Jenn Mattern is the exceptional writer behind Pro Business Writer and All Freelance Writing. She was nice enough to take a moment to talk with us about balancing your professional and personal projects while pricing yourself to make a decent living.
Her answers were so thorough, in fact, that I’ve decided to spread them out over the month of August in a column called “Ask Jenn.” Here’s the first one.
Should Freelancers Take On Personal Projects?
Corey: Thanks for joining us, Jenn. The first thing someone notices about you is that you do a lot of independent projects in addition to taking on clients. Do you think a mix of personal projects and clients is needed to be successful?
Jenn: I think diversification is smart in any business model, and especially in writing. That said, I don’t think that means you need non-client income streams to be a successful freelance writer. It helps in that you aren’t limited by billable hours anymore, but you can diversify on the service side as well.
Don’t rely too heavily on a single client or too few of them. Keep marketing to attract new projects from new clients so if one can’t order again as planned you aren’t left wondering where your next payment will come from. I like the independent nature of my own projects and sites. Others prefer taking on more client work. Do what works for you. Diversify the individual income sources to protect yourself.
How to Balance Work and Personal Endeavors
Corey: What is your suggestion for balancing personal and professional work?
Jenn: I don’t think there’s any difference between personal and professional work. Whether it’s for a client or a project of my own, it’s still work, and it still gets scheduled into my working hours. The real challenge is in balancing that collective work and your personal life.
On that side, you have to be able to forgive yourself. You’ll rarely have time to do everything you want to do, both in your business and personal life. That’s okay. You learn to prioritize. You learn to let go of some things. And you learn to work more productively so you don’t have to sacrifice your time with family, friends, and the things you love to do outside of work.
I have days when I feel like a superwoman. I can do anything I put my mind to. It’s like time stops, and I mysteriously can handle several days’ worth of writing in a single morning. Those are the easy days. I finish work early and have more time to devote to my real life — from chores and errands to enjoying a good book or hobby.
Other days go by too quickly. I don’t finish everything on my to-do list. Maybe a I got a late start, so I have to work late. These days seem to drag on endlessly. But you can’t get caught up in them. That just leads to workaholic tendencies. You feel like there’s always more to do, so you work longer hours. You sacrifice your personal life. And it wears you down.
In the end I found that I can do twice as much work in a shorter work day than a longer one. Having a life outside of work increases focus and productivity when you do work. And really I guess that’s how I balance my own projects and client work. I have a life outside both of them, and I value it highly. That gives me the energy to do what needs to be done, whether it’s developing a new site of my own or managing a client’s blog.
Don’t Miss the Next “Ask Jenn”
Subscribe to the blog and get instant notification when the new post is up! Just put your email in the box below:
Loading ...