Hi Leo, I like the idea of waking up early to get things done, but my problem is my job, see I’m a pilot, and I travel a lot, and time is not settled with me, I don’t have a normal day like other people, so when ever I get used to waking up early, I get a flight that shift the timing for me “Jet Lag” and then I end up to being a red eye person, any recommendations?

I agree with Tarique.

In fact none of these are very good advice. You need sleep to recharge your energy, you need the breaks break during the day to bring down the stress levels - and “cheating” your current employer is the fastest way to lose your job.

Working weekend is okay if it only happens occasionally, but working 7 days a week (with long hours) is not a good long term strategy.

Manage your freelance time as your would manage your workplace time.

Get up at 4:30 AM? I sure hope your in bed pretty early to make up for the lost sleep time!

Well, if you’re a good boss, all you should care about is if the work gets done. I’ve been fortunate enough to find bosses like that. I do my job, and I do it well. How much actual time I spend doing it, and what else I do at the office (as long as it’s not illegal or anything) shouldn’t matter.

Really, I think the problem is with employers who are too controlling. They end up losing good employees, and are worse off for it. The best manager worries about the outcome, not the process.

Great article, as always, Leo. My biggest problem is picking ONE freelance project to work on. Since none of them are moneymakers right now, they all require a significant amount of work (i.e. writing a novel, working on my blog content and layout, working on a web portfolio) and by working on all of them it seems like I end up getting NONE of them done.

As for #5… I wish my employer was this open-minded. I’m frustrated by the fact that even though I’m one of the most productive people in my office, it seems like it isn’t appreciated because I don’t “look busy” enough. I agree with you that the product is all that SHOULD matter… I’m still trying to find an employer that agrees with that philosophy, though. Maybe it’s a cultural difference… dunno.

I’m constantly having trouble finding the time to freelance - between my full-time day-job, my band, my girlfriend, and my friends & family, there isn’t much time for it, unfortunately.
These are good tips, but sadly, I can’t make most of them work for me - I can’t freelance here at the office (unless el presidente is gone!), I usually try to stay up a little late to work, but that sometimes produces lesser-than-I’d-like quality artwork, and I’m certainly not getting up at 4:00 in the morning!
I think a separate studio from where I live would do me wonders.
*sigh*

What to say about #8? It’s great to be honest, but if I was a telecommuter I’d be sending virtual poison darts your way. A lot of people bang their heads against the wall trying to get their boss to allow them to telecommute. I spent a couple of years as a wage-slave recently and I saw the frustration. It’s a pity to hand inflexible employers ammunition.

Excellent suggestions. As a part-time blogger, this is a help to me.

“Well, if you’re a good boss, all you should care about is if the work gets done. I’ve been fortunate enough to find bosses like that. I do my job, and I do it well. How much actual time I spend doing it, and what else I do at the office (as long as it’s not illegal or anything) shouldn’t matter.

Really, I think the problem is with employers who are too controlling. They end up losing good employees, and are worse off for it. The best manager worries about the outcome, not the process.”

this is not really true. there are many jobs in which you can’t time cheat. non-desk jobs (which i’m guessing would include the pilot up top) which many freelancers do but are not directly connected to their freelance work.

i would like to echo previously stated concerns about this list - both in terms of the ethic/employee advice but also the ‘burnout’ factor. i’d say realistically you could only do most of these for a few months maximum before making yourself ill, lonely and unemployed.

i think it’s probably fine to put in the odd lunch-hour here or there if you are just starting out and your clients know you have another job. but once you are presenting yourself as a professional you really need at least a couple of days solid work each week in which you can concentrate properly with batteries fully charged.

Here’s my experience:

1. Wake early. I am practicing it every two days. It is hard!

2. Late nights. It is much easier if you take a short nap from 7pm to 9pm.

Regards,
William

Here’s something I did a lot when I was younger but married and with a full time job…

I would skip sleep every other day.
This seems to work out better than waking up eary every day.
When I try to wake up early every day then I’m a walking zombie by friday. But skipping sleep for one day doesn’t seem to hurt much and then getting a full nights sleep every other day restores me.

@ Ted Stockwell: what you wrote reminds me of a movie I recently saw: Man 1: “When do you sleep?” Man 2: “Sundays”. There never is enough time in a day….

I would love to wake up early like you, Leo. I may start trying your technique of going to bed a little earlier each night (zen habits) - my whole life, I have been a night owl, and plus I like a glass or two of wine each night. That doesn’t usually translate into anything but surfing the web eventually (ahem, right now). Your tips inspired me and I will try, see how it works out.

Otherwise, the list brings up great points. Great points for people with flexible jobs and employers. Some of the comments above have eluded to working on FL projects on employers time is unethical, it’s hard for me to be totally one-sided on this, but really, I don’t think “unethical” is the right word. This is what is called “Flex Time”. If you put in 40 hours a week, then why the hell should your boss care what exact times you spend on your work for the company? Yeah, the majority should be during the general workday I suppose, but who cares if you go on lunch break to work on a project or take (what smokers would be doing anyway) a 10-minute break to call a FL client and talk about their project? Being in the creative industry is a little different than punching out numbers as an accountant…

Telecommuting is the best thing that has happened to me in my creative career so far. It killed me during college that I was given a project and forced to work on it during “classroom” hours. Yes, this teaches experience for working in a 9-5 environment… but that always pissed me off, to be quite honest.

I still work a full time job, 8-5 give/take, M-F. I am so fortunate that my employers trust me to work from home, because honestly that is where I work best, and they know that. I get my $hit done on time and over-deliver on my projects. Now, maybe every once in a while I have worked on an outside project during “work hours” - but certainly make it up after-hours that night, or make sure projects always get done. Again, the more I read online, the more thankful I am that I can do such a thing.

Right now, I work as stated above, come home and eat dinner and spend QT with my husband, then I go back to work. Sometimes I do work on the weekends if we are just hanging out at home. Right now getting my independent business in gear is one of my top priorities, so obviously I don’t mind sacrificing some other things in life right now.

Thanks for sharing the list, great post.

I worked full-time when I first started freelancing. A big thing that helped me tremendously was working with MBO Partners - http://www.mbopartners.com , who handle all of my back-office tasks. With all the extra time I was spending on actual freelance work, there was no way I had time to keep fantastic records and figure out all that invoicing stuff. Now I’m a full-time freelancer, and I still use MBO, because it saves me so much time, leaving me more time to work on client projects or to spend with my family. A nice added perk is that I have access to group healthcare benefits, retirement savings and expense deductions. I actually attribute part of my ability to go full-time to outsourcing those tasks - otherwise I might have burned out and given up or never had enough time to build up my portfolio.