The Upwork community includes an abundance of high quality, professional freelancers. When it comes time for Upwork itself to find help on a project, we’re clients, too: Each Upwork team engages freelancers from the marketplace to assist with projects, and can attest to how easy—and successful—working with freelancers can be.
We recently interviewed Radhika Basuthakur, Upwork freelancer and digital nomad, to give some insight into the professional lives of our freelancers, and to give you a sneak peek at what goes on behind the scenes. She’s been doing content marketing projects for Upwork’s social media team since December 2013.
Q: Describe your freelancing journey. What made you decide to take your professional life in this direction?
“I started freelancing way back in 2005 as a university student—purely out of curiosity and to find something to do while I was in college. In its most recent avatar, freelancing has given me the freedom to travel, live, and work from anywhere and take my work with me. Travel and the desire to see new places motivates me every day, and having the ability to work while I travel is like a dream come true. I don’t see myself ever going back to traditional work.”
Q: What is your favorite part of having Upwork as a client?
“The incredible team. Everyone I work with is so positive and passionate about Upwork and its mission to change the definition of ‘work’ and the traditional boundaries around it. Also, the flexibility. Upwork practices what it preaches and, as a freelancer, I definitely have the flexibility to work from anywhere.”
Radhika at a coworking space in Chiang Mai (Thailand).
Q: What does a typical day look like as a freelancer?
“My ‘typical’ day varies a bit depending on where in the world I am. My day usually starts with me reading articles related to productivity, and/or the future of work, or being a remote worker. It takes me an hour or so to really get into gear in the morning, so I find reading these articles a really motivating way to start the day.
“It’s a bonus that reading these articles is actually a part of a project that I am working on; I find interesting pieces to curate for the Upwork Twitter feed.
“After finishing this, I work on other tasks, including work for other clients and my own personal projects. I check my email in the middle of the day and if there’s anything important, I add it to my to-do list for the next day.
“At the end of the work day, I go to the gym or attend a yoga class. Exercise keeps me sane! After this, I usually come home and cook with my boyfriend—or if we’ve had particularly busy day, we go out.”
Q: Describe some of the benefits and challenges of working remotely.
“Since I move around and change countries every two or three months, sometimes the biggest challenge is the time zone. The Upwork team I work with is very distributed around the world, and I have other clients in Australia, the U.S., and Europe.
“While my clients are very understanding and flexible, I do have to be very conscious of deadlines and not making any silly timezone-related mistakes. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s not much of a disadvantage and the pros outweighs the cons.
“The biggest benefit, of course, is the flexibility to work anywhere, any time. This flexibility has allowed me to work from around the world while building my business and fueling my passion for travel.”
Q: What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have a hidden talent? A surprising fact about yourself?
“I travel, eat/cook/experiment with food, and also enjoy coffee and wine. For me, a large part of discovering a new city or country is spending time discovering their food and dining culture.
“I also read a lot and set myself yearly challenges to finish a certain number of books. This year I kept it to 24, but so far I’ve read 28 so I’m doing well!
“Surprising fact: I have been a digital nomad for over three years now, and people assume I am very outgoing and super adventurous. But I am actually quite an introvert. While I like meeting new people, I very much enjoy spending time alone, too—and in fact, I often crave it. I also don’t consider myself to be adventurous, but I can’t seem to convince people of that!”
Radhika in Chiang Mai (Thailand)
Q: What does “work without limits” mean to you?
“Working without boundaries of place, borders, time, nationality. As I think is already obvious, for me, working without any boundaries means work not being tied to a particular place. This has become the cornerstone of my life.
“‘Work without limits’ really means being able to take my computer and be home with my family when I want, but also being able to explore the world when I want to. It’s amazing not to have the limitations of an office or physical place on my work!”
Q: Are there any final thoughts you would like to share with the community?
“I absolutely love the time we live in. It’s a privilege we have to be able to work with people from around the world, travel, and still be able to run a totally valid and legitimate business. . The future of work excites me, and the complete break down of boundaries is inspiring.
Many, many people ask me about how to become a digital nomad and travel; I always tell them that freelancing is the easiest way to get started. It doesn’t have to be some fancy startup or a magical new invention. If you have the skills, a freelancing business can give you all the freedom you want, and allow you to work from anywhere while you travel. That’s a pretty incredible opportunity and more of us should be grabbing at it with both hands.”
Learn from other Upwork Insiders by checking out these other posts >>
Feature image: Radhika at the Tegalalang Rice Terraces in Ubud, Bali.
The post Inside Upwork: A Day in the Life of a Digital Nomad appeared first on Upwork Blog.
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