The great thing about being a freelancer is that you get to choose where and when you work. You have a lot more freedom than you do in a traditional office setting and that includes working out of your backyard.
Working as a freelancer isn’t for everyone though. Before you can decide if you can work as a freelancer from your backyard there are a few questions you should consider.
What Kinds of Skills Do You Need to Work as a Freelancer?
There are dozens of different types of freelance work that can be done from home and each one requires a different skill set. If you’re going to be successful as a freelancer you need to already have the necessary skills or you have to be willing to do the hard work to acquire them.
If you’re looking for ideas on where to start your freelance journey, here’s a quick list of some of the freelance jobs you can do from a backyard office:
- A freelance writer
- A freelance copy editor
- A freelance logo designer or artist
- A freelance voiceover artist
- A freelance web designer
- A freelance SEO consultant
There are other types of freelance work you can do from home, but these are some of the best paying. If you have skills that fit in any of these categories you have the basic foundation for a work from home freelance business.
Does Your Personality Affect Your Ability to Live the Freelance Lifestyle?
Even if you have skills as a writer, an artist or a designer it doesn’t mean you’re well suited to the freelance lifestyle. Working as an independent contractor can be lonely.
You’re working by yourself most of the time so if you’re a social butterfly it may not be the job for you. If you’re determined to make it work, you may want to check out my article on 11 Tips to Overcome Loneliness When Working from Home.
Being able to work well by yourself isn’t the only extra skill you need as a freelancer. You need to be creative to find solutions to stay productive by yourself when you don’t have a team to back you up. On top of that you have to learn how to promote your business and find clients that pay.
It’s important to be honest with yourself in assessing whether the freelance lifestyle is really for you. Like any entrepreneur, you’re bound to make a few mistakes along the way and suffer some setbacks. If you’re still excited by the prospect of the freelance lifestyle at this point, you may just have the right personality to succeed at it.
Is There Enough Available Work to Freelance Full-time from a Backyard Office?
One of the things new freelancers struggle with the most is finding enough work to sustain a full-time work from home business they can do from their backyard (or anywhere for that matter).
The simple answer to this one is that there is no shortage of work out there for freelancers. Remember, you can take on clients from anywhere in the world. It can be hard work finding enough clients to sustain a full-time business though and that’s where most freelancers trip up.
When I first started freelancing it took me months to establish a decent client list and even then it was only enough to supplement my regular income. It wasn’t until my third year as a freelancer that I had enough available work that I started to think about making the transition to working from my backyard full-time.
Knowing where to look is the key. Here are some of the best places to find freelance work on the web and offline:
- Social media
- Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook
- Discussion forums and job boards
- Quora, Reddit and ProBlogger job board
- Freelance marketplaces
- Upwork, Designhill and Toptal
- You’re offline network of friends, family and coworkers
Do You Have the Tools You Need to Succeed Working as a Freelancer from Your Backyard?
You may not need a lot of tools to work as a freelancer from your backyard, but there are a few must-have items if you want to be a success. Some of them you probably already own, but others may need to make their way onto your wishlist. In my experience there are four tools that every freelancer should have at a minimum. We’ll take a look at those in the next section.
A Durable Laptop
While you can freelance using just a smartphone or a tablet, you’ll be much more productive with a good quality laptop. You can check Amazon for the latest deals on any make and model of laptop you like if you don’t own one yet. Just remember if you’re going to be doing most of your work from your backyard or even your local coffee shop, you’ll want something that’s durable and lightweight.
Reliable Access to the Internet
If you’re working from your backyard you should have ready access to reliable Wi-Fi, but if you do find the signal a little weak a Wi-Fi booster should fix the problem. As a freelancer almost all of your clients will be online so you should definitely invest in the booster if you need it.
Consider a Portable Wi-Fi Printer
You may have a clunky old printer in your basement, but it’s a little inconvenient to run inside every time you need to print a document. Even if you don’t plan on doing a lot of printing it’s still a good tool to have available to you.
If you’re like me and you like to create task lists as you go, it’s much easier to work with them if they’re printed out and readily available to consult when needed.
A Quiet Space to Work
While a quiet place to work isn’t really a tool, how you create it can be. You can’t always control the noises in your backyard, but you can drown them out with a pair of noise canceling headphones or earbuds.
If you decide you want to spend one day a week working in a coffee shop instead of the yard they’ll really come in handy to drown out the background noise there as well.
Even if you have a private office shed to work in separate from your home the noise can still be a distraction so you’ll appreciate those earbuds. Check out our article Can I Convert a Shed into a Home office if you want to take a look at all the benefits of turning your old shed into a private workspace.
Good luck on your freelance journey and working at home from your backyard in the near future.
