To learn about the challenge of self-discipline when working outside the office, we spoke to Bota, who works for an event agency and hosts the podcast "Tea, Coffee — Let's Chat!,” all while raising two kids.
“I tried my hand at freelancing back when I was a university student. I wrote for several different publications, which is totally normal for journalists. It’s actually pretty rare for a journalist to work on only one project. It’s really more like a part-time job than freelancing - you work whenever you get free time, after classes, at night, on the weekends. But in terms of working outside the office, it’s the same idea.
After I finished grad school in England, I went to work for some major corporations in Kazakhstan. I changed jobs several times, and managed to work at the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. Keep in mind that when you work at state-owned companies, you have to understand the Kazakh context. There’s always feuds, people fighting over who gets what share of the pot. It’s often the case that if you’re in a top position, like head of a department, you need strong support. I was put in a lot of unpleasant situations where it made more sense just to quit and keep my sanity. Working within the system, I couldn’t imagine finding success, staying interested, or getting any satisfaction out of it at all..
By that time, I was already in a stable relationship with my future husband. We wanted to go to India for a month and a half. That's when I started thinking about freelancing. I already had clients, people knew me, and my services were in demand.
It’s when I was in India that I realized that it wasn’t that easy for me to get work done outside the office. I watched how my husband, Ben, could stay productive, even when it was sunny outside and the vibe was easygoing. But I just couldn’t. When I’m not in an office, I have problems with concentration and discipline. Maybe I just need a specific workplace? I blamed it on that.
I had a lot of clients, and was getting invited to plenty of projects. But I couldn’t feel that there was any structure - I didn’t have a boss managing me from above, and I didn’t have any employees to manage below me. I couldn’t see the whole picture; instead, I saw separate shreds that I needed to work on.
