Four Ways To Find More Personal Time

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Four Ways To Find More Personal Time

Posted March 12, 2009 in Lifestyle, Productivity 28 Comments »

You’ve worked really hard to build up your business for months, maybe even for years. At last, your freelance business has taken off. Finally, you can kick back and relax. Finally, you can work on your personal projects. Finally, you can spend time with friends and family. Right?

Wrong!

If you’re like most successful freelancers, then you probably already know that relaxation doesn’t happen automatically once you’ve succeeded. In fact, you may find that suddenly there is not enough time in the day to get everything done that you need to do.

Successful freelancers can find more time for themselves. To do it, however, you will need to adjust both your behavior and your mindset.

Here are some suggestions to help:

#1 — Confront Your Fear

Many freelancers who overwork do so out of fear. Fear is particularly powerful in a difficult economy like the one that we are facing now.

If you say “no” to a client, then you may wonder if they will ever contact you for work again. Fear constricts your throat. Even though your freelance business has been supporting you for some time now, you picture yourself without work and unable to pay your family’s bills. In such a scenario, what do you do?

The frightened freelancer says “yes” to the client, even though they already have a full workload. They then work nights and weekends to get the extra work done.

Here is what you should do instead:

First, remind yourself that this is not a panic situation. The client contacted you because they value your work. They will likely contact you again.
Second, negotiate the deadline.
Third, if the deadline is immovable then refer the client to a competent colleague.

#2 — Go On a Project Diet

Finding more personal time is a lot like going on a diet. To diet successfully you have to cut out unnecessary calories; to find more personal time you have to cut out unnecessary work.

Most freelancers actually perform many tasks that don’t really benefit their business or contribute to their bottom line.

Before you start a new project, ask yourself the following questions:

Does this project contribute to my bottom line?
Do I know for sure that I will get additional work from this project?
Is the actual return on my time worth it?
Will I get credit for this project?
Am I being paid a fair rate for this project?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, take a good hard look at the project before you start it. It might be unnecessary work.

#3 — Cut Your Expenses

If you are anything like me, then you need to earn x number of dollars each month to make ends meet. Not only does that x number of dollars include my business expenses, it also includes the amount that I must contribute to the family budget so that our family can stay afloat.

Reducing the number of dollars that you need to earn each month can give you the freedom to be more selective about the projects you accept.

Here are some tips for cutting expenses:

Print less. Instead of printing a document, try this tip. Create a .pdf file, zip it, and store it on your machine. Printing less will reduce both your paper costs and your toner costs.
Shop around for utilities. If you’ve been with your utility provider (phone, electricity, water, internet provider) for some time, shop around to see if a less expensive service is now available in your area.
Look for cheaper alternatives. Do you still have both a home phone and a cell phone? Could you make do with just a cell phone? Would an Internet-based phone service be even cheaper? Do you live in an area with good public transportation? Could you eliminate one of your cars if you used public transportation more often?
Take advantage of sales and special offers. A bargain conscious consumer can often save 50%, or more, on purchases just by timing their purchases to coincide with sales and special offers. You can use this strategy to reduce both your personal and your business costs.

#4 — Get Help

Many business advisors recommend that you expand your business after you reach a certain point. If you are constantly running out of time to do the things that you really want to do, then you may have reached that point. It may be time to get some help.

Getting help could mean any, or all, of the following:

Hiring an employee
Taking on a partner
Outsourcing some of your work
Talking to a consultant about how to streamline your processes

Share Your Own Strategies

What about you? What strategies have you used to get more personal time?

Share your ideas in the comments.

Image by CJ Sorg

About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 19 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts

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28 Comments

b1tzmast3r
March 12th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Man you hit this one on the head!

I’m still in the process of figuring this out myself but I know that reducing expenses and creating streams of passive income will certainly result in more personal time.

Getting there feels like you’re adding more work though…but you have to keep plugging along and eventually you’ll see the results.

I’m interested in learning more about how to find others to take on some of the work load…I have had zero luck in that department.
Laura Spencer
March 12th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

Thanks for your comment b1tzmast3r – I knew that I couldn’t be alone in needing balance. :-)

The great thing about the Freelance Folder community is that they are very helpful. I’m sure others will pitch in with their advice soon.
Michele
March 12th, 2009 at 6:25 pm

Oh, I love the “project diet”–here’s to slimming up! It’s like: do you really need that tall, luscious, gorgeous piece of chocolate cake?? Or, can you live just fine without it? LOL

Great post!

*smiles*
Michele
Laura Spencer
March 12th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

Thanks Michele!

(I knew chocolate had to be related to this problem somehow.)
Michele
March 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

You’re welcome!

(Isn’t it always???!!!)

;-)
Onno Knuvers
March 12th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Nice article.

I recently went on a project diet myself and discovered how much extra time I had on my hands. So I used this extra time to land some new clients and increase my income.

When I started the project diet I realised that a lot of things I was working on had no major benefit for me, both in terms of income opportunities and artistic endeavours. So now I careful weigh up new projects that come along and make sure that they meet a list of minimum requirements for the project to go ahead.
Laura Spencer
March 12th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

Great comment Onno!

It’s easy to get a routine of doing the same things over and over – even though there is no benefit to doing them.
Adam
March 13th, 2009 at 1:49 am

If a new client that may be a one-off job requests a quote when I’m snowed under, I sometimes name a crazy price in the hope that the precious would-be leisure time I will have to devote to the project will be well compensated.

More often than not, they bite! Maybe I should name crazy prices all the time…
Johnny
March 13th, 2009 at 6:34 am

One thing I do is schedule a “field trip” every once in a while… you know, the kind you had when you were in grade school. Go to the beach, mountains, out to a museum, whatever but make it so it is an activity that you enjoy and gets you out of your normal routine. Planning this, even with a busy schedule, almost takes care of itself if you do it well in advance and constantly keep it in the back of your head.
iHazim
March 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am

Thanks alot for this helpful article, i really need these kind of informations, cause i quitted my job 3 months ago to be a full time freelancer.

and its really difficult to be a full time freelancer in here (Saudi Arabia).

Thanks again.
Laura Spencer
March 13th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

Adam – I think you’re on to something, actually.

In another thread somewhere I read where a freelancer said that their clients didn’t even notice when they raised their prices. It’s something we freelancers agonize over, but to some clients it’s not as big a deal as we think.
On the Money
March 13th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

I joined a band – I used to be a trumpet player – that practices two evenings a week and has a fairly light gig commitment. This was great as it meant I focused better in the rest of my available time. It really balanced my life/work. But the band started to get more gigs and more rehearsals were required … So I’m back at square one. Get a hobby requiring travel away from workspace or make definite time for friends …
Lexi
March 13th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

I focus on quality clients. That is, I increased my rates so I can earn more income even though I have fewer clients. I am also selective about marketing my services right now because I’d really like to work on my personal projects.
Nikhil
March 14th, 2009 at 8:57 am

Nice Article!
Like the working hours I have my recess hours I strictly dont do any work between this time.
If some time i have over worked then I just go for movie or to the relatives home, so in this way I can relax as well as spend some time with my relatives also.
GoEverywhere Team
March 14th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

Personal time is so important! You have listed four great ways to make sure you weave some of that personal time into your life. One of the biggest ways for me to make sure I have some “me time” is to stay organized. I have all of my files, documents, usernames and passwords saved on my webtop. That way, I don’t waste valuable time trying to search for all of these materials. They are right there at my fingertips and keep me on track!
Karen Swim
March 15th, 2009 at 4:16 pm

Laura, these are excellent tips! I think one of the hardest for new freelancers (or anyone in this economy for that matter) is the Project Diet. Yet, it surprisingly the one that can actually put more money in your pocket. I learned that when I got better at assessing the ROI, I was able to let go and say “no” to work, which made room for higher return projects. Sometimes we allow fear to hinder our rational thought but it’s important to not just be busy but busy with high value work. Thank you for the excellent reminder and tips!
jesseme
March 16th, 2009 at 5:42 am

you’re welcome and great comment
Sam
March 16th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

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Steve Atkinson
March 16th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

While my suggestion isn’t really a way to find more personal time, it is may help with personal time.

That is place it on your schedule. Sometimes you just can’t let it happen, it needs to be planned. Schedule those couple of hours that you may want during the week just as you would a vacation.
Andy
March 17th, 2009 at 8:18 am

Excellent Post.

I happened to relax a bit in the few months and the first unexpected effect has been a sort of panic for the extra time earned. I took more than one month to relax.
Simon Stapleton
March 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

It’s easy to fall into the 24×7 Freelancer Trap! Workaholism is a real problem (did you know there is a Workaholics Anonymous?). This problem is more acute for freelancers as the payback from more work is more obvious – liquid cash.

I have some tips on reversing the slide down the slippery slope here:
http://www.simonstapleton.com/wordpress/2009/03/12/getting-out-of-the-24×7-freelancer-trap/

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