The freelance life is a true rollercoaster ride.
There are stretches of calm, measured work, maybe even not too much work. I like these because I know they won’t last and I use them to run errands, organize my office or occasionally goof off.
The quiet times are punctuated by spurts of frantic activity that leave you, as participants said in a recent IABC session on the indie life, “without time to pee.” I’m having one of those weeks. No, wait, it’s been one of those months; the days have flown past so much that last Friday, I was torn between being glad it was the weekend and wishing for another couple of days to finish everything on my plate.
If you’re an independent, how do you cope? Here’s what I usually do:
- make all my phone calls and do interviews during the day in case the only time I have left to write is at night or on the weekend
- keep a “to do” list (rewritten each night or when it gets too messy) so I don’t lose track of who to call, what to write and for when
- go by most urgent deadline first
- fit in small things while waiting for calls to be returned.
Keeping up this blog is one of the things falling by the wayside when things get busy. I’m fitting this post in now while (a) waiting for someone to call me back (on my cell phone) and (b) also waiting for my new best friend, Mr. Bell Telephone Repair Guy.
That’s right, I’ve been chatting with the call centre in India again, who noted that I don’t have “repair protection” on my line and it may cost me to have Repair Guy fix the line that suddenly went out yesterday. I didn’t know this for several hours because I could make calls and (hooray!) access the Internet; I just can’t receive calls. So between noon today and six tonight, Repair Guy may show up and save the day again. Or not. In the meantime, if you want to reach me, e-mail or cell phone is the way to go.
Image: Rollercoaster by “foto76” and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The “feast or famine” cycle of self employment is a fact of life. I identify with your list of coping strategies! I strongly believe in To Do lists of my work priorities. I try to make progress on each project every day, so that clients never feel neglected. This can mean a lot of juggling when things get busy! When things slow down, I too run errands. As well, I work on my marketing. Unfortunately, this can mean that when I’m swamped with work, my marketing and promotion gets put off. I’ve written about this in “Too Busy for Promotion?” in my spring newsletter, available on my Web site. I admit that I can’t always practise what I preach. I’m not Wonder Woman yet.
You are right, marketing also falls off my radar when things get busy. That’s what makes networking all the more important!
By the way, I enjoyed your spring newsletter. While I admit to feeling sympathy for PC guy, especially when he’s in hospital gown getting his upgrade, Mac guy gets my vote.
You like Mac guy because you’re so young and cool yourself, Sue!