Weekend Quick Tip: Do you have too much Work?
As a freelance writer you may dream of the day when you have too much work on your plate. But guess what? This is not always as fun as it sounds. As you can imagine, a lot of work means a lot of money in most cases. But at the same time it means a lot of hours, which may not be your idea of a great career.
It is important to realize that you are a single person, and you can only do so much work each day. It would be nice if you could work 16 hour days, but doing this will lead to burnout, as well as many other problems sooner or later. For this reason you need to take on as much work as you can comfortably handle working regular eight (maybe 9 or 10) hour days.
If you find yourself overextended you need to search for ways to fix your problem. Personally, I do this by really getting down to business and working each day from start to finish without many breaks. While breaks are important, sometimes you need to cut them out of your day in order to keep clients happy and complete your workload on time.
Should I outsource if I have too much work? This is not something I believe in, but you may feel differently. When I take on a freelance writing job I promise the client that I am the one doing the work. After all, they are hiring me; not somebody else. If you want to outsource there is nothing wrong with this. Just make sure you know who you are getting involved with.
Having too much work is a good problem to be dealing with. If you find yourself in this situation make sure you do two things: 1. Take care of all your obligations. 2. Draw up a plan to avoid this situation in the future. Â
January 18th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
A tip for outsourcing. You should always tell your client that you are outsourcing and ask for permission (by simply disclosing you are a team and not an individual).
I had a writer send me great work, and on her second job she sent me articles that were just short of embarrassing. She had outsourced (first problem) and then never bothered to check the work before sending it on to me!
January 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I came across a great tip for getting projects done: stop doing the thing that is keeping you from being productive whether it be checking email, surfing, phone calls, etc. As you say, get down to business.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Chris – In a sense you are right! Of course, it is easier said than done for some.