Freelancing - work time / personal life

super5 · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 03-06-2012, 10:15 AM

Hello.

I offer my services (website design) on forums like this.
I get clients and work for them . I am still newbie to freelacing and it would be great If You could share Your freelance knowledge with me.

When I work for client I get the email with revisions and I make revisions as soon as possible and send the design to client. Then after about 2 hours I get another email with revisions and do the same. That way I am sitting at my computer all day. I know the client is most important but I dont want to sitt all day at my computer and dont have personal life.

I think If I stop fast answering to client I would lost him.

How to fix it ?
How do You split time for work and personal life ?

Thanks for all answers , Bartek

**HTMLBasicTutor** · #2 (**permalink**) 03-06-2012, 11:43 AM

I have official office hours stated on my site. If I choose to deal with emails after hours that is my choice (unless of course it's an emergency like the site is down or hacked).

Are you billing these as you complete them? You should be to create postive cash flow.

To get the customer(s) to be more organized, you could implement a minimum invoice amount whether they used that amount of your time or not. Also there is the option of prepaid website maintenance plans where they prepay you, you dock off the amount of time used for each email then notify them they have used up their prepaid time, do they want to prepay another batch of time or go to pay as you go with min. invoicing.

stanhawk · #3 (**permalink**) 03-06-2012, 11:54 AM

I too have office hours clearly stated on my site. That way if a client gets annoyed because they have been waiting for an answer, I can just point them to my site and tell them to read the information without acting rude.

If you want to work at home, no matter if you're in IM or just office-from-home business, you have to have a strict schedule and be good at abiding to it. Anything else will not work out very good, and you'll soon have work in your head all day, which actually just lowers your performance.

thefandango · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2012, 07:32 AM

If you are available all the time it is a slippery slope. Once you start being available people expect instant attention.

Work standard hours and stick to it unless the price goes up.

super5 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-08-2012, 11:48 AM

Thank You all for the info . Yes this is the right solution.

kju385 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-08-2012, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thefandango

If you are available all the time it is a slippery slope. Once you start being available people expect instant attention.

Work standard hours and stick to it unless the price goes up.

I would agree with this statement with a slight modification, depending on the nature of your business. When you notify your clients on the new office hours at which time you'll be available, you might want to leave the option of extra work open for a bigger price of course. As I said, depending on your clients and the nature of work you might find this approach more profitable. Regular working hours will enable you to get your life in order in any case. Good luck

ramblingrye · #7 (**permalink**) 03-09-2012, 02:25 AM

Get a life, else you'll get cabin fever. I work at home too but I go out. Even if you work at home schedule a time for work and designate a rest day for yourself where you do anything you want. Another option is if you have a laptop, go out and work at a coffee shop with wifi and enjoy the change of scenery with a cuppa' joe. This is what I do.

dferrell · #8 (**permalink**) 03-09-2012, 08:19 AM

Don't sit at the computer all day waiting. Have emails go to your phone if you can and just work when needed. Do you work specific hours every day and have a regular schedule? If not, get one. If you do, then just kindly remind your client that you are not at work and will make the revisions as soon as you are able to.
Freelancing is all about time management and when you're first getting started you may have to work a lot of extra hours to satisfy your first customers.
Good luck.

ishuvonet · #9 (**permalink**) 03-09-2012, 08:11 PM

Well I have a fixed time in 24 hours that I spend to answer them.I also dont take too much projects or work with too many clients that can hamper my personal life.Just love to build relationship with clients from whom I can get long terms projects and so they do know when I work or when I usually reply them.

JPMiddleton · #10 (**permalink**) 03-10-2012, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanhawk

I too have office hours clearly stated on my site. That way if a client gets annoyed because they have been waiting for an answer, I can just point them to my site and tell them to read the information without acting rude.

If you want to work at home, no matter if you're in IM or just office-from-home business, you have to have a strict schedule and be good at abiding to it. Anything else will not work out very good, and you'll soon have work in your head all day, which actually just lowers your performance.

Great advice.

I agree 100%.

I've been building a business over the past few months and i'm just at the point of leaving full-time employment so it's actually only been my spare time that i've been able to do so until now, but I do intend of having strict rules for my schedule.

Anton Zaleski · #11 (**permalink**) 03-12-2012, 07:20 AM

Has anyone read anything on time management techniques? I guess they are great to implement, especially if you're working as a freelancer

stanhawk · #12 (**permalink**) 03-12-2012, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anton Zaleski

Has anyone read anything on time management techniques? I guess they are great to implement, especially if you're working as a freelancer

If you want time management techniques, I recommend checking out the pomodoro technique. I use it all the time, and you probably do too even though you maybe don't know

Anton Zaleski · #13 (**permalink**) 03-12-2012, 08:13 AM

No, I meant "why not try some TM technique"...I'm pretty close with all that stuff, you know.

samuelmike · #14 (**permalink**) 03-13-2012, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super5

Hello.

I offer my services (website design) on forums like this.
I get clients and work for them . I am still newbie to freelacing and it would be great If You could share Your freelance knowledge with me.

When I work for client I get the email with revisions and I make revisions as soon as possible and send the design to client. Then after about 2 hours I get another email with revisions and do the same. That way I am sitting at my computer all day. I know the client is most important but I dont want to sitt all day at my computer and dont have personal life.

I think If I stop fast answering to client I would lost him.

How to fix it ?
How do You split time for work and personal life ?

Thanks for all answers , Bartek

Hey buddy I'm also a freelancer and I got over the problem by treating work like a regular office job. Have fixed hours - you might lose a couple of clients in the beginning, but you need to establish a work culture that can bring the most out of you.

BuriedAlive1 · #15 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 11:42 PM

I hope you have fixed this already because not only will this burn you out, it is highly UNHEALTHY. Since you are you're own boss now that you are working at home you're health is your responsibility. If you're going to get sick because of this, then you'll even have more losses.

npeguese · #16 (**permalink**) 03-25-2012, 10:33 PM

Super5, if you don't make some changes now, you will get so burnt out that you will probably not want to ever open another email. Take charge of things, don't let your customers run you. You need to do as others suggested and set your own reasonable hours of operations, so you are not eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner at your computer. Good luck, and hope everything works out buddy.

rahulbangar · #17 (**permalink**) 06-04-2012, 04:01 AM

What you do is really important for clients but yes you should enjoy your own life too. It is good that you offer good customer service but you should set your business hours.

One more thing, offer revisions to your clients but not for free. Some clients keep telling new changes in a fixed project, set a limit of these revisions.

Last thing, set your work time and don't check your emails after work hours. Give time to yourself also.

naicop · #18 (**permalink**) 06-05-2012, 10:25 AM

I recommend checking out the pomodoro technique. I use it all the time, and you probably don't have any problem with that!!

misseb · #19 (**permalink**) 06-28-2012, 05:02 AM

I agree with what some have said here: let your clients know what your working hours are, and don't deviate from that. Should a client get in touch with you outside those hours, let him/her know you'll get back to them between those hours. The more you tell them, the more they'll get used to it.

I think you should also make the client aware of your turnaround times for required fixes; for instance, 24-48 hours. This will give you breathing space....and a life.

It's great you're getting work, but please bear in mind that you have a say. It's two-way.

Take care...

iSynergy Media · #20 (**permalink**) 07-02-2012, 10:27 AM

when you grow in to man,you should know how to balance things in life.When you do normal job,you have to balance your family along with the job.You dont leave anything alone.Both are your responsibility so you should do.

You are doing freelancing web design so you should set time for working hours like monday to friday ,saturday half day working hours and sunday live.

In that way you can work very well and refresh yourself by going out on saturdays and sundays .Refreshing mind is important to get back to work or else you feel life bored and insecure.

I work monday to friday and enjoy on saturday, sunday.