6 Ideal Workplaces for Freelancers

Where you work as a freelancer is important in your overall productivity — work in the wrong place and you’ll find yourself easily distracted, with hours wasted that you could have been getting shit done.

You already know how much I love working from coffee shops or cafes, but these aren’t always the best spots for everything to work from, particularly if you need quiet to work.

To help navigate your way into finding your ideal workplace, check out some of the options below and figure out what is going to work best for you.

Lise’s Hack: Aim to have two places you can work from, because just having one limits your creativity and there will be days where one workplace just won’t cut it for you. You need to have a couple of spots where you can go and get in the flow.

6 Workplaces for Freelancers

Keep in mind that you’ll want a place that is comfortable for you to work from, this means finding workspaces that have comfy chairs, tables that aren’t too high and where you can work without distraction.

#1: Working From Home

If you’re working your freelancing gig as a side hustle, ie it’s a part-time thing, then working from home is definitely your easiest option, particularly as you’ll be doing a lot of your work outside your normal working hours.

If you’ve got a home that’s big enough, setting aside a dedicated home office is ideal… failing that, there’s your next best options:

• The bedroom - if you've got kids at home, this is the ideal place, particularly if you can lock it!
• The lounge - if you need a bit of space to work, then your lounge is a good option, particularly if you've got a comfy chair that has a foot rest as well
• The kitchen - only attempt this if you have a large enough kitchen table to share with others

I’ve always enjoyed working from home, but that’s because I’ve always had my own dedicated home office. Now that we are travelling and in Chiang Mai, working from home is not my go-to option. We have a built-in work desk in our bedroom, and while this is good for a few hours, it’s not ideal for large chunks of work blocks.

Try one of the locations above and see if working from home will work for you.

#2: Coworking Spaces

If you like a bit of social interaction during your working day, a coworking space is a great way to get in that interaction plus have a place where you can go where you know there is good wifi, good desk setups and in most cases, food and drinks on hand.

We are heading to our first coworking space tomorrow. It's called CAMP and I'm super excited to see how it goes! I'm picturing something akin to high school lunchroom!

#3: Coffee Shops

Up until we left for Thailand, my local Gloria Jean's on High Street in Auckland was my go-to place. I would head here most mornings to get in a solid 3 hour block of work. It was quiet and I was almost always their first customer! I was such a regular there, I didn't even have to tell them my order, they had it rung up on the till before I'd pulled out my wallet to pay!

What I love about working from coffee shops is that they always have loads of space, always have comfy chairs and always provide nourishment! In most cases, they provide free wifi as long as you purchase something and the ambient noise allows me to concentrate. Too much quiet and my mind starts to drift, which is why I love coffee shops.

This might not be an option for you if you do require quiet, unless you can find a place like my coffee shop, where you're the only person there for a few hours.

#4: Rent an Office

If you've gone full-time as a freelancer, you might be finding it quite difficult to work from home or from a coffee shop, in fact, you might find that you're seeing clients face to face more often than not and that a dedicated office might be your best option.

You can often find lots of opportunities to rent office space, including via places like www.regus.com or even via coworking spaces, as they often provide dedicted office space too.

Things you'll really need to consider before heading down this track is the expense of setting this up. You could be looking at bills for rent, utilities, office set-up and then the actual travel to and from your office.

This is a good option if you need to separate your home and work life, no matter how well your home is laid out, a home office sometimes just isn't a good option.

#5: Local Library

When we first moved to Auckland, we didn't have a place to live, we were staying with friends and working from home was quite isolating, so I decided to go to the library in the morning's when Guy went off to work.

You get access to free wifi and comfy chairs and often oodles of space to spread out. The downside for me is that it was too quiet and after about 11am, if you got up to go and grab a bite to eat, essentially vacating your chair, it was very difficult to find a place to sit when you come back.

This is who I discovered coffee shops!

Libraries work well for when you're travelling to, just make sure you do some research to find out how local they are to your hotel and when the best time is to get there to grab your seat.

#6: Working at a Friends Place

This is similar to working from home, but with a twist. If you have a friend who works for themselves as well, you could offer to do a home office swap, so that you get a change of scenery but still have the comforts of a home office around you.

Another option is to work together two days a week, alternating whose house you'll work from. This takes care of some of the social interaction you lose when you leave a 'normal' work place and gets you out of your home too.

Get your free copy of these workplaces so you can check off the ones you like! Download here.

Do you have a favourite place to work? I'd love to hear about it! Leave your thoughts in the comments below.