The Five Most Common Mistakes of Male Freelancers
Joel FalconerA few days ago, Marie Baca wrote a wonderful and well-intentioned post called The Five Most Common Mistakes of Female Freelancers that turned out to be somewhat controversial in the comments.
So, why don’t we even the imbalance up a bit with the five most common mistakes that male freelancers make?
1. Your desk is not your home
“You men,” my wife once said, as I slaved over some copy late at night, “are so prone to workaholism.”
There’s no denying that women do this too, but for every workaholic female I’ve met, there have been five guys burning the midnight oil. Women are better at this thing called “having rational boundaries.”
That groove in your chair? That’s not meant to be there. Just because you work from home does not mean you have to check your email within five minutes of waking up, or stick around until midnight because your clients in other countries are only just waking up. Email exists for a reason.
Make sure you spend no longer than eight hours a day at the desk, unless you’re on a deadline. If you’re pulling more than one or two long deadline-driven days a week, it’s time to raise your rates and take advantage of the increased demand.
Similarly, five-and-a-half-days a week is a good maximum ceiling for work time, and frequent breaks –- away from the desk –- should be taken throughout the day. To those who are working seven days a week, twelve hours a day: this is not helping you. You will be more productive on eight hours, five days a week. I guarantee it.
2. Freelancing is no excuse for poor hygiene
One day you’re going to wind up with a client who decides to drop around your house unexpectedly to see how their project is coming along. This is called karma, because nature is so offended at your smell that it’s delivering a wake up call.
Not only should you avoid checking your email upon waking, you should avoid working before showering. No deadline could be that bad.
3. Counter-Strike is not a billable activity
It’s important to take breaks, but not only should they be taken away from the screen, they should not last for hours at a time. Us guys all know how tempting it is to prove our masculinity to ourselves by kicking terrorist backside for “just one more round” so if you do opt for the gaming (or web-surfing, for that matter) mode of relaxation during your break, have the nearest human being come and slap you back into work mode after a pre-specified amount of time.
4. Don’t let ego destroy good work
Guys have egos. Sometimes guys let that ego dominate their relationships, their work, and hence, their reputation. It’s one thing to self-promote and build a good brand. It’s another to be known as the guy who needs surgery in order to remove his head from its current location and have it placed back atop his neck.
5. Follow this advice
While this post was written for the benefit of female freelancers, there are of course men who suffer from the same problems. For instance, I often find it difficult to charge the rate I know I should or need to charge. Give it a read and apply the advice (and then, perhaps, take a shower).
Joel Falconer is a freelance writer who blogs on content generation best practices and new media at JoelFalconer.com, and shares practical productivity advice and insight at Lifehack.
Colinbrowne
June 19th, 2008
I know about number 1 and 3 all too well, not sure about the others though. Good read anyhow.
Jessica
June 19th, 2008
Haha! Nice article again. Although, as women are the ones who are supposed to be more hygienic I can honestly say that I have forgotten to have a shower when I’ve been on roll in the past…. I promised my partner it would never happen again!
Kevin Crawford
June 19th, 2008
I totally lolled when I saw this title in my feed reader. And, as I’m sure that only a couple of points on the other article would apply to any given female, only 1 & 3 apply to me. Well, almost. My vice of choice is Halo
Kirk Friggstad
June 19th, 2008
Regarding mistake #3 - for me, it’s Google Reader and the 100+ RSS feeds I’m subscribed to… and it’s that “one more check for new stories” that keeps me from getting back to work. As a matter of fact, I was just about to start work (at 7:50pm? guess I better look at mistake #1 again!) when I saw this article pop up - there’s a certain irony to that…
And… just looked at the list from point #5, and I think I may be in trouble there too (especially with self-promotion).
Alright. Back to work.
No really. I’m going back to work right now.
Oh, wait, the Google Reader tab says there are new unread items? sigh…
Nateb
June 19th, 2008
True this. Counter strike can be distracting!
Joe Norton
June 19th, 2008
HIlarious. Especially the Video Games and Body Odor sections.
Katharine
June 19th, 2008
But … but … my desk is my home! I don’t know what to do with myself when I leave my computer. I used to have these things called hobbies—gardening, embroidery, reading for pleasure—but my desk chair and I are now one. Besides, my husband, newly self-employed, is in an unintentional contest with me to see who can work the longest days for the most days in a row.
Lori
June 19th, 2008
Great post! Your point about setting time limits is so important. You are right, you will definitely be more productive if you set a time limit of 8 hours.
I have such a big issue with working and actual productivity. When I was in the office setting I was surrounded by people who bragged about how many hours they worked and how they were staying late again. My question to that is, what have you produced? Hours worked does not always equal increased productivity. Giving yourself less time makes being focused and productive a priority.
Thanks for the tips. They were helpful to females too.
John Ek
June 19th, 2008
I have to say that for me gaming at my work desk is definitely a problem. And since I’m at my desk 12-14 hours a day, that is definitely problematic. Thanks for making me realize the extent of my “problem”
Cal
June 19th, 2008
**awaits post ‘the most common mistakes of fat freelancers’, shortly followed by ‘the most common mistakes of ugly freelancers’, neatly following the likes of ‘the most common mistakes of black and white, but not muslim or oriental freelancers’, ‘the most common mistakes of elven freelancers’ and the much debated ‘the most common mistakes of jedi freelancers’.**
Many moons later, people dawn upon the fact that freelancers all make the same mistakes regardless of being
Cal
June 19th, 2008
Many moons later, people dawn upon the fact that freelancers all make the same mistakes regardless of being (insert any group, label, or tag here)
Benek
June 19th, 2008
Right on Cal.
It’s a little sad that people overreacted so much to the first post that this one had to be written “to balance” it.
It’s funny though, I don’t see any guys getting their knickers in a twist over how this article is unfairly aimed at them.
When do we get The Five Most Common Mistakes of Trans-gender Freelancers. I think they may feel left out.
Marie Baca
June 19th, 2008
Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thanks so much for all of your enlightening comments on my post. Quite the discussion! I was, quite ironically, getting married the day it was posted, so I was unable to respond immediately to some of the points that were being brought up. It was pretty amusing to see some of the people accusing me of stereotyping simultaneously make false assumptions about my intentions with the post as well as my perspectives on feminism, gender, etc. As an individual who strongly believes in the equality in all human beings, the last thing I wanted to do was demean any particular group of people. Let’s just say that this post was less about the differences between male and female freelancers and more about–as one astute commenter suggested– using a specific vantage point to spur a conversation about the topic. Yes, male, female, short, and tall freelancers all make the same mistakes. But that makes for an awfully long headline!
Gp
June 19th, 2008
//That groove in your chair? That’s not meant to be there. Just because you work from home does not mean you have to check your email within five minutes of waking up, or stick around until midnight because your clients in other countries are only just waking up. Email exists for a reason.// ZOMG! there are more of our kind out there….
theGoose
June 19th, 2008
well Benek, guys are not as much of a target for being unfairly generalized, or at least to generalize men we don’t seem to get as offended about it. (sorry if I offended any guys with that statement) but I think this makes sense in a totally open and honest none judging tone.
Next we should go freelancers under 18 and freelancers over 60!
jk some good/funny content here.
tho sometimes i like to take a two hour break (i would never think about billing for two hours of video game time) … unless i was a video gamer tester!
theGoose
June 19th, 2008
ps tomorrow ill begin work on
he most common mistakes of jedi freelancers!!!!! i am kinda stoked about this!
i think there may also be a need for a freelancer gaming help / party group
David Zemens
June 19th, 2008
Terrific article and a great followup to your article last week regarding female freelancers!
I thought I was the only one who checked email within five minutes of waking up. I thought I was the only one who worked twelve hour days. I thought I was the only one who … well, you get the picture!
I am going to follow at least one of your suggestions today, and try to implement some others in the coming weeks.
web design company
June 19th, 2008
these mistakes are really skyrocketing nowadays, I’m as (a man) might agree with most of them…….thanks for the advice at the end of the post :D:D
Niki Brown
June 19th, 2008
hmmm…why generalize about about how men and women work? We are all human and have human traits, not so much male and female traits.
Ignore me, i may have taken way to many gender studies classes in college
Kyle
June 19th, 2008
I’m so offended at this male bashing article! No, just kidding. Now that the table is turned on the men, I wonder why some found the article pointing at females so offensive.
Of course it goes without saying that some or all of these points could be relevant to men and women, but the truth is, these two posts pointed out common traits among the respective genders.
BANAGO
June 19th, 2008
Very good tips, thanks!
Stephen Coley
June 19th, 2008
Just a heads up. The title of the post is “The Five Most Common Mistakes of MALE Freelancers” and in Step 5, it says… “While this post was written for the benefit of FEMALE freelancers…” I think this is supposed to say “benefit of male freelancers.”
On a separate note, this was a good post. I find a fall victim to some of these mistakes.
Jessica
June 19th, 2008
Well once again feminism is a big joke.
Also I think this advice does apply to women. I have a serious problem with many of these things- hyperfocusing to the point where I’ve had to pee for a an hour and half, and haven’t showered until 2 because I’m too busy, and I’ve also had my ego get in the way of hearing criticism, especially from clients. Why can’t you guys get together and write one biggest mistakes article? Or for that matter, how about “5 ways to avoid biggest freelance mistakes” because I personally don’t appreciate being reprimanded by statements telling me what I’m doing wrong. Phooey on these altogether.
Jeff Keyser
June 19th, 2008
LOL! After the (imo, unnecessary) bruhaha over the previous article, I thought this was quite fitting.
I am guilty of #1 and #3, even though they seem contradictory. I sometimes play when I should be “at work,” and work when I should be “at home.” Flexibility is a blessing and a curse.
Wait - I’m reading a blog when I should be working.
Clara
June 19th, 2008
I have to agree with everyone who thought both of these posts were inappropriately titled. While the advice is useful, splitting it up by gender adds nothing.
Robert Janelle
June 19th, 2008
Great work Joel, though as a tech writer (whose writing sometimes wades into the topic of gaming) I gotta disagree with number 3…oh, excuse me a second…BOOM! HEADSHOT!
theGoose
June 19th, 2008
haha seems like a number of us deal with the deadly 1 3 combo!
Andreaz
June 19th, 2008
OMG! Everything in this post is so true
Michael Martine
June 19th, 2008
Wow, is this the comment section or the whining section?
Aiming an article at one gender or the other is not itself an act of discrimination. But you have to really provide value to that gender that the other gender isn’t going to get. Nobody gets pissed because Cosmopolitan Magazine doesn’t have articles in it for guys. What needs to be said regarding the discrimination and mistreatment against women online in general and in freelancing could fill several archives. But all that set aside, I just do not view any of these as the most common mistakes male freelancers make.
A mistake would damage your ability to successfully work and get paid, and I don’t see these as doing that at all. I realize that’s entirely subjective, and my opinion. You must feel that they are mistakes, or you wouldn’t have written this. But there are larger, important issues male freelancers face, like the relationship difficulties house-husbands face when the S.O. works a full-time job. Or dealing with other family and friends who mistakenly think that freelance work from home is not a “man’s job” or when others are jealous of your success and feel their own manhood impugned. And for fathers, it gets even weirder. Men get discriminated against, too, and not necessarily by women, but by other men who don’t understand the opportunities and the changing realities of the new world of work.
Jaden @ Screenwriting for Hollywood
June 19th, 2008
Ok. So I just spent the better part of the day reading the Female Mistakes and comments. I related to that (as past mistakes). Now that I read your Man Mistakes list, I also do these (as current mistakes)! So I guess I became a man over the last decade. That’s what flying solo will do to a person, gives you a sex change.
#2 Laughing. Here, if I may quote myself from my “I Am a Writer” post:
“Even though you work eight days a week from the moment you wake until the moment you go to sleep, your friends and family think you aren’t doing anything. People think that because you haven’t showered or dressed or moved from a single spot in three days that you are lounging around drinking margaritas, when the opposite is true; each shower is a half hour wasted that you could be writing.”
Thanks for adding levity to the situation.
palooch
June 19th, 2008
I think I have more in common with the men’s list than the women’s. but then again, I guess I’ve always been a tomboy!
@Jaden - So true about your own quote! Although I’m a designer/Illustrator same goes for me: Friends and family think I have all the time in the world because I don’t have a 9to5… When in actuality I’m probably working more than they are! when I’m at home, I can’t stand being away from my computer. It’s a curse! but I love being busy, so I’ll survive!
Allan
June 20th, 2008
OK OK ILL ADMIT IT THEN
Number 3 stings me too often.
…Just one more round.
Natetronn
June 20th, 2008
@Stephen Coley, if you notice it says “Follow *this* advice.” *This* being a link to the first article which was about females and not males (per the title only of course.)
I promised I would not get mad about this article if it was written, so thank you for writing it. I think the combination of the two articles and possibly all the feed back generated will help many freelancers in one form or another.
liz
June 20th, 2008
i’m guilty of a lot of these (and im a woman) - Although i prefer to call it “conserving water” instead of “forgetting to show”
haha.. what? I’m just trying to run a green business 
Johan
June 21st, 2008
Great post. I actually get stuck in many of those. I learned from this sites to take breaks etc when freelancing, and it really helps my creativity too. Thanks
The Fen
June 22nd, 2008
As only my first, second and third wife (yeah, there were 3 experiences until my 28 years) started complaining about my freelancing and how it affects - divorce was following this shortly. After third divorce i decided that only women who will be with me for the rest of my life will be either programmer, either designer, either sysadmin. Only this ways mutual understanding fills the family where male is freelancer.
Social Networking North
June 23rd, 2008
Lol, I wish I’d thought of this post myself - a great idea and well executed
Laura
June 25th, 2008
Wait a tick… This looks awfully familiar…
Anon
June 27th, 2008
Now to balance it out we need “The Five Most Common Mistakes of Bisexual Freelancers”.
Jenn Suz Hoy
July 9th, 2008
Are we sure Counter-Strike/Game-Of-Choice is not billable? I keep using the excuse for why I game so much is that it is related to the design field, and I am just researching different media for inspiration…
…alright, it’s a stretch. But it SOUNDS viable.