Work from the Couch

So the last two weeks I’ve been griping about various issues in the world of coloring.  This week I’m taking a whole different approach.  As you may or may not know I also teach at a local community college.  No, I don’t teach Photoshop or anything remotely related to art.  I teach Anthropology–mostly archaeology. Before Hi-Fi I worked in museums and in the field of various foreign countries.  That being said, school starts Monday and I’m teaching three classes this semester.  That makes me put things in perspective…

Let’s talk about the most rockin-ist part of being a freelance colorists–the hours.  Now granted some days/weeks we work around the clock but for the most part we can choose to work in the morning, evening, or whatever we want.  Half the people that work for us are on what I call the night shift–I can email them 100 times during the day but I won’t get a response until at least 4 PM sometimes not until 10 PM.  But if I need someone to finish something up overnight they are on it.  Same is true of the morning people, if I need something by 9 AM for a client in the UK I have a different set of people that are bright-eyes & bushy-tailed by 5 AM & can make that deadline.

Another cool thing is that we can work in spurts and not get into trouble.  You can put in three solid hours of work then goof around on the internet for while, go to lunch, or generally screw around and no one is going to notice, as long as you make the deadlines.

Did I mention the biggest benefit (as far as I am concerned,) the wardrobe.  It’s currently 3:15 PM and I’m still in my jammies. 

Here is a typical day in the very hard-working life of Kristy:

7:30 rise & shine (thanks to the dogs who are jumping on my head)

7:45 coffee (CAN NOT skip this step–very important)

7:50 start answering emails, gathering things off the FTP, checking deadlines, etc

9:30 head to Estrella Mountain Community College

10-10:50 Anthropology Goes to the Movies at EMCC

11:00 grade some papers, answer emails, generally stay on campus

12-12:50 Old World Archaeology

1-1:50 Southwest Archaeology

2:00 I’m starving and convince Brian to wait and eat with me

3:00  do some work

4:00-4:30 I’m usually working on some other kind of project–laundry, prepping for school, running errands, writing this article, etc.  I need a change of pace in the afternoon or I get irritable (says Brian.)

7:00 tennis

9:00 sometimes work, sometimes dinner, sometimes bed

Now if I’m not teaching that day I work in my pajamas until about noon, then I convince Brian to take me to lunch.  When we get back I work for a couple hours then I switch gears and work on something else.

Occasionally, I play tennis in the mornings instead of the evenings but I generally play every day so we have to leave plenty of time in the schedule for that!

My point for giving you a play-by-play of my life is that every day is different but every day is also somewhat the same.  What other job can you sit in your jammies (or swimsuit or hell nothing at all) & listen to music or a podcast or have the TV on and not get into trouble.  Also, no one (except maybe your spouse) is checking to see who you are sending emails to or how much time you spend on Facebook.

Sure there are annoying things about coloring but I’d bet if we took a survey 95% of freelancers would NEVER want to return to the world of desk jobs & cubicles once you’d been doing this for awhile.

Kristy Miller

VP, Development

Hi-Fi Design