A Day In The Life of a Content Writer At a Design Consulting Agency

As I’m writing this article, I’m heading into one of the busiest work weeks. With all the spare time I have left, I’ll walk you through a day in my work from home life as a content writer and remind my future self how my normal day used to be.

10:00 — Wakey wakey

It has been over a year since I last woke up before 10 AM. This is the consequence of staying up until 2 AM for three months continuously to finish my Bachelor’s thesis. I have not been able to readjust my sleep schedule.

Upon opening my eyes, I log in to the Headspace app for a quick 10-minute morning meditation. Grabbing my phone first thing in the morning has become my habit, but if I use it to do something good for my mental health instead of checking social media, I don’t feel too guilty.

Then, I get off my bed, brush my teeth, fill up my 500ml tumbler with water and lots of ice, make a cup of earl grey with milk, and head to work.

10:30 — Getting down to business

As I am working for a design consulting agency that is working with lots of European furniture brands like Armani/Casa, Missoni Home, Poltronova, to name a few, and preparing for their entry into the Vietnam market, I usually choose to do one of the following tasks:

Research about art, design, fashion, and architecture

Write an original article in Vietnamese or translate a current one into Vietnamese

In my entire life, not once was I interested in any of these fields. I do enjoy going to the art museums occasionally, but I am not educated on the matter. Ever since I joined the company, I have done intensive research on art theories, design history, movements that shaped the fashion landscape, and so much more. It’s almost like I have enrolled in a course called Art & Design 101 taught by me, with the assistance of Google.

I’m also in charge of producing content in Vietnamese, which is not unchallenging. Since my return last October after three years of studying abroad, I have been struggling with conversing fluently in my mother tongue, let alone writing a great piece in it.

These two tasks help wake me up better than any kind of caffeine could do. Dealing with them in the morning makes me feel energized to take on the rest of the day.

12:00 — The first meal of the day

The morning cup of milk tea has been my breakfast for the past three years since I start my day 3–4 hours later than most people. Consequently, lunch is my first meal.

As Hanoi has been practicing social distancing for the past two months, I am accompanied by my brother and sister-in-law for lunch. We either would eat the leftovers, order takeaway, or make toast with sausages and sunny-side-up eggs.

Since my working station is in my gloomy and windowless bedroom, it is nice to be out in a larger space with sunshine and fresh air, and not having to stare at my computer screen.

13:00 — A more relaxed afternoon

Now that I’m powered up, I return to my desk and continue writing. The following two hours are dedicated to completing the easier tasks: writing articles in English, crafting social media captions, scheduling social media posts, and answering emails.

If the situation allows, I would put my computer in my backpack and head to a nearby cafe for a change. There is something about working in an open space, surrounded by other diligent people that boosts my productivity. A couple of friends of mine are working from home as well, so I usually call them up for a joint work session.

15:00 — Brand training

3 PM Vietnam time is 10 AM Italy time, the preferred time for brands to deliver their training. My company is representing around 40 European furniture brands, mostly Italian, in the Asia Pacific region, so there are lots of training sessions to attend.

In these calls, we would be introduced to the history and background of the brand, their most popular products and collection, their future plan, and how my company can come in and help elevate their presence in Asia.

I am required to join these trainings because I have to understand at least the basics of the brand to write about them and their collections.

17:00 — Team meeting

This takes place every Friday.

This is where each member has to report on what they have done in the week and what the pending tasks are. We would also be informed by the team leader if there’d be any changes to consider or any events to look forward to. Additionally, if anyone has any feedback for other members, we are given a safe space to speak up.

18:00 — Me time before dinner

The team meeting marks the end of my workday.

Shutting down the laptop, I lay out my yoga mat, play my favorite yoga session, and dedicate the next one hour to moving my body and stretching out my lower back that has endured lots of pain.

After the practice, I open a music sheet on my iPad and play it on my piano. I can’t tell which I prefer more, typing on my keyboard or running my fingers down the piano.

19:15 — The last meal of the day

By now, the dinner is already served. All of us gather at the dining table and have our last meal together while watching the 7 o’clock news.

Since my brother and sister-in-law take turns cooking, washing the dishes is my responsibility. Once I’m done cleaning up, I head to the bathroom and reward myself with a well-deserved shower.

20:15 — Time for the side hustles

My evening is entirely for writing blog posts for my Medium and WordPress pages, or editing videos for my YouTube channel. Occasionally, I would hop on Upwork to find some gigs. If I fortunately land one, I would spend the evening completing that task only.

This is the time I get to be freely creative and can ‘talk’ about anything I’m keen on.

I also find it incredibly endearing to read comments from my readers and subscribers. This part is certainly the highlight of my day.

23:00 — Wind-down

I have had a full day of working on my computer. It’s time to completely shut it down.

I take my Kindle with me to the bed. Turning on my bedside lamp, I continue reading where I left off.

I usually avoid reading fiction at night because it might be too addictive and I might end up reading until 2–3 AM. I opt for non-fiction books that are hard to finish in one go. The one I’m currently reading is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

That’s how my productive day would look like. Keep in mind though, not every day goes like this. Some days, I would feel terribly worn out and too demotivated to write anything. Then, I would do only the administrative tasks and give myself a break. Sometimes, my busiest and most productive days make up for the rest of the week, so I’d have more time to pamper myself and more space for my other interests.

I did find some tips that might help the writers who are working from home like me to secure a productive workday:

• Tell my teammates that I’ll log off to focus on writing so they won’t be able to reach me during the next one hour or two
• Turn off all social media notifications, on both my PC and phone
• Put on my noise-canceling Bluetooth earphone to remove the smallest distraction
• Close my bedroom door to minimize external sounds
• Press F11 on the keyboard so the computer go into full-screen mode and I am unable to see any other tabs besides the one where I’m drafting my article

I hope you have found this article informative and useful! If you have any questions for me, please feel free to drop them in the comment section.

Hoping you are staying safe and staying negative!