WFH survival guide: Timelapse photographer, Matt Vandeputte’s words of wisdom

With a decade of timelapse experience under his belt and clients like National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, Matt’s photography work has taken him all over the world. However, now, like the vast majority of us, Matt is working from the confines of his flat. We caught up with him to find out more about his WFH dos and don’ts.

Tell us about your daily routine when working from home? 

If I’m totally honest my daily routine is really bad! I get out of bed way later than normal and I stay up longer than usual too. Considering we’re going through a global pandemic though I don’t blame myself for taking it a little bit easier. 

Ideally, my routine is something along the lines of: Wake up at a reasonable hour, make a coffee, do my admin stuff first, then get going with creative things like writing, filming and editing. Another email check in the afternoon followed by some exercise and cooking a nice meal for me and my fellow WFH girlfriend.

What’s your no.1 tip for staying motivated when creating content from home?

I find it really helps to block out times in your calendar. If I have a to do list but no ‘deliverables date’ on them I tend to procrastinate a bunch. So I plan out my day, sometimes by the hour, to get through my to do lists.

What’s the best thing about working from home?

No commuting! I hate being on the tube or the bus with a thousand other people. 

What’s the worst thing about working from home? 

There’s no other people! I’m a very social person, I love interacting with others. I’ve started writing in hotel lobbies near me where other creatives hang out to at least be amongst other people.

What advice do you have for Creators who are sharing a home workspace with friends, partners or family? 

Keep your place tidy, and tell the others to do the same. It’s a team effort and you’ll all be grateful for a clean work space, as a clean space just works better!

How do you look after your mental health when working from home?

Try to stay physically active and set certain work goals, but also don’t feel bad if you can’t do certain things. Again, we’re in a – for most of us – unprecedented pandemic. I think it’s normal to feel a bit anxious.

What should you absolutely never do when trying to be productive when working from home?

Don’t stay in your pyjamas. And don’t do work in your bed. Treat a work day like a work day, get dressed, go get a coffee at your fav coffee place if you’re allowed. Bring as much structure into your day as you can, otherwise it’ll all blur together.

What advice do you have for Creators who are currently experiencing a downturn in work?

If you’ve got cancelled gigs or bookings and a lot of time on your hands, now is the perfect moment to put systems in place so that this doesn’t happen again. I recently published an e-book called ‘Passive Income for Creatives‘. It teaches you how to set up a system that will generate you some side income by joining relevant affiliate programs and much more.

It guides you through creating digital products, an online store, how to set up a webshop, how to grow your social media channels, how to start collecting email addresses for a newsletter and so much more. It’s been downloaded over 130 times and it’s got nothing but 5 star reviews. You can get a $10 discount with code ‘getlickd’ if you want to check it out for yourself and increase your income in this difficult time.

What’re your 3 top tips for a successful video call?

Good light, good audio, good angle. I did a video interview recently and had my phone placed in front and below me. At the time I wasn’t bothered but then the video came out and honestly it’s just a bad angle.

What’s your go-to ‘let’s get this done’ track?

I listen to a huge range of music but if I’m really wanting to feel PUMPED I’ll listen to some dubstep or drum and bass. It’s hard to ignore Netsky, a fellow Antwerpian Belgian and drum and bass legend!

If you’re as big a Netsky fan as Matt, you’re in luck. We have a whole range of his tracks on the Lickd platform, ready to soundtrack your next video.

Did Matt’s words of wisdom help you? We want to hear all about your WFH experiences so get in touch via our socials @getlickd.

 

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