New writers, listen up — Ashley Festa is a writer you should be paying attention to. In just a few short years, Ashley has graduated from college, gotten married, had children, and built a freelance writing business.
She’s that kind of motivated.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Ashley’s career in freelance writing grow. She’s gone through the growing pains, the lifestyle changes, and anything else the world can throw at a person. Each time, she’s put a smile on her face and moved forward. Never have I seen her question her desire to do this job. She may question her abilities at times — we all do — but there’s no need.
She’s got this. And now, she’s here to tell you how you’ve got this, too.
Work-Life Balance in the Freelance World
by Ashley Festa
One of my favorite perks of being a freelance writer is the
ability to work on my own schedule. No alarm clock. No 8-to-5. No commute.
ability to work on my own schedule. No alarm clock. No 8-to-5. No commute.
The flip side is that I have to work around the other things
going on in my life—husband, preschooler, church and volunteer activities, to
name a few. If I’m not careful, I sometimes let work time invade personal time.
going on in my life—husband, preschooler, church and volunteer activities, to
name a few. If I’m not careful, I sometimes let work time invade personal time.
The need to be “on” 24-7 is all too common in the corporate
world. We as freelancers also have the tendency to slip in a little work during
down time, even if it’s just answering emails on our phone.
world. We as freelancers also have the tendency to slip in a little work during
down time, even if it’s just answering emails on our phone.
Do you really need to respond to that client at 8 p.m. from
your couch during a commercial break? I can’t answer that for you, and I think
it’s no big deal to occasionally reply to email after regular business hours.
your couch during a commercial break? I can’t answer that for you, and I think
it’s no big deal to occasionally reply to email after regular business hours.
The one thing I know for sure is that doing it regularly can
upset the balance between work and life we all strive for. Freelancers have the
luxury of choosing our own work hours, and we must protect that freedom when
the corporate world tries to draw us in to its demand for 24-7 availability.
upset the balance between work and life we all strive for. Freelancers have the
luxury of choosing our own work hours, and we must protect that freedom when
the corporate world tries to draw us in to its demand for 24-7 availability.
But how do we do that? Well, I’m so glad you asked! I have a
few suggestions.
few suggestions.
Choose your hours in
advance.
advance.
Decide how many hours you want to work every week. That can be
40 hours if you like, or you can include half days, four-day workweeks, even
nights and weekends if that’s when you work best. Stick to your schedule as
closely as possible to guard against letting work creep into your personal
time. We all have to make exceptions occasionally, but make sure it doesn’t
become a habit.
40 hours if you like, or you can include half days, four-day workweeks, even
nights and weekends if that’s when you work best. Stick to your schedule as
closely as possible to guard against letting work creep into your personal
time. We all have to make exceptions occasionally, but make sure it doesn’t
become a habit.
Keep track of your
project schedule.
project schedule.
I keep a running to-do list of projects I have going on at
any one time. The list keeps me focused and helps me resist goofing around on
Facebook and other social media time sucks. Too much of that, and I’ll have to stress
about deadlines when I’d rather relax.
any one time. The list keeps me focused and helps me resist goofing around on
Facebook and other social media time sucks. Too much of that, and I’ll have to stress
about deadlines when I’d rather relax.
Manage your working
hours.
hours.
I log my entire workday in a time tracker. At the end of the
week, I know exactly where my time went—how many hours I spent on each project,
how much time I spent marketing, etc. This clues me in to two things—whether
I’m estimating my time well for the project rates I’m quoting my clients, and
how many total hours I’m working per week. I know approximately how many hours
I work per week (see the first point on this list), so if I’m way off that
mark, I can evaluate the reason (Too much Pinterest? Relatives visiting? Out of
the office?) and make adjustments as necessary.
week, I know exactly where my time went—how many hours I spent on each project,
how much time I spent marketing, etc. This clues me in to two things—whether
I’m estimating my time well for the project rates I’m quoting my clients, and
how many total hours I’m working per week. I know approximately how many hours
I work per week (see the first point on this list), so if I’m way off that
mark, I can evaluate the reason (Too much Pinterest? Relatives visiting? Out of
the office?) and make adjustments as necessary.
Take a vacation.
Yes, it’s possible to take a vacation as a freelancer, and
you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do it. You will, however, want to
plan ahead. Tell your clients when you plan to be gone. Let them know whether
you’ll be checking your email (you don’t have to!) and when to expect a
response from you. Then step away from your computer. Believe me, it will be
fine.
you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do it. You will, however, want to
plan ahead. Tell your clients when you plan to be gone. Let them know whether
you’ll be checking your email (you don’t have to!) and when to expect a
response from you. Then step away from your computer. Believe me, it will be
fine.
Learn when to say no.
When my to-do list is longer than the Best Buy checkout line
on Black Friday, I know I have to say no. In addition to my weekly list, I also
have a calendar that helps me keep track of when my regular clients send me
work. The client calendar lets me know when projects tend to come in, so I know
when my busiest times of the month/year are. To avoid overloading yourself, save
room for your best clients, and turn down the lower paying ones when you know
bigger projects are coming soon.
on Black Friday, I know I have to say no. In addition to my weekly list, I also
have a calendar that helps me keep track of when my regular clients send me
work. The client calendar lets me know when projects tend to come in, so I know
when my busiest times of the month/year are. To avoid overloading yourself, save
room for your best clients, and turn down the lower paying ones when you know
bigger projects are coming soon.
Charge more and work
less.
less.
It’s a good idea to have a yearly income in mind. You’ll be
more likely to hit your target if you know what you’re aiming for. If you’ve
been logging your work hours, you’ll know every week/month/year how much time
you’ve spent making that amount of money. If you want to work fewer hours,
you’ll need to increase your rate to maintain your current income (that’s just
basic math!). Not only will you get a few extra personal hours every week,
you’ll have more confidence as a writer by charging higher rates.
more likely to hit your target if you know what you’re aiming for. If you’ve
been logging your work hours, you’ll know every week/month/year how much time
you’ve spent making that amount of money. If you want to work fewer hours,
you’ll need to increase your rate to maintain your current income (that’s just
basic math!). Not only will you get a few extra personal hours every week,
you’ll have more confidence as a writer by charging higher rates.
Remember: You can
always make more money, but you can’t get the time back.
always make more money, but you can’t get the time back.
This has been my mantra for as long as I can remember. I
share it with people all the time, especially when they’re considering what’s
best for their family or their personal well-being. When my daughter was born,
my husband had to say that exact sentence to me because I doubted my own advice.
I had just been offered a promotion and a raise at my full-time job, just three
months before my daughter was due. He and I had planned for me to start
freelancing full time after she was born, but I hesitated after being offered
the new position. I was terrified my writing business would flop. He reminded
me that we had been discussing this plan for a long time, and even if I never
was able to replace my full-time income, I really wanted to be home with my
daughter. I knew he was right. I could always go back to a full-time job one
day if I couldn’t hack the freelance life, but I never would have been able to
replace these years I’ve spent with her. So I dove in, and now I have the best
of both worlds.
share it with people all the time, especially when they’re considering what’s
best for their family or their personal well-being. When my daughter was born,
my husband had to say that exact sentence to me because I doubted my own advice.
I had just been offered a promotion and a raise at my full-time job, just three
months before my daughter was due. He and I had planned for me to start
freelancing full time after she was born, but I hesitated after being offered
the new position. I was terrified my writing business would flop. He reminded
me that we had been discussing this plan for a long time, and even if I never
was able to replace my full-time income, I really wanted to be home with my
daughter. I knew he was right. I could always go back to a full-time job one
day if I couldn’t hack the freelance life, but I never would have been able to
replace these years I’ve spent with her. So I dove in, and now I have the best
of both worlds.
Bottom line: You don’t have to work 24-7 if you don’t want to.
You aren’t obligated by the corporate workaholic mindset. You’re a
freelancer—free to choose your schedule, your hours, your projects, everything.
So enjoy your freedom and create for yourself the work-life balance you’ve
always wanted.
You aren’t obligated by the corporate workaholic mindset. You’re a
freelancer—free to choose your schedule, your hours, your projects, everything.
So enjoy your freedom and create for yourself the work-life balance you’ve
always wanted.
Ashley Festa has been a professional writer and editor for 14 years, including freelance writing for the past 6 years. (The launch of her writer website and one client made it official!) She took the leap into full-time freelance writing in 2013, and the success of her business proves it was one of the best decisions she ever made. She specializes in writing for higher education, but natural curiosity has led her to write for other industries as well.
Freelancers, do you have other suggestions? How
do you manage keeping your work and personal life separate?
do you manage keeping your work and personal life separate?
12 responses to “Writers Worth: Your Freelance Work-Life Balance”
I agree with everything you've said here, Ashley. For me, learning to give time to important things other than writing has been the big lesson and, as you say, gives the best of both worlds.
Awesome, very practical and easy-to-use tips, Ashley!
When I first started freelancing full-time, I literally tracked every single minute of every working day and analyzed it all. I put WAY too much pressure on myself to have the productivity of a robot.
Then I realized I needed to relax and not be so hard on myself all the time.
I still always track time spent on clients & projects, but I haven't been tracking how much time I spend sitting at my desk.
Now that I've achieved a better balance & know I won't go overboard with it, I think I'll start doing that.
It's taken some trial & error for me to know which metrics are the most important to keep track of.
Great tips, Ashley! For some people, it's also important to keep writing time separate from email/phone/client response time. When I'm writing, I don't like to feel like I have to tear myself away in order to answer an email.
Time management and knowing when to say no are key, in my opinion. If you let things slide and are in danger of missing a deadline because of what's gone on at your end, then you do need to put in extra hours, over your "scheduled" time. If you stay on top of things, or build in time triggers when the client is the one bogging down the project, then you can maintain a balance. But frittering away work time and then missing a deadline because you'd have to work during "personal time" happens far too often with freelancers and, in my opinion, is not okay.
I charge for phone calls, and that's helped a lot. 99.9% of the phone calls are the other party wanting to hear the sound of his own voice and could be far more efficiently done via email. If you're going to waste my time on the phone, you're going to pay for it.
I also have at least one day a week when I'm completely "disconnected", and that's been a big help. Life is meant to be lived in the moment, not through electronics.
Lori, thanks for hosting me! It's always great to contribute to Writers Worth Month. I wish I could say that there were just a few short years getting here–it's been quite a journey. The biggest gap was from marriage to kid, 9 years! But in that time, I learned to write better from colleagues at full-time jobs. I felt very prepared to write as a freelancer. The thing I was most scared of was being responsible for finding my own work. But turns out, if you just sit down and market yourself with patience and persistence, it tends to work itself out.
Sharon, we can definitely neglect focusing on our personal projects when we don't "go home" after work. When we're just walking to the next room, it's harder. Thankfully, when my little girl pulls me away from the computer, it's easier for me to quit for the day! She's my personal project right now 😉
KeriLynn, I totally understand that feeling of putting pressure on yourself! I haven't done that with productivity in freelancing as much (I don't track phone calls with potential clients, for example, and I'm not tracking commenting on this blog), but I was trying to lose weight a few years ago and tracked every single thing I ate and how many calories it was. I was SO miserable. Finally I just started making good choices and turned out, I eventually lost the weight without the misery.
Yo, good point! I'm guilty of leaving my email up all day, even when I'm writing. I don't have too much of a problem getting back to writing, but I think I'd be more focused if I didn't stop every time an email popped up.
Devon, I'm like you — if I need to put in extra time to meet a deadline, I have no problem doing that. I just don't like to put myself in that situation if I can help it, especially if it's my own fault for wasting working hours playing on social media. I am very careful to stay away from Facebook and other sites while I'm working, or I'll be checking my notifications every time something comes up. In fact, I try to stay away from Facebook more in general these days. It just makes me angry 😉 How do you tell clients that you charge for calls? Do they agree, or always choose email instead?
I love the reminder about how we can make more money, but not more time!
One of my goals for the year was to not work late every day and weekend. Only when absolutely necessary. Most weekends when I have something on my to-do list, I find myself saying, "It can wait for Monday."
And Devon, I have two new clients who always wants to call. I try to get them to communicate by email, where everything is in writing, but if the requests for calls continues I'll have to tell them I'll need to bill them for my time.
Great post, Ashley. Thank you!
Taking time — it's so important. You can't be your best if you're burning it from both ends. You don't necessarily have to mention a vacation, but do let the clients know you're traveling or unavailable. I just took on a large project knowing I'd be on vacation, but it's now a working vacation, and I'm okay with that. The work will be limited to about 4 to 5 hours, I suspect. I have a conference call with them during my time off — again, not a problem. We brag so much about being able to work from anywhere, but we don't really. Time to make that statement a reality. 🙂
I don't know who said it recently, but someone said when agreeing to phone calls, say something like "I have 15 minutes on this date" just to put mental parameters around your time. I loved it so much I started doing it. It really does help, particularly with those who like to have meetings to follow up on meetings. This forces a bit more action and a lot less BS.
I posted this comment this morning, but it didn't seem to save. Luckily I copied it just in case 😉
Lori, thanks for hosting me! It's always great to contribute to Writers Worth Month. I wish I could say that there were just a few short years getting here–it's been quite a journey. The biggest gap was from marriage to kid, 9 years! But in that time, I learned to write better from colleagues at full-time jobs. I felt very prepared to write as a freelancer. The thing I was most scared of was being responsible for finding my own work. But turns out, if you just sit down and market yourself with patience and persistence, it tends to work itself out.
Sharon, we can definitely neglect focusing on our personal projects when we don't "go home" after work. When we're just walking to the next room, it's harder. Thankfully, when my little girl pulls me away from the computer, it's easier for me to quit for the day! She's my personal project right now 😉
KeriLynn, I totally understand that feeling of putting pressure on yourself! I haven't done that with productivity in freelancing as much (I don't track phone calls with potential clients, for example, and I'm not tracking commenting on this blog), but I was trying to lose weight a few years ago and tracked every single thing I ate and how many calories it was. I was SO miserable. Finally I just started making good choices and turned out, I eventually lost the weight without the misery.
Yo, good point! I'm guilty of leaving my email up all day, even when I'm writing. I don't have too much of a problem getting back to writing, but I think I'd be more focused if I didn't stop every time an email popped up.
Devon, I'm like you — if I need to put in extra time to meet a deadline, I have no problem doing that. I just don't like to put myself in that situation if I can help it, especially if it's my own fault for wasting working hours playing on social media. I am very careful to stay away from Facebook and other sites while I'm working, or I'll be checking my notifications every time something comes up. In fact, I try to stay away from Facebook more in general these days. It just makes me angry 😉 How do you tell clients that you charge for calls? Do they agree, or always choose email instead?
Paula, that's a great way to frame the fact that you prefer not to have calls, because you want everything in writing. If you end up charging for calls, let me know how to go about telling the client that.
Lori, that's a great point that we can work from anywhere, so let's take advantage of it. I've done that before, too, so I'm all for it as long as I don't forget to relax too!
I used the "I can schedule you for 15 minutes at 12:15 next Tuesday" thing on one of the two new clients who wanted to chat. I called him at the appointed time, and he said, "Oh, can I call you back in two minutes?" Nearly 10 minutes later he called back, and when I made it clear the time I'd blocked out expired at 12:30, boy did he talk fast!
Great post Ashley. I know it might sound strange, but I think the best advice here is to take a vacation. Too many freelancers don't plan vacation time when setting their rates (then complain they don't have paid vacation time — well, you should!). And there will eventually come a time when you need it.
Even if you only take a day off so you can enjoy a long weekend once in a while, downtime is so important in finding balance. I really shouldn't talk because I'm in one of my workaholic stints right now, but when I need the time, I'll take it (cancelled project plans today to take a "rest & recharge" day actually).
Clients are generally very understanding. And you're dead on — you don't have to respond to them when you're off or away. I made that mistake early on and used to spend half of my vacation time working. Don't promise you'll do all of your normal work ahead of time either. That's not really taking time off… it's cramming the same hours into a smaller block of time. And you'll burn out. And that vacation might not be enough to really recharge your batteries (another mistake I've made.
Great post, Ashley, and so timely! I think managing your time is the key to everything, as long as you prioritize and minimize/eliminate the real time sucks. And taking time off is absolutely essential. As you said, as long as you let your clients know how long you'll be unavailable and you've met all of your prior obligations to them, they'll still be there when you return. After all, a well-rested, recharged freelancer is a happy, productive freelancer 🙂
Well-rested and recharged — it's what I strive for. Thanks for commenting, Sara. 🙂