an adjustable portable table with wheels, an old computer chair, and an old computer table I inherited from my sister.
Since most of them aren’t 100% ergonomic, I started to get more recurring lower back pain and a stiff neck. The pain was bearable, but I can tell you it made it harder for me to create ideas and content. Imagine the throbbing or the stabbing pain.
Picture where it would bring your attention. Think about how it would affect your content creation momentum. That’s what happened to me.
I’d no longer dive deep into what the solution is here because it’s pretty obvious. 🙂
Invest in ergonomic furniture.
Besides struggling with back pain, I faced other work-from-home problems and found unique ways to fix them. Check them out.
Creativity Block
You know, when I earned my first internet dollar in blogging, I knew I was gonna be unstoppable in creating content.
I knew I could and I would write blog posts, even if my back throbbed and my neck felt like it was gonna break. It’s because earning money while not leaving the comfort of our house and not having a boss is incredible. It felt like I was hacking life to finally get the freedom I wanted so bad.
But there was a problem. There were times that even though I wanted to write and finish blog posts, I couldn’t. After I wrote the title, nothing came to mind for the introduction. I can still recall days when it took me 4 hours just to write the intro. I struggled to find a creative perspective to place in the intro to catch the reader’s interest. It was frustrating.
I tried many things to prevent getting that writer’s block. Walking. Getting more sleep. Switching locations.
And what did I realize? Walking helps, but my workspace setup in my room was the main problem. I guess it wasn’t ideal for unleashing creativity.
Why? How?
Picture this. You have a small room and it is set up like this: your desk shoved beside the wall. When you work, all you can see is the screen and the wall. Now, tell me, if you’re out of ideas, what amazing new ideas can come to your mind if that’s the setup? None, I guess.
Well, if that doesn’t quite make sense, think about the great thinkers and philosophers. Why is it they’re always portrayed as looking off into the distance when they think?
It’s because space gives the mind room to breathe. When you stare into an open view, your thoughts can wander. Your mind is not boxed in. Your mind is not blocked to think. You are giving your mind permission to drift, connect ideas, and find something new.
So far, this is the most frustrating problem I have related to not having an ideal workspace. I’d like to do a makeover of my room to fix my creativity block, but the original layout makes it impossible unless I spend a fortune. Besides, a total room makeover would disrupt everyone at home, and I don’t want that.
Disrupt? why? Well, I was planning to make my room windows bigger. That involves removing the grilles and tearing down parts of a 6-inch concrete wall. Imagine all the noise and dust it would create during the process of the makeover. That would cause too much disruption.
If you’re in the same situation as I am, the best solution is to arrange the position of the furniture in your room. Place your chair near the wall and your table away from the wall. When you’re working, you must not face the wall. You must be able to see the things outside your room, whether it’s through your door or your window.
This is what I did, although I had to ask somebody to construct a loft bed. It allowed me to sit in a spot that gives me a better view. Currently, I work under my bed.
I still feel a little boxed in and walled off from thinking better, but the situation is better than before.
If this is not possible for you, try placing a mirror on your wall. It can create visual space that tricks your mind into thinking there’s more space around you.
And if you don’t like mirrors, finding a workspace outside your room is the best alternative. I also do the same.
Distractions
Everyone experiences distractions when they work. But no one gets more distractions than someone who has no proper workspace like me.
Working from home? Ha! From the neighbor’s karaoke to the tireless chickens crowing even if it’s 2 PM, I have a looong list here. Working from co-working spaces or coffee shops? Let’s talk about the chitchats of the gals next to you or the endless phone calls of a virtual assistant in the same room. It seems like there’s no way to get rid of distractions.
And yes, distractions have also been one of the biggest challenges I had when I started blogging. They’re the absolute productivity killer.
See the problems I face working in coffee shops and how I fix them.
So far, I have no concrete solution that can get rid of distractions. Noise-canceling earphones can help the situation, but they can’t 100% remove all other distractions.
At home? No matter how soundproof you make yourself, there are always household chores and errands. Let’s not forget the interrupting family members and unexpected visitors.
In third spaces, there are the people asking if the table next to you is free to use. Sometimes, it’s a random friend in dire need to catch up. Picture this. You’re in the zone of writing in a coffee shop and suddenly there’s your friend waving at you. Tough spot. You won’t ignore your friend, right?
To me, management is the only solution to distractions. And being an online business owner, it’s not difficult. You are free to shape your schedule the way it fits your day.
In my case, I complete the tasks that need focus from 11 PM to 2 AM, when everyone is already asleep. For example, writing and research. I finish other tasks during different times of the day. From late morning to afternoon, it’s any of the following: social media, outlining, brainstorming, editing, etc.
Continuity Inefficiencies & Lost Momentum
Distractions are only one of the reasons why you could be less productive without a proper workspace. Particularly in a remote working setup, the extra tasks that come with it are also a factor.
For example, the drive or commute between home and coffee shops. Or the need to always unpack, set up, and pack up when transferring between workspaces. Also, the search for a quiet spot or good cellular reception, and more.
They may seem like small and irrelevant tasks every day. But when you add the effort and time they cost you each day, you’ll see the difference. It’s definitely a challenge if you want to maximize your productivity.
I noticed this when I was planning my weekly routine, as I asked myself where I’ll work every Monday, Tuesday, and so on. I was like, “Hey, I’m taking almost 1 hour every day just to start my afternoon work!”
That one hour? As far as I can imagine, it’s a 30-minute commute, 5-minute break, 5-minute setup, 5-minute restroom, and 15 minutes ordering a coffee. I can already create and schedule 40 pins for an entire week of feed in that duration!
Actually, having a remote working setup can also lead to inefficiency. In particular, if you work like me, switching locations a couple of times a day.
To explain how this can make us inefficient, we must look at how our brains perform. They don’t function at 90 to 100% capacity right away when we start working. Every time we start, our brain will always undergo a warm-up phase before it can get into flow state.
Warm-up phase = minimal mental performance.
Flow state = peak mental performance.
Others call the flow state the deep work mode, where we’re 100% focused. It’s when we’re mentally locked in and doing our best, most productive work.
If we interrupt our flow state, like by moving to a different location to work, we’re forcing our brain to reset. And the next time we start working again, our brains are back in the warm-up phase. Think about the time needed to get past the warm-up state to reach flow state. That’s the time we are somewhat wasting when we work without being in our peak performance.
In my case, if science says that it takes 15 to 30 minutes to transition from warm-up to flow state, then I’m not utilizing an approximate one workday per month for my peak performance.
Let’s say I move locations once a day. That’s 20 minutes of being in the warm-up state. Twenty minutes times 30 days, that’s 600 minutes. That’s 10 hours. A little over 8 hours, which is the ideal length of time to work per day.
Can’t imagine how much I could have accomplished with those hours if I worked at peak performance. How about you?
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this. If you don’t have a proper workspace, your challenge is losing daily work momentum. It’s tough to keep your flow and be efficient (productive all the time) when you don’t have a place to work.
As a creative online business owner, it’s very important because almost all the time we’re using our brains. If we want to build our business faster, we’ve gotta be mindful of our work momentum.
Keeping it flowing helps us create more content and achieve our goals faster.
So, what’s the solution? If transferring to another workspace is your interruption, the solution is simple. Pick the best location to work for that day and stick to it.
If that’s not possible and you have no option but to change workspace, manage your schedule. Let’s say you have to finish two unrelated tasks for today. Move elsewhere only when you finish the first task. Since the second task doesn’t relate to the first, you won’t lose anything if your brain resets into a warm-up state. You’d go through that phase for the second task anyway.
In my case, I have no option but to transfer workspaces. So I always end up managing my schedule and tasks.
Other Inconveniences
As mentioned earlier, space allows our minds to wander and form new creative ideas. It’s why, as a content creator, I always choose to get out of the house to work if there’s a chance.
I would prefer working in a park or library. But since there’s no library in our city and the climate in our country is very humid, a coffee shop is my only choice. I’m thankful that I only need coffee and gigantic windows to make my brain function better.
While coffee shops are great places to work, they can be inconvenient too. Well, it depends on the coffee shop, but none are perfect. From rocking tables to dropping Wi-Fi signals, inconveniences are always there.
I’ve worked in different coffee shops since the pandemic, and I’ve experienced all sorts of hassles as far as I can tell. There was even a time when I went to a coffee shop I usually go to, and when I arrived, there was no available seat. I waited for at least 30 minutes for someone to leave, and yay, I wasted my time.
There was also that time I picked the wrong table, the one right under the air-conditioning unit blasting cold air. It was like trying to freeze time. I could almost not feel my fingers during that moment, making it hard to type on the keyboard.
So what’s the solution to all these inconveniences? For me, it’s a go-to backpack containing everything I need when working outside.
Now, every time I go out, I bring tissue paper, sometimes wet wipes… you know, for the tables. My bag also always carries a triple USB socket power adapter for charging my devices. I bring a power bank in case the available seat or table doesn’t have a working power socket.
Most of the time, I also bring a packed sandwich in case there’s no food I like at the coffee shop. My bag also contains a bottle of water because some coffee shops don’t offer service water. I don’t want to pay for expensive bottled water.
Sometimes, if I’m going to work in a new coffee shop and I’m not sure how tall the tables are, I bring a laptop stand or tablet stand. They let me work in a more comfortable posture.
Not kidding, I even keep a portable handheld fan in my bag. It’s for those times when I can’t find a seat inside the air-conditioned area and have to sit at the alfresco tables instead.
Media Generation
For me, the hardest part of building a blog or an online creator business without a workspace is this. It’s how I can show myself and my personality using visuals. Or how I’d be able to produce pictures and videos of me to show who I am while attracting more audience.
Without a studio or even a room for content creation, doing this is almost impossible. Well, it would be possible if I’m 200% resourceful, which is the real challenge.
It’s a challenge because being resourceful in this part means going out of my comfort zone.
Here’s an example. You know it already: my room isn’t great for recording videos or taking photos. It’s small, and the neighbors are noisy. So I’ve had to be bold about taking selfies elsewhere or asking someone to take my picture whenever I get the chance. I’m not exactly comfortable doing any of these, but I must.
When I say I must, there’s no saying no. It’s because visuals are crucial not only to stand out but also for building trust with my audience. Especially with AI generating endless content, standing out is harder.
Authenticity is our only real edge.
So what’s the solution here? It’s simple. Be resourceful. Be authentic. The solution is to use whatever you have. Show the real you. Above all, DON’T ever use AI to make your avatar.
If you have a small room with no natural light for better shots like mine, use it. You only have a phone to take photos and videos? Not a problem. Who cares if the photo is crisp or not. The most important thing is the connection that these photos and videos you’re gonna share will make.
Make your feelings, expressions, imperfections (everything that makes you human) present in them. It’s our connection together which will always matter in the end.
Final Thoughts
So, those are my struggles as a content creator working without a dedicated workspace.
To tell you the truth, sometimes, they’re so stressful that I get demotivated to create because hey, here we go again… another day in search of a cozy cafe with fewer people and a comfy chair. Instead of being able to focus on content creation, my energy is used somewhere else.
But so far, these struggles haven’t put me in a state of quitting. In fact, I see these challenges as opportunities.
It’s hard to figure out how they can help me at the spot, but it’s good to know I can use them to create content and help other people now.
Besides, overcoming these challenges is what makes our lives interesting, right?
There you have it! Thank you for reading! I hope this article helped you in any way.
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