Comments on: Freelance Freedom #52

By: div

div — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:08:33 +0000

First of all great comics you have here.

And this reminds me totaly of myself, except I am talking somekind to myself saying “damn you have so much work to do in 2 days , how can you do that ?”

Regards

By: chaase

chaase — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:11:37 +0000

this is totally me! And that is totally my wife getting on my case for taking on more projects. It’s sad that so many of us are experiencing this.

By: freelance writer

freelance writer — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:02:42 +0000

Overloading yourself with work has its positives and negatives. The positives are obvious — more money — more referrals — more clients. The drawbacks are as a freelancer if you overload yourself are you truly giving your clients quality work. I use to sacrifice quality for a fast buck, but I’ve come to the realization that quality work actually brings customers back and shabby work is a one-time ordeal. So in the long run the quality work wins the race, so now I only take on a limited amount of projects at a time. I do hope to get some hired help so I can take on much more work, but in due time…

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:19:42 +0000

Exactly where I am right now. Just as I took a full-time job at the beginning of April, freelance business is booming…

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:29:03 +0000

I almost never say no (unless I’m really hella slammed). It’s more like, “Sure! I can get to that in about [x] days/weeks.”

Most clients are willing to wait if you can give them a time line.

It’s all about managing expectations (and your own schedule).

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:41:41 +0000

Oh man, I totally do this. I tend to work a LOT for a couple weeks and then take some time off, though, so I do take breaks.

By: Banago

Banago — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:44:02 +0000

I stay up till late at night and than I have to sleep at the morning which I do not like at all.

By: Matt Crest

Matt Crest — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:17:50 +0000

I’ve been dealing with this issue for the past month or so – and finally realized the source of the problem was my lack of a workload overview. I have my project management system set up, but it doesn’t do a good enough job of letting me know what my next 1-4 weeks worth of work looks like.

So, I’ve started using a big desk calendar and just writing project milestones out (in pencil of course). It’s working great so far – and a lot more simple than a complex Gantt Chart type application. I’m still pushing through the crazy workload, but should have things under control in a week or two and be able to let clients know that new projects can’t start until _____.

Ahh yes. Workload management.

PS – if anyone has other ideas for workload management, please do share!

By: Omar

Omar — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:05:12 +0000

I learnt to say no too, and my wife forces me to stop at a certain point spend time and chill, before sleeping. Dont over-kill, you’ll always get work if you produce good stuff.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:57:39 +0000

I just made that promise two weeks ago… but somehow I just billed 55 hours last week and now I’m sick. Need to learn to say NOOOOOOO someday.