Working Through Illness
For several weeks last year, I was running at 80%. It was a combination of allergies, sinus issues and general malaise, and I wanted to share my strategies for working through things like this, where you’re not at 100%, but you still can and must get things accomplished.
First things first, if you’re in a situation where you know taking a day off and getting some rest will pretty much solve the issue: take the day off. I took the day after getting zero sleep, and it was very much needed. I was in such a brain fog that I was unsure about driving, nevertheless trying to be productive and creative for my clients. The same goes for feeling burnt out. When you know a day off doing something relaxing, or catching up on sleep, will bring you back to normal, take the day off.
But, when it comes to prolonged issues, like my never-ending sinus thing, or the new allergy issues I get when I go outside on a nice day (which is always), I know taking a day off just won’t solve them, and it’s frustrating.
The first thing I do to manage this is planning my tasks out the night before. Now, I usually do this anyway, and you should be doing it, too, but it’s essential when your brain won’t be at 100% in the morning. Do a bit of work now to set yourself up for the next day.
While normally I like to dig into the hardest problem of the day straight away, I pad that task with something more manageable when I’m feeling off. Maybe it’s catching up on my inbox, or doing some project management or admin tasks, things like this: low brainwork, easier stuff to get my brain warmed up for something more.
Usually, I’m able to ramp up and start knocking things out. If not, or if I get back from lunch and the afternoon hits a little harder, I start looking at my MVP tasks. We do a lot of things that either don’t need to get done or can wait. Look at the results expected of you, and only work on those tasks, or at least do those first.
For example, things that get done no matter what are: scheduling blog posts that are already ready to go, sending out email blasts, putting out any fires, having purposeful meetings with a set agenda, and answering time-sensitive questions via email, Slack, or Trello.
What can fall off is typically writing (usually for my sites), answering non-time sensitive emails, or emails from prospects, doing non-urgent design and coding, etc.
To figure this out, for each client, I look at the tasks that I planned ahead of time and say what HAS to get done, and then what HAS to get done today. I do those first. I often have clients who don’t have any important AND urgent requests or tasks, but I still pick out the most critical tasks and get those handled, especially if they’re building towards a larger goal. This way, something gets done for everyone.
These strategies have helped me through countless ups and downs in the past, through sickness, unexpected travel, major life changes, and other events outside my control.
The final thought I have on this is that when you’re not at your best, you should pick out the MVP tasks for each of your clients and communicate with your clients. I’ve been lucky enough to work with clients who understand that I’m a person, too, and I try always to let them know a general idea of what’s going on and what to expect.
If you have any questions about how to navigate real life while building your freelance life, just send me an email, and I’ll be happy to answer them.
How Getting Pulled Over for Speeding Turned Into My First Freelance Client
My very first car was a 1992 Chevy Corsica. I loved that thing. Now, in hindsight, it was a hunk of junk and needed more work than it was worth, but if you think back to your first car, or your first scooter or bike, you’ll remember the same feeling.
Because of this, I was a pretty active member of a web forum for Corsicas. We talked about how to fix common issues, customize the look, and chatted about upgrading the sound system.
That last one is directly related to my career as a freelancer.
Another member of the forum ran his own car audio company and needed a logo. I had just been tinkering around with design stuff in Photoshop 5 and building static HTML websites before CSS was a thing. Nevertheless, I agreed to do his logo, and even though we never talked about cost, I came up with a design he loved.
“How much do I owe you?” he asks.
Around the same time, as any 18-year-old does, I was driving a bit too fast on the highway with some friends in the car with me. Of course, I was pulled over and given a ticket, as I deserved to be, but the real problem came with paying that ticket.
I didn’t have that $93 at the time because I had just bought a car, and my part-time job wouldn’t pay enough in time.
“How about you pay for my ticket?” I responded.
Boom, my first ever client.
PS: Sorry Mom that I never told you about getting pulled over. I figured 20 years was a long enough buffer ;)
The Roles You Play as a Freelancer
When you're a freelancer and self-employed and working for yourself, you're not just a developer or a designer or a writer.
You're the CEO.
You're the janitor.
You're HR.
You’re payroll.
You’re sales.
You're marketing.
You’re customer support.
You play every role customarily played by several in any other business.
Some people realize this too late, so they fail to keep up with sales to land work for the next month. Or, they don't do anything for marketing which means they don't have any incoming leads. Or, they neglect their previous customers when an easy and quick request comes in, so they don’t get repeat business or referrals.
What's important is having a balance of all of these things instead of just doing something people hire you to do. This is why the hourly rate for freelancers needs to be higher than just a salary job, because there's so many other things you need to do.
It's also the reason why hiring freelancers can be more beneficial to a business, as they don't have to pay that overhead of training or health care or paid time off or sick time.
You need to find the balance between doing what you do and doing the admin and the sales and the marketing. Here's how I do it:
I set aside certain times for admin and project management (usually Mondays)
I continue to create content and reaching out to people to generate new leads
I take sales calls or even just discovery calls even when I'm completely booked (usually Fridays)
I respond to emails from clients who I haven’t worked with in awhile
You never know from where the next project is coming.
Would I be happier if I never had to do the overhead part of running a business? No.
I worked with agencies and was their in-house developer, even though I was just a contractor. I didn’t need to make sales calls or worry about customer support, but I also had a lower hourly rate, and I couldn’t vet the customers to make sure they were a good fit.
Put in the work of doing all those other things, writing blog posts, having conversations on social media, connecting with folks on Linkedin, responding to emails, and you’ll be on your way to crafting a sustainable business.
What is A Freelance Life?
I started freelancing when I was still in high school. My very first gig came about because of a fellow member on a forum for our cars. That in itself is another story, but it goes to show that even from the start I was getting clients because of the connections I made, and not just hawking myself on Fiverr.
I digress: this article is meant to be an introduction into my world of freelancing, which I’ve been doing on and off since 2002.
I started freelancing because I knew I had a saleable skill that others were willing to pay money for. My dad had his own business, so why couldn’t I? I used to tinker with logo designs and HTML until two in the morning. I made it known that I was doing this sort of work, and over time I started picking up clients. None of this was high paying stuff, of course, but it began to build a foundation upon which my current business is built.
Because I’ve been building websites since 1999, that’s right, TWENTY-SIX YEARS, I’ve learned a thing or two about it. Same goes with inbound marketing consulting, especially from my days at HubSpot. This site isn’t about the how-to of a technical freelance career, instead it’s about how to build a business doing anything whilst keeping margin in your life for the essential things that aren’t work-related.
Some of the questions I’m going to cover, that I have first-hand experience in, are:
How to freelance alongside a full-time job
How to morph from low paying hourly work when you first start out, to higher-paying work on retainer to have predictable income
How to overcome the paycheck to paycheck mentality us freelancers can have
How to challenge others’ preconceptions about freelancing and not having a “real job”
How to establish processes and business SOP’s to make the admin side of things less challenging
How to define what a successful freelance life looks like
If you’ve ever had those same questions when you thought about becoming a full-time freelancer, then I recommend you subscribe, if you haven’t already.
I do want to hear from you, too. Here are some things I’d like to know, so feel free to send me an email:
what does freelancing success look like to you?
what conflicts are you experiencing?
what questions do you have about freelancing?
what are two things I could write about that would help you?
I hope you will join me on this journey of helping others to build their own freelance life.