As the coronavirus pandemic makes working from home the norm, we’re taking you inside people’s home offices for our new series, Where I Work.
We’ve peeked at the bedroom sanctuary of an intern and photographer, seen how one writer is working on a houseboat, met a barefoot athlete who has no chairs in his home, and saw how one mum set up a matching mini desk for her daughter.
This time we’re looking at the working from home setup of Emma Campbell, 33, a blogger, content creator, and influencer in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.
She’s working from home in the house she shares with her boyfriend in Manchester.
Hey Emma, what do you do for work?
My full-time job is a blogger, content creator and social media influencer for beauty, fashion and lifestyle.
I work with various brands across those industries to write reviews, create tutorials, bring awareness to brands and products I love, and generally work on videos, articles and social media photography.
How has coronavirus changed your work?
I usually spend two days a week at home, and three days in Manchester or London – wherever brand events and meetings may be! Sometimes I work on campaigns with brands where I will stay overnight, or I do a lot of hotel and travel reviews too, so I can be all over the place.
Since coronavirus began, I now stay at home as rightly so, all my events, meetings and trips are cancelled.
Tell us about your home working setup
I have my own little studio in my office, made up of a desk, ring light, tripod and mirrors where I can create content in my at home office, to make up for not being out and about.
My desk is full of all my beauty and skincare products lined up waiting to be reviewed, filmed or photographed!
As you can see from the photos, my desk is my beauty and skincare work area – so I have a tiered unit to the side of my laptop with the products that need to be worked on. For some people, I guess they would have files and paperwork in their ‘trays’ – but not me! I break it down into blog post products, video content, and today’s photos and review products.
My laptop sits on my desk and behind it you’ll find compartments that contain items for two areas I work on daily. These are ‘big campaigns’ (the paid sponsorship deals I work with) and then a sustainable and eco-friendly beauty container too. I work on these two areas every day, so I make sure they are always filled up with the products I need to be working on.
My pen pot is mixed in with makeup brushes, as I use both equally as much!
Under my desk, you won’t find the usual desk drawers. I have two trunks filled with products awaiting reviews and photography, or write-ups.
I then have a tripod, flat lay table and a ring light all at the side of my desk – on hand for content creation.
There’s also an ‘acne’ area – the stand with the spot products on with the bowl of water. As I create content on adult acne and skin problems, I do lots of no makeup work, so I always keep a bowl of water to hand.
What are your rules for working from home?
I try to create a priority list of five things in the morning, and then I put the worst one on the top of the list. Once the worst task is done, the rest don’t seem so bad!
I create a lot of hair and makeup content so it does mean putting makeup on filming skincare regimes, which makes me more ‘on it’ when it comes to getting out of my pjs and looking presentable.
I usually have the radio on, but never the TV. The TV is the biggest distraction for me.
Have you come up against any challenges working from home?
It can get lonely – I used to rely on events to talk to other bloggers, media and brands. Now it’s just me talking to a camera most days.
It also means I spend more time on social media to feel like I’m socialising but it’s a huge distraction. It’s also easy to eat more, and consume junk food more often when I’m at home as I look for excuses to leave my desk and wonder round – usually to the kitchen!
What’s a working day like for you?
I tend to get up around 7am, and I’m guilty of looking through my emails and social media while I’m still in my bed. As I work with brands and agencies all around the world, I will often have important emails sent from America or Australia that came through while I was asleep, so I like to action them as soon as I wake up.
Then, after my morning shower and teeth brush, I’ll get changed and make my breakfast downstairs. I bring it up to my office and I tend to eat it while going through emails and putting my priority list together.
I’ll usually spend the first part of the day shooting content: photos, video clips, social media films or flat lay shots of products. Sometimes I’ll break off for the gym before lunch, but not now that the coronoavirus is going on.
I’ll eat my lunch downstairs away from my work but usually only give myself 30 minutes.
Then, the afternoon tends to be putting all the content from the morning into articles, video tutorials, I’ll start to edit on video editing software, editing imagery, social media scheduling…. it usually takes me up to about 6pm, although I’m guilty of then bringing my laptop downstairs and carrying on working for the evening. It’s like there is no switch-off.
What advice do you have for people new to working from home?
Get dressed (you can keep your slippers on though!), work away from a room with a TV, make sure there is natural daylight, and stick to the same priority lists you would when in the office.
Break away from the working room when it’s time for lunch, and call up a friend if you can, too.
If you’re finding yourself turning to junk food like I have been guilty of, meal prep the night before. You only have to walk to your fridge to get it, so it’s no bother.
Do you have a snazzy home office you fancy sharing? Get in touch by emailing Ellen.Scott@Metro.co.uk.
MORE : Where I Work: Jen, the UX content designer and writer working from home with a cavapoo puppy
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