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| My Workweek As An Online Freelance Worker |
My life as a full-time online freelance worker was somewhat of a culture shock of sorts . . . maybe not much of a shock but it was a bit jarring at the start.
This coming Sunday, I will commemorate my first year as a full-time OFW in the Philippines, with a short two-and-a-half-month sabbatical in between. However, since I became a full-time OFW in the Philippines, my body clock still has to adjust to the new schedule that I have tried to impose on it.
Before my career started nearly a year ago, I used to wake up at five in the morning in order for me to get out of the house by 6 AM to catch a ride to work. This was necessary since the place where I lived in was smack in the middle of the regular route of jeepneys. I would have a better chance of catching a glimpse of a kapre in the middle of the night than catching a taxi or jeepney ride after 6 AM.
But when I started to work as a full-time online freelance worker, this became an inconvenience on my part since I had the option of staying at home until pigs started to fly. Anyway, even up to now, I still get the chance to watch the early morning shows on the local TV channels, even if I did not want to.
These days I still wake up at around the same time although I would just stay in bed and wait for Mr.Sandman to come back again and lull me to sleep amid the beeping horns of cars and jeepneys outside. If I ever get to sleep again, I would normally get off the bed at around 10 AM and have my brunch. This works for me since I get to save on meals each day, instead of three meals per day, I eat only two meals each day.
After getting up at 10 AM and exercising for 30 minutes or so (yes, I do exercise every day), I break my fast for the day. By the time the clock strikes 12 I normally get out of the house in search of a good coffee shop to work in.
I typically work in a coffee shop situated in a mall since it is not crowded during the day. While I have a short list of good coffee shops I make my office for the day, some of them are not quite online freelance worker-friendly due to the limitations on their internet connectivity, One of the coffee shops that I have been frequenting for the past year is Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Their coffee is great and their baristas are better. One branch that I particularly like is located in located in one of the better malls in the Queen City of the South. The baristas in this branch are particularly friendly, in fact this was the first branch that I visited some time ago when I was still a part-time online freelance worker.
My typical work day at the coffee shop ends at around 4 or 5 PM. On weekdays, I normally go around the mall before heading home. But on weekends, I end up having a bottle or two at a hole-in-the-wall resto-bar along one of the major streets of the city. This is where I normally work on my blogs, in fact I am working on this entry at this place right now.
On weekdays, when I get home at around 5:30 or 6:00 PM, I normally relax and watch news on the TV before having my dinner. Normally, I end up surfing the net until midnight unless one of my jobs require me to work through the night. I normally end up in bed at around 11 PM or 12 AM.
On weekends, I typically go home at around 10 PM, after a bottle or two or three or probably more. It would depend on when the place starts to become crowded or the singer sounds a bit off-key.
I normally reserve the weekends for other non-work-related activities, of course unless my work as an OFW requires me to work over the weekend. However, most of my work d not require me to do so for now. There are times when I would indulge myself in one of my hobbies . . . sports photography. If there is a football game or football festival, I would end up under the heat of the sun over the weekend. There are also some times when I would work on my blog over the weekend, scheduling posts for the upcoming days.
This is my typical schedule as an online freelance worker, less stress, less work, reasonable income.
