Too much work versus not enough | The freelance curse
It’s the freelancer’s curse — that never-ending cycle of too much work versus not enough. Is it possible to strike a balance? Here’s how I (mostly) manage it…
1) Use retainers to form your baseline
The key to balancing your workload is to know exactly how much time you’ve allocated and how much time you’ve got free each week or month. And that’s where the trusty retainer comes in.
Retained clients give you regular monthly work and usually have a consistent requirement. By having a few of these puppies on your books, you’ll never start the month at £0 and will have a clear idea of how much time you’ve got free for ad hoc projects.
2) Use a work pipeline to identify gaps
In most cases, a proper work pipeline can help you organise your time and stop deadline clashes from ruining your life. For example, I use my own system on Trello to plot my time, plan my deadlines, and allocate my work.
3) Limit cancellations with a 50% deposit upfront
After getting majorly burned by a major project pushback, I learned to take a 50% deposit upfront and let the client know that the book isn’t cofirmed until the proposal is signed and the deposit received.
I’m also careful to be crystal clear on time: “I have x amount of time free at the moment, but this is subject to change, so the quicker you are, the more likely you are to receive the booking you want.”
At the end of the day, there’s not much you can do to stop project pushback from screwing with your time. But at least get a firm booking and some cash upfront for your troubles!
4) Know your limits and don't overstretch (unless it's worth it)
If you already use a pipelining system for your workload, you'll probably know how long specific jobs take you. This is suuuper useful when accepting new work and planning your time.
I always like to allow for an extra day or so on the promised deadline, because you never know…
5) Remember — not every lead that comes in will come good
Are you stressing for no reason? I’m guilty of this. If I’ve got a packed schedule and I’m managing multiple new enquiries, I start to freak out — there’s too much going on.
But is there, though?
How many inbound leads actually result in booked work? Not 100% of them, that’s for damn sure. Try to keep your cool and remember — projects get pushed back, deadlines move, and only firm bookings (with paid deposits and signed agreements) are worth stressing over.
Try not to set overly ambitious deadlines for yourself, either. I do this all the time for literally no reason.
6) Learn to accept the ebb and flow
Finally (and in complete detriment to this whole article), life will feel easier if you learn to move with the ebb and flow of freelance life.
If you’re overworking to finish a big project, make the most of free time slots in the following week to recharge. Recognise when too much really is too much and think about outsourcing to a trusted colleague in your network. If you’re always overbooked, ya might need to put ya prices up!
If you find yourself with too much free time, don’t force things — work on your own stuff, let your network know that you have space, chase warm leads, pitch for things, then allow yourself a bit of chill time. When the flow starts again, you want to be ready, not burned out!
Did you find this helpful? Are you guilty of stressing about full workloads and empty calendars? Find me on Twitter and give me your two cents on the matter!
