Comments on: The Freelance Mix: Balancing Time, Money, and Results

By: Jonathan Patterson

Jonathan Patterson — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:28:34 +0000

I look at my overall growth as non-linear. Sometimes I am heavy on designing things while other times I focus on skill. It’s not cut-and-dry, your solution will be as individual as you are.

By: Amber Weinberg

Amber Weinberg — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:19:25 +0000

Great tips. I’ve always heard:

You can be cheap and fast but not good
You can be fast and good but not cheap
You can be cheap and good but not fast.

It’s always something freelancers are trying to figure out.

By: Balance in the freelance life « Daily Freelance Writing Tips

Balance in the freelance life « Daily Freelance Writing Tips — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:08:51 +0000

[...] Balance in the freelance life Filed under: general freelance writing tips — writtenquality @ 8:00 am Tags: freelance writing, freelance writing career, freelance writing tips, time management in business, time management in freelance I just read an excellent post on managing time and money in the freelance business. I agree with everything. There are great tips and comments as well. Check it out. [...]

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:47:42 +0000

Well, I can’t complain, because I think I have the leverage thing down pat.. ;)

I like the way you mention it’s very important to put money back into your business. I made some investments this year into various areas of the business and there were returns from that, either in more time or more money.

And time is money, is it not?

By: charissa

charissa — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:37:08 +0000

I agree on leveraging. I started as a full time freelance for about 6 months only and found it very exciting at first. As time goes by, when more projects keep on coming, I could not handle them anymore. That gave me an idea ‘Why not try leveraging?’. Get more projects, hire people to work for you, focus on project management. Nonetheless, you are making a significant amount of money while spending very little time. But another question is ‘What should I do with my extra time?’. Investing time on increasing skill level including project management. And I found it a great investment.

By: Mason Hipp

Mason Hipp — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:58:03 +0000

Hey everyone, thanks for the positive comments!

@Easton — That’s a very good point. Depending on which of these you focus on, you’ll end up with different results (not necessarily better or worse).

@Max — Thanks! I think if you like this article you’ll love the ebook, it’s this and a lot more. And yea, the internet is definitely way too seductive.

@Jamie — Bingo. You hit the nail on the head, once you invest in yourself the entire process is easier. Of course, like you said, the beginning can be difficult.

@Jennifer — Congrats! Successfully freelancing part-time is a step in the right direction. And if you learn to handle your time well, you’ll be way ahead of a lot of us :-)

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:42:59 +0000

This article could not be more timely in my life. I just started successfully freelancing part time on top of my day job and I’ve been having a hard time allocating specific amounts of time to different areas of my ‘small business’. This was truly helpful!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:14:18 +0000

Skills in the sense described in this article are quintessential.

It’s like a spiral, once you get more, it frees up more time and resources that you can then reinvest to further your skills even more, which in return frees up even more time and resources, and so the (very positive) spiral continues..

The hard part is getting through the first couple of rounds. They’re the hardest to get through and also the ones you can least you afford to rest in between.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:19:19 +0000

Excellent article in my opinion – seems like the ebook could be really interesting to read.

I usually have to struggle with the time available each day – while I’m satisfied with money and skill most of the time it’s definitely hard to find a balance between work and regular life.

The internet can be just as seductive as a street with flashing neon lights everywhere and you simply don’t know what to look at first. There’s always a client you could try to get, some tasks to do, eMails to answer or blogs to read, but sometimes it makes sense to just leave the office and to do something else. My solution for this problem actually is my girlfriend who takes me away when she thinks it’s enough and this works very well.

Besides that it could be a good idea to use one day or maybe even just a couple of hours a week solely for learning or business related tasks in order to improve skills and increase the income in the long run.

By: Easton Ellsworth

Easton Ellsworth — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:16:51 +0000

God post, Mason. Retweeted it. Part of what I advise people to do with blogging strategy is to start by carefully considering their time. So much of what we do in life boils down to making decisions about time.

I also think it’s possible for some freelancers to emphasize one of these variables over the others and get more of a certain kind of business that way. It’s good to consider which one your target audience cares about. For example, it may be that they’re in no hurry, but they just want the job done right – thus, skill matters more than time or money.