Man of mine had minor surgery on Friday, which meant I had to free up my day in order to help him pre- and post-surgery. I informed the client base, but not all. Why? Because not all needed me that week. In fact, only two actually needed to know where I was and why I wasn’t responding to emails. Beyond that, I told no one.
Is that bad business? I don’t think so. Look, one of two things happens when you announce your impending absence – it’s ignored or it’s noticed and someone panics and tosses do-it-instantly work at you. While the latter isn’t awful, it can really mess up a schedule you’re trying to tidy up before you take the day off.
Another reason I don’t announce these little absences to the world – while it’s good to mention it now and again to let them all know you still exist, too many one-day or one-week absences might make someone think you’re never around. And they notice. Remember the rude dude who questioned my being out of the office by announcing in a phone conference: “Didn’t you just have a vacation?” He’s the exception – he wanted me to be there at his beck-and-call. However, the student I tutor in English also has noticed that Lori takes a fair number of days off, saying in her charming broken English: “You take lot of vacation!” Yes, yes I do. And I put in 10- and 12-hour days, which should negate anyone’s bitching about my whereabouts, especially when their projects are done and done correctly.
What are your thoughts on this one? If it’s a one-day absence, are you apt to let them email you and receive the away message? What if it’s a week or more? Do you have a protocol?
I never take a week off, so there’s no protocol in place for that. 🙂
I don’t tell *everyone* I am going to be gone for one day. Just clients who have active projects with me. Anyone else who e-mails me receives my out of office auto-reply with when I will return.
If it’s someone with whom I have regular interaction, I tell them I’m working out of town or whatever for the week.
If it’s a day or two and no one’s got a deadline for anything, I just leave the out of office message up.
I am NOT at their beck and call. That is why I freelance. I do the work, meet the deadlines, but I am not on call unless there’s a boatload of retainer money involved.
As long as I meet the deadlines and turn it excellent work, it is not their business how my day is structured or where I do the work.
I will be gone the second half of this week at a writer’s conference. Since I will have internet and my cell phone at the conference, I’m not going to warn clients or put up an email autoresponse, because I should still be reachable in an emergency.
Next seek, however, I’m having minor eye surgery which will mean I can’t be on the computer for several days. 🙁 Those clients that I’m working with will get a heads-up and anyone who emails me will get my autoresponse. I don’t want to draw too much attention to my being out of the office, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.
I'm not away too often given I have my three teenaged anchors around, but if I was, I'd only give out that info. to certain people. And it would be based on a NTK (Need to Know) basis only.
Oh, these beck & call people! Bah!
Good luck and good thoughts for your surgery, Susan. I’ll be thinking about you!
Angie, LOVE the image of the “teenaged anchors.” Wait. They head off to college and become the money pits. ;))
Devon, I agree that our jobs are freelance and as such we have full control over our existences. I have run up against resistance in one form or another whenever these full-timers can’t reach me. Not that the ones I’ve lost were that pivotal to my career, but I wonder how many others may have disappeared due to my absence?
Leigh, take a vacation, girl! :))
Nah, I’m good. I’m thinking about going to Hawaii next year, so I need to save up my time so I can get away without any guilt!
Oooo! Now I’m envious!
Well, it’s the tradeoff for being single with no children! I may not have anyone to escort me to the opera this winter, but at least I can travel when I want to!
Yes you can! And you can flirt with the single Hawaiian men!
Lori, I doubt you’ve lost anyone.
When the full-timers have a fit, I call them on it, “I’m a freelancer. My schedule does not coincide with yours. I’m meeting the contract terms and you like the quality of work. Deal.”
I know lots of freelancers believe you should make every client feel like your only client, but I don’t. The clients are as replaceable as I am.
I honor the contract, do the work, and they get higher quality from me than most of the others under consideration. When and where I do it is my call, not theirs.
Most of the ones who demand beck-and-call without retainers are the ones who hate where they are and don’t have the courage to change the situation. I can choose to let their cowpatties hit the ground instead of hit me.
No, I actually did lose one. I was glad to see him go, though. He was WAY too demanding and expected everyone around him to work until midnight like he did. Good riddance!
Making the client feel like your only client is a mistake, I agree. They then expect fast turnaround, immediate service, instant gratification. It’s okay to say “Today’s booked, but I have some free time in on Thursday. What time works best for you?”
Excellent point on the beck-and-call folks. The woman who expected my IM presence for 12 hours was obviously hating her job and didn’t understand how to push back on her boss.
I let people know when I’ll be out of the office if a). I’m expecting a phone call with them and think they might try to call me when I’m gone or b). it’s a client who’s sending me stuff daily and I’ve been more or less in constant touch about their project. Other than that I set up an email autoresponder, but only if I’m going to be gone more than a day. I don’t stress about single-day absences. If people freak because I didn’t get back to them about something same-day, we’re probably not the right fit.
Here I was in the city this afternoon and darned if I didn’t miss an immediate job. I’m on-call with one local company for proofreading, and sadly they called when I was on the train heading in the opposite direction of my computer. Luckily, there will be other jobs with them. I should’ve done what you do, Jen. I meant to send them a note, but I hadn’t heard from them at all until about 11:30. Didn’t they call at 12:30?
We’re never safe. 🙂