My desire to start a business began shortly after graduating from college. As a determined Capricorn, I had a clear idea of what I wanted, but I faced doubts about how to achieve it and whether I would succeed. Imposter syndrome often haunted me, undermining my confidence. However, in 2015, I set goals and took the first step towards entrepreneurship, leaving my job at an agency behind.
Determined, I set financial and client goals and began building my path. About five years later, I had achieved stability, surpassing my revenue expectations and gaining clients without extensive marketing. However, despite apparent success, I felt disconnected from myself, immersed in an endless cycle of work without defined boundaries. I constantly sought more clients, more money, more knowledge, without knowing exactly how to handle it all. The result was almost burnout and questioning my identity as a designer.
As I mentioned here in another text, when I moved to Florianópolis, I began to learn to slow down, to reconnect with myself and my essence. Still, I was not satisfied because there was something I needed to do: put my backpack on and venture into another country.
I was in crisis with Uli Designer and wasn’t sure if I wanted to be her anymore. So, I set my career aside a bit, chose to serve fewer clients, and began to dedicate myself to other projects, studying different things, learning about nutrition, Ayurveda, and the holistic world, and incorporating Yoga into my life.
Until one day, sitting in a café working with my headphones on, in a moment of total presence in creating a brand, I realized how happy and in love I was with what I was doing. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t need to get rid of Uli Designer, but to redefine how I was working.
I think everyone who works from home realizes this, but often doesn’t put it into practice. I say this because I’ve shared this experience with many friends who also work this way and sometimes complain about the same things. So, I needed to set boundaries for myself and no longer feel guilty for fulfilling them. I will list some things that I needed to do to redefine how I worked:
- Not feel guilty for not immediately responding to a client after receiving an email or WhatsApp message.
- Turn off the phone during projects that require focus.
- Learn to say no.
- Respect my creation time.
- Go out to work in different places. I spent a long time feeling lazy to leave my home office, which made me feel lonely and not exchange experiences with anyone else. I started to feel stagnant, uninspired, and there was a time when I even considered going back to work for a company to socialize again. This item was what most inspired me to write this text. I feel very happy to be able to work in a cozy place. I am passionate about coffee and simple and delicious food.
- Make exercise a priority. Although it is not a problem for me, as I have always been very active, sometimes I end up not moving my body because I have a lot of work to do. Ideally, always wake up early and go, but I confess that I often fail to go very early.
- Organization is fundamental, although it has never been a problem for me because I have always been well-organized with work, what became a problem was the rigidity with organization. I still need to balance that.
- One of the things I’ve been failing at and feeling anxious about is waking up and immediately grabbing my phone. I hate that. I need to create some strategy so that this no longer happens. If anyone wants to share tips with me, I’ll be grateful.
These were some of the main ones. Of course, in everyday life, some things don’t go as planned. It’s always good to take short breaks during the day, go outside to sunbathe, have a bottle of water by your side and, when anxiety hits, do breathing exercises.
As I love cozy places, here are some café tips for working:
Miami:
Maman: A café that originally came from NYC, with a super inspiring and cute decoration, delicious food in a French bakery style. It is located in Wynwood.
Novela Cafe Social Miami: Another café in Wynwood, surrounded by trees and flowers. The natural energy of the place is inspiring, the decoration is vintage, and the food is delicious. The internet there is super fast, and there is plenty of space and tables with plugs.
Ironside Cafe – Organic Mediterranean: Another super beautiful café, with organic food, located in a place surrounded by nature. It is near Biscayne with 76th Street.
Love Life Cafe: Also in Wynwood, it has a plat-based/vegan vibe with healthier foods, it is very spacious and beautiful.
Los Angeles:
Café Gratitude: The first time I was in Los Angeles, I worked in some cafes, but what I liked the most and marked me was Café Gratitude, located in the Venice Beach region. A plant-based and super inspiring place, with several motivational phrases spread on the walls. I just loved working there, on a Californian summer afternoon.
Ilha Bela, São Paulo – Brazil:
Ponto das Letras: An intimate cafe with various varied goodies amidst shelves of magazines, newspapers, and books, with a beautiful view of the sea, located in the historic center of Ilhabela. This place brings me many good memories because when I decided to live as a nomad in Ilha Bela for a month, living on the Santa Seiva farm, I felt very happy and inspired to spend hours working in this place.
For those of you who also work from home and feel lazy to leave the house, I highly recommend going out and exploring new places wherever you are. I confess that you will come back home more inspired. Currently, I am in Miami, and if anyone wants to share places to work around here, I will be very happy.
