The working world has changed A LOT over the last 2 years. I know you know what I’m talking about…

Coming out of the last two years people want more time. They want freedom, they want to spend time with their loved ones, and honestly, they want more control over their lives.

If you’re nodding along thinking, “Yup, that’s me”, you’re not alone. We’ve been there too. But guess what! We’ve created the solution.

The solution for a lot of people is simple. They want to work for themselves.

Working for yourself means choosing your schedule. It means choosing where you work. It means you can say goodbye to toxic work culture and create an empire for yourself, instead of someone else.

Here at City Living Network, we’re helping people create those jobs. We’re an all-in-one web design agency that builds you a city-specific blog in 30 days! Running a city-specific blog is a job that you can do from the comfort of your home. It’s a travel and lifestyle blog you can run without ever leaving your hometown. It’s a chance to build something for yourself. It’s a done-for-you job where you step in as editor-in-chief.

Say hello to freedom.

But of course, working for yourself isn’t all rainbows.

There are highs and lows to entrepreneurship. Good times and bad.

With all this excitement around working for yourself, we want to talk to you about what working for yourself looks like and what you can expect when you take over as editor-in-chief of your new city-specific blog.

What working for yourself looks like in 2022/23

Working for yourself requires more motivation and self-discipline than working for someone else. But it’s also more rewarding and when it comes to running a city-specific blog, a lot more fun!

Today we’ll be sharing some of our tips to help you stay productive working for yourself. And of course, avoid burnout! One of the pitfalls of working for yourself can be working late. Never shutting off. Answering just one more email before shutting down… And that my friends, causes burnout. Big time. So keep reading to find out our tips for working for yourself while staying sane and productive.

Create a home office

The first thing you need to do when you start working for yourself is to create a home office. This will make all of the difference, trust us! It’s hard enough to shut off from work when you’re working for yourself, you need to have a dedicated space where work happens and where you can walk away from work at the end of the day.

You don’t need to dedicate a whole room in your house to the home office. You might not have the room for that, but we do recommend creating an office nook. Set yourself up with a little desk and a comfortable chair. Get yourself a candle and plant. Now keep that as the place you do your work.

Having a separate space in your home for work is going to help you focus, stay productive, and walk away from work at the end of the day. We can’t stress how much this will help you when you’re working for yourself!

Create a routine

Next up, create a routine. How you start and end your day can drastically change how your day goes. Honestly one of the biggest changes I noticed when I started working for myself was a lack of routine. No one was telling me when I had to be to work, when I had to wake up or when I had to finish my day. My days descended into chaos and I found that I simply wasn’t doing all the things that I needed to do.

I decided it was time for a routine.

There are health benefits that come from routine. North Western Medicine tells us that having a routine can help reduce stress levels, help you sleep and eat better, work out more, and of course, use your time more efficiently.

Make sure that you have a routine that you follow when you’re working for yourself.

We want to remind you that everyone’s lives are different, and with that, your routine is going to look different from those around you. Experiment with different routines and find what works best for you. You’ll know what works best for you because it’ll be the easiest for you to stick to.

Some things that help my routine include:

Getting up at the same time every day and starting my day with coffee and journaling. I’ll make a list in the morning of the most important things I need to do that day, but I’ll also take a moment to focus on gratitude and wins.
Meditating for just a few minutes each day. Clearing my head before the day starts and the chaos ensues.
Exercising at least 3 times a week. This used to be so hard for me to do, but now I look forward to the days that I’ve set aside time to work out.
Reading before bed. I don’t put a time limit on how long I’ll read before bed. I simply read. Some nights that’s thirty minutes to an hour. On other nights it’s one page. But reading before bed forces me to get off my phone and reading always helps my creativity with my business.

Remember to find the routine that works for you.

Add hobbies to your routine as well. Keep in mind that all work and no play… does not make for a happy entrepreneur. Allow yourself time to play, create and be outside of your business. Even better if those hobbies push you out of your comfort zone. All of these things will help you bring so much back to your city-specific blog.

Set boundaries

You have to set boundaries with yourself and the people you work with when you run a city-specific blog. Setting boundaries is one of the only ways that you can truly avoid burnout. Trust me.

Boundaries with yourself can look like:

Stopping work at a certain time
Only working a certain amount of days a week
Saying no to collaborations and projects that don’t align with you

Boundaries with the people you work with can look like:

Not answering emails after hours
Only answering emails on business days
Accepting a limited number of calls a week

Once you’ve created these boundaries, do your best to stick to them. It’s all too easy to quickly respond to an email after hours on a Friday. But that will only tell your clients and partners that you’re available all the time when you’re not.

I’ve slipped into bad habits with clients before that have led to clients getting angry at me for suddenly not being available on the weekends or cutting down how many calls I do with them because the calls are cutting into the time I need to actually get the work done.

It’s a lot better to set boundaries when you start working for yourself than try to go back and set boundaries once you have collaboration partners and clients that think you’re available to them 24/7.

More and more people want to work for themselves. They want the freedom of choosing their schedule and choosing where they work. Entrepreneurs are on the rise. If you’ve been dreaming about working for yourself, I hope that these tips help you understand what working for yourself looks like and how you can maintain a good work-life balance, especially when you’re just starting out.

And if you’re ready to start working for yourself, but don’t know where to start… book a free consultation with City Living Network today. Learn how we can help you launch a ready-made city-specific blog for your hometown.

Hello, future editor-in-chief! Book a free consultation with us here.

What Working for Yourself Looks Like in 2023