Multi-tasking has been turned into a virtue over the past thirty years, especially with many people having one day job and craft moonlighting on Etsy or doing Master Gardener consulting on the side. Or, you happen to know how to code software and have one start-up in the works and are still doing web design consulting. Or you are just running a game of the War of the Worlds while also checking your FB and Twitter feeds. Or, you are a mother with three young children (now that’s the original multi-tasking!).

Whichever way you are put under pressure to multi-task, you can now “brag” about it as if it were some new-ish virtue. But it’s not. We may get more done, but the quality will suffer.

One Thing at a Time for Your Brain

Recent research indicates that our brains actually work best on one thing at a time, though. Inevitable compromises occur when we try to multi-task. The ones who can set boundaries with their time and efforts will get more and better done in the long run.

Sources for this obsession with multi-tasking as a virtue (my theory) might have come from social expectations caused in part by

• women moving into the workforce and still trying to do all the at-home stuff;
• the “M-TV editing” effect in the 1980s that created expectations of rapidly shifting focus from one image to another, which was then reinforced by the way electronic tools like mobile devices and computers work, trying to con us into thinking we can do more, buy more to do more with, etc.;
• companies putting more and varied tasks on fewer workers to save on employment costs.

All of these social shifts have created a “value” around multi-tasking. Since we’re stuck with it, so to speak, we make it into a virtue. And it’s still not one. Just an excuse to overburden people with overwhelming expectations.

Resist! Set boundaries! Check email/phone three times a day instead of thirty (very hard for me, but I am doing it!). Real quality productivity will actually go up, I promise. I also promise you’ll love getting fully in the zone on some project and find out that the reason is the “silence” from your email and social media notifications (not to mention the turned-off phone). It really feels like a silence to me, this lack of interruptions. Plus I just get more billable or creative stuff done.

And you might actually have more time for surfing Pinterest pictures or taking a walk in the neighborhood later. You never know unless you try it!

Is there enough? I’ve often been asked this question by folks trying to get into publishing services like editing, proofreading and/or book indexing. It also applies to starting almost any business or looking for a job, of course.

Avoid the Desperation Pose

My first response is, “Don’t whine!” And please don’t supplicate. I can smell want-work desperation from across the conference room. It’s not pleasant. Makes me want to walk the other way. So, yes, if you act desperate and do the supplication kneel for work, that job or that business prospect will likely walk away because of your approach. Unless the employer or prospect likes to play power games. But you don’t want corporate slavery, either, I assume.

Gather Your Tribe

It’s not a question of “enough.” It’s a question of finding your match. Always, always. Think about the custom guitar maker. His market is likely small (unlike the market for Coca Cola, for example, which is still catering to a tribe—just a very big one that doesn’t include Pepsi fanatics), but he is in demand and makes a very good living because he provides tremendous value to those customers, and they will pay a premium for it. He doesn’t worry about general job availability statistics. He just has to stay connected to his particular “tribe,” largely through reputation, and he’ll make a great living.

But, you say, what about the newbie? The new person to a career field doesn’t have connections yet, nor the expert skill set, necessarily. True. But the market, your tribe, is still there. You just need to be introduced (and have a good elevator speech). That’s what targeted marketing and web presence are for. Here’s my freelance progression (from a long time ago):

• I started in publishing services in 1992 by targeting a professional association in book indexing to develop networking connections (I did not supplicate for jobs, but instead, volunteered in the organization).
• Meanwhile, I only targeted 10 publishers when I started my official indexing business in 1995. Back then, before social media and just at the start of email, I sent letters and postcards. I waited nine months before I got my first indexing job (because the publisher’s first choice was unavailable—after that first job, I became the first choice, not because the other indexer wasn’t available for every job, but because I was excellent!).
• I set up a static website in the late 1990s as well (paid a pro to build it for me). When blogging became possible, I used the platform to present my brand. I’ve been working on the basis of reputation mostly, ever since the early 2000s.

In our current too-much-information-and-access universe, some of the old methods can still be effective (people get less paper mail now, so that postcard to a prospective managing editor might get attention). Meanwhile, the tools to be visible online are quite varied and numerous; there are many blogging outlets and social media networks to choose from. Do some writing/video/audio in your field of knowledge, regularly, and participate in professional conversations (LinkedIn groups, for example). Share that writing or video or audio and your professional interests on your top two or three social media outlets; connections will happen with regular, substantive participation (not a bunch of Likes, but real comments).

Build the Reputation That Will Sustain You

There is plenty of work out there; it’s just a question of expending the time and effort to build that reputation. I don’t believe in the numbers/statistics game in general with almost any occupation unless technology or something is really eliminating a way of working (e.g., buggy whips or whale-oil lamps vs. automobiles and electricity). Everyone can find a niche somewhere,  especially with today’s ability to be visible online.

As an example, in book indexing these days, the key is to be flexible enough to get beyond the printed book. If you’re interested in indexing, take a basic course for the mental of indexing judgment (not everyone has the right mindset), but then make sure you give yourself some self-education in the new areas (ebooks, embedded indexing, taxonomy, even information architecture) that are related to traditional indexing. That will give you more breadth to move into the future. It will pay to think outside the book covers for sure; there’s demand for linked indexes to ebooks, for example, and human-created search keywords for mobile apps that have complex subject matter.

Niches in editing and proofreading are almost endless, but I think the emphasis now is on helping self-publishing authors (don’t forget to charge enough to include hand-holding) more than serving traditional publishers, and being technically savvy enough to use electronic methods of marking text (like Adobe Acrobat and Google Docs as well as Microsoft Word).

Beyond the Book: Text is Everywhere

You’ll want to market beyond traditional publishing organizations for all publishing-related services; the publishing revolution continues. You may end up working not only directly for writers, but folks putting up websites, etc. Smaller jobs and more of them maybe, rather than larger book jobs for traditional publishers. Get your e-commerce set up and you’ll be ready to take care of credit card-paying clients as well!

Go forth, create value, and be visible! And do it again and again. You will find your clients.

I know most folks in freelance businesses focus on what they have to offer, presenting their services like products on a shelf in the store and advertising the availability and quality of those same services through social media and/or advertising.

But before you put those services on the shelf, make sure you’ve asked a couple of why questions, or you may miss out on the keys to a good customer-provider relationship.

Why are you doing this thing (or things)?

Right, so you thought I’d start with the customer’s needs. Nope. If you don’t have core values underpinning what you do, you won’t get very far in whatever business you choose, including publishing-related ones.

Look, lots of people are doing editing, proofreading, book design, and some are even doing book indexing (which is where I started). What makes your services unique will be found in the answer to the why question. Because it speaks to your values as a service provider.

So, time to spit out your core values. What facets of your service give you the most satisfaction? These will be clues to your business values. Maybe it’s accuracy, maybe it’s speed, maybe both (!). Maybe it’s your sunny personality via email. Notice that these “facets” are not names of your products or services.

Just to give you a starting off point, here are my top four core values: quality, responsiveness, flexibility, understanding (of the customer’s subject). I take the time to produce a quality editorial assessment; I am checking email all day every day and responding promptly; got a delay in manuscript or page proof availability? I’ll work with you; wondering if I can truly understand what you are trying to say as an author? I’ve got the intellectual and empathic talents to “get you.”

So, what are your top four? You can also add a couple more, but try not to make this a long list.

Also, what’s your vision, for yourself and your business, that is? You will want to check in with this vision at least once a year, because it may shift. I know mine has. I used to be focused on my book indexing business, but am now more into manuscript evaluation and copyediting activities. My vision is to help an author see their story from a savvy reader’s point of view, the kind of reader who will become a fan (like the fans of Game of Thrones!), who will be hooked into their story, whether fiction or nonfiction.

What’s your vision? One sentence, please, with no more than two clauses or three modifying phrases.

Why would someone want your services?

Once you see what you are in this for (and therefore find your passion in it), then you can ask, what’s the customer in it for?

If you look at my website front page, you’ll see under my intro that I focus on the needs of potential clients. I don’t just list what services I provide; I actually write out the questions as if I were a potential client.

Think about it. When someone comes to your website, what are they thinking? Right, they are thinking about a problem they want to solve or a goal they want to reach. The question is whether or not you can help them with that.

Remember, unlike the folks at Nabisco, who have pretty packaging and sweetness or saltiness to create a need in their customers, we have to start with the need they bring to our site. So, I think it’s most effective to start with an understanding of that need. Then you can show them how you will fill it.

Think about what questions folks may come to you with, show them you have anticipated their need, and then link them to the place where their need can be fulfilled, and since this is a service business, also how you will be a good match for filling that need. If you’ve taken care of the why question in the first section of this post, you will know how to attract a good customer match.

Work these two aspects together (why you are here and what needs you can fulfill), and you will find your most suitable customers.

Yeah, I know too many of you have kind-of a “no” answer to that, at least in terms of any kind of plan. Many of my editing and design colleagues are introverts who would much rather deal with clients one at a time, do the work, and collect their fee than play the sales game. That’s supposed to be for those extroverted manipulators, salespeople.

Actually, this extrovert doesn’t like traditional advertising, or traditional sales with its focus on pressuring people to “close the deal.” I’ve certainly spent a lot of time agonizing about and also avoiding the “cold-call,” the “follow-up call,” any interaction that means interrupting an individual stranger.

Adopting Adaptibility

But ya know, if you are invisible, no one will be able to benefit from your talent and work ethic. Once you have experience, you may be able to rely on referrals for most of your business, but after my twenty-five years in business for myself, I’ve seen massive shifts in the publishing industry that have made my old clients “invisible” and have caused me to scramble like a newbie to find other sources for work.

And let’s face it, the employment picture is not that different from running your own business these days. Most jobs don’t last more than five or ten years, and then you have to “sell” your skills and talents again. So there’s really no escape from marketing.

Make Your Expertise Social

I think the key to successfully marketing a business in our age of information and digital connectivity is to find a marketing method niche that feels natural to you. There are actually many more ways to be visible than ever before, and that intimacy of interacting with individuals rather than simply broadcasting your wares through advertising is actually “in,” especially in social media. Just by joining some LinkedIn groups and asking/answering questions, you can subtly present yourself as the expert you are and actually find clients. Remember that you don’t have to belong to every social network to be successful. Find two or three you will really use (and Facebook does not have to be one of them) and you’ll be fine.

It’s not that bad, really!

Paper as Refreshing Contact

And there’s still a place for direct paper contact. I got in the habit several years ago of sending postcard once a year to established and prospective publishing clients, and with everyone so inundated with email and other digital communications, a physical postcard—in_the_mail(!) can be quite refreshing and may stand out from other communications. Ironic after all these years of having your letters and resumes lost in piles, but there it is.

It’s the Relationship

It’s all about interacting one-on-one, not just broadcasting, which should be more palatable to you introverts. A client of mine, a very successful business negotiator, said that the most important thing to remember when dealing with potential clients is to focus on asking questions about them, rather than focusing on blurting out all the stuff you can do. By asking questions first, you can see whether and how your talents match with their needs. Really! Have a conversation. You might want to initiate that conversation in different ways regularly, though, along with making yourself visible through a website and social media.

Can you pledge at least once a week to participate in an online or offline conversation that includes potential clients or folks who can refer work to you? Let me know in the comments what your best practices are.

There’s the scope fog for the job itself (conflicting scopes from different client representatives), and then there’s scope creep because of queries from me or long conversations on the phone to clarify what the client really needs.

Setting Boundaries

These client-match issues cause more trouble and eat up more time than any other project issue. I do set some boundaries on projects based on their content (don’t give me literary criticism books to index or doctorate-level engineering tomes—I will refer you!), but it can be harder to gauge how well I will “get along” with the client. And since that assessment can cost me, I need better tools to figure this out ahead of time.

Asking Questions to Understand the Client

Cue Chris Lema. Several years ago, I decided to keep this little gem from one of his daily blog posts, tucked it into a digital note, and forgot about it (stupid me!). I rediscovered it during a purge of my notes list and now it’s time to 1) integrate it into my practice and 2) customize it to my business. Chris’s original business was website design and functionality (if I remember correctly), so let’s start with his questions and then we can see how to apply them to my publishing services biz. Chris asked

—Do you feel comfortable talking about your budget?
—Do you understand that you can’t match your competitor’s site without matching their spend?
—What have you tried already?
—Are you prepared to help get things done?
—Do you work well with timelines and accountability?
—Can you articulate what success will look like?
—Are you the decision maker?
—Are your expectations realistic?
—What do you know about me?

Great questions for Chris’s clients when he’s talking with them about working together. I looked at his questions and realized that most of the time, I don’t ask hardly any of them to the authors I work with. Hmm. I got used to working with a handful of publishers whose needs and methods I got to know over time, so I could expect consistency. I stopped asking questions. But that was in the 1990s.

Since then, the publishing world has obviously changed just a bit (!). I deal much more with individual writers or individual scholarly authors these days. Schedules are much more unpredictable, and more of these folks don’t know the difference between developmental editing and copy editing and proofreading. And that’s OK. I’m the one who needs to ask the right questions for my purposes, as well as listening to theirs.

So, today, I stand committed to asking the following questions of new clients to create a better chance for a good match:

—What’s your book about?
—What are you looking to have me help you with?
—Interesting. May I see a sample chapter?
—What editing work have you done on your book so far?
—May I see a sample from the middle of your manuscript?
—What do you see as your role in the my editing/proofing/design process?
—What budget did you have set up for this part of your writing process
—What kind of turnaround time do you need for me to successfully support you?

So, there we are. Now to implement this set of questions with every.single.client.

How about you?

I see the customer experience as being 50% product quality, 50% customer service. In the end, my job is to service the customer experience.

Product Quality

I’ll start with the most obvious half of that experience. It’s comparable to the “experience” section of a resume if you were looking to be an employee. And for employees, unless they are customer service representatives, this is more than half of what they provide.

What does your product quality consist of? Here are the product quality benefits I bring to a client; try these on for size:

• Expert skill level—Due to experience, but also dedication to improving that skill level, plus talent. Don’t discount talent. We are good at certain things and not so good at other things. I do have some natural talent for editing, proofreading, book indexing. Where are your talents as well as your experience?
• Commitment to quality—The attitude quotient. Product quality is directly proportional to your attitude about building the product. You can be talented at building your product, but do you actually like to do that? I hope so!

That’s it, really. That’s your relationship to the product. I think most folks put too much emphasis on these two bullets and forget about (or are afraid of) the other half of the customer’s experience—service. And, no, this is not because we are in a “service” business. Your product happens to be considered a service. This is about all those things you should still be getting paid for that are normally called “customer service.”

Customer Service

I always took this part for granted, thinking it was primarily the quality of my product that created my reputation, but after working just the customer service side for my husband’s custom jewelry business (2010 to 2014), I’ve definitely given more attention to this aspect of my own business.

With my freelance editorial work, feedback on the customer experience is harder to come by (Testimonials are great: ask for them!). But with hubby’s coin rings as a physical product in an retail outlet, I began to see how important customer service was for custom buyers. We were automatically focused on the customer’s needs because so many of hubby’s rings were for important events like weddings or to commemorate ancestry, birth years, etc.

After this retail customer experience, I began to look at my editorial service business differently. I realized that most of my repeat business was due to client relationships cultivated over a number of years in most cases, but also with one-off projects. And most of that service was about assuaging customer anxieties about getting what they wanted and managing expectations.

What are your customer service goodies? Mine include:

• A friendly and professional attitude with a can-do spirit
• Transparency and accuracy about cost and time estimates with appropriate flexibility that’s fair to both me and the client
• Responsiveness in communication (This doesn’t mean being a slave to email, but I do respond in 24 hours or less whenever possible)
• Expanded availability due to having access to other professional colleagues for referrals (allows me to say “yes” most of the time)
• Meeting my deadlines and if there is a snag, giving notice ahead of time if at all possible
• Willingness to listen to the client’s needs but also the ability to set professional standards and give advice when required to avoid unrealistic expectations

And this, my friends, is the key to the happy dance and that five-star rating for you and your customer—managing expectations through great customer service.

Go give them a great experience!

And now for Part II of my response to Michael Poh’s “20 Reasons to Say ‘No’ to Freelancing.” As I wrote in Part I, I found that Michael’s perspective was not always reflective of my own twenty-five years as a freelance book indexer, copy editor and proofreader.

In this part, I’ll respond to Michael’s section on “self-traits,” as he calls them. The stuff about us as people that may not be conducive to freelancing, rather than stuff in our environment.

As Michael accurately wrote: “Simply put, if you don’t have what it takes, freelancing will wear you out fast.” Quite so. Freelance work is not for everyone.

9. Distractibility and lack of an organizing principle

I do have problems with this one, I think partly because I’m an extrovert rather than an introvert, so I get uncomfortable in front of the computer by myself. So email and social networking are major distractions. Also laundry and washing dishes. I think folks these days concentrate on online distractions when the old-fashioned ones can be just as compelling. I do agree that multitasking is not actually a virtue for humans (great article from NPR on how our brains really work here). In order to make money freelancing, you will need to create the discipline to focus. In addition, there’s no one else to file things away or take phone calls or do the bookkeeping, so you’ll need to be organized enough to carry it off yourself, or better yet, be able to charge enough for your awesome talent and dedication to delegate these tasks. I am still struggling with doing most of it myself.

10. Prioritizing

Michael is correct here, also. If you need a supervisor to help you decide what’s more important to work on and get to it, then working alone will be a struggle for you. I use the Things program (alas for Windows users, only for the Mac) to help me prioritize and keep track of projects. But there are comparable programs for Windows, too. I know you’re thinking, oh, I can keep track of everything in my head. Nope. Even if you just make a list in a notebook or calendar, you will need to figure out what to focus on first (see item 9 above), or you’ll miss deadlines and lose clients.

11 and 12. Branding self-worth

Yes, these go hand-in-hand, although Michael separated them. Part of your time will be taken up by presenting yourself to your target market. You are the advertising department, unless you can afford to delegate this task. First, your self-worth has to be high enough that you’re willing to expose your talents to the world without hitting people over the head in your fear of not getting enough work. It’s a delicate balance. Self-worth has to come first. If you don’t believe you are worthy to do the work for someone, it will be a real struggle to create everything from a proper logo to a website, to composing social media posts. Really. Your attitude will be visible, so it better be a good one. And you will have to update your presence and portfolio regularly. It’s not so much about “yelling in their face” about who you are, but just being friendly and consistent. Create value and be visible.

13. Working hard, smart, and passionately

Michael’s right on with this one. A generation or two ago, working hard was almost enough in our American society. In the last forty years, it’s become more important to work smart, to innovate (useful for freelancers), to have  the latest in-demand intellectual skill set. But for the rest of the twenty-first century in what I call the new cottage industry economy, it will be most important to work passionately. This has always been an advantage, but now and in the future, even more so. If you want to maintaining that good value I mentioned in the last item, staying interested in your work will be key to your abundance. I’m definitely finding that this is true as I finally get a bit tired of book indexing  and copy editing, and am branching out into other aspects of book production, including developmental editing and book design.

14. Surfing the money wave

Michael is also quite right here: If you have deep financial security issues, freelancing will be a challenge. Although job security overall has lessened considerably since I was born (in the 1950s), independent business people’s only job “security” is the fact that they have more than one client. An employee, by definition, only has one. That’s the freelance advantage, but the income is definitely not regular, and your bills still are. So the discipline to set aside a “pad” for those ups and downs will be important to your peace of mind.

15. Freelancing as the easy route

Well, no. Of course not. There’s very little that’s easy, and although there is such a thing as “passive income,” you still have to do work to keep subscriptions going or advertisers paying. It’s an energy exchange, always. The trick to making it “easy” is to do work that you love. You still have to put in effort, but it’s much more pleasurable.

16. Comfort zone

Comfort zones can be good or not depending on your purpose. If a comfort zone is created out of fear of trying something new that might be better, then, it’s really not that comfortable. There is fear underneath the chair in that cubicle. And oftentimes our comfort zones are blasted away by circumstance anyway. So you might as well take Michael’s advice and be proactive; seek out those new opportunities and stay ahead of the wave.

17. Having it all your own way, myth of

Michael is right that although you may market your own special way of doing things and get some clients because of it, most of the time, you will want to be flexible for the client’s needs (within reason). Freelancing will require tact as well as the setting of boundaries. But that’s also true of employer/employee relationships.

18. Waiting for inspiration

True, this is a luxury for those who don’t need to make a living. This item is also related to number 17; as a freelancer, you will still have “bosses” in a way—your clients. They will have a more limited influence on what you do, but they will expect you to meet deadlines and create based on their expectations and your outline of what you can do.

19. Patience, within limits

Again, this one speaks to your relationship with clients (which is required for that energy exchange so you can eat).  You may very well be asked to revise and correct to meet the client’s requirements, but also keep in mind that as the freelance expert in whatever the field is, you can also put limits on the scope of the job up front to make sure you are not exploited. You don’t have to be infinitely patient.

20. Perseverance and passion

Riding the freelancing business wave does require going out there and catching more than one wave a week. First, find what you love to do that can be transformed into a product or service of value to others as well as yourself, then it will be much easier to persevere within your passion. Above all, look around you at what others are creating. Best practices (and cautionary tales) are everywhere for you to learn from. You may think that what you love to do has no value to others, but you are likely wrong about that. Most creations have some potential following if they are pursued with a dedication to quality. Go, let your tribe know you’re here creating just what they are looking for.

I found Michael Poh’s “20 Reasons to Say ‘No’ to Freelancing” to be interesting, but not always reflective of my own twenty-five+ years as a freelance book indexer, copy editor, and proofreader.

It ain’t easy. That’s not the point; work, even work we are passionate about, isn’t necessarily easy. But freelancing has its rewards, and I think some of Michael’s points against the freelancing life are really more about taking control over certain aspects of all of our lives. So, let’s go through the list and I’ll add my perspective. Since I’m a little more verbose than Michael, I’ll do this blog in two parts, addressing his work environment section in this one, and then his personal traits section in the next blog.

1. Benefits vs. flying without a safety net

It’s quite true that there’s no big corporate daddy to provide benefits, and at last count, I think there are some companies that actually still provide decent benefits, so if that kind of security is really important (especially if you have health issues), freelancing may cause more anxiety than its worth. I could sure use a paid vacation since I’m major breadwinner now rather than supplemental, but that’s partly my own responsibility for choosing an underpaid business area (publishing). Benefits should really be factored into the rates we charge; not always the case, but that’s not necessarily an argument for being an employee.

2. The flexibility expectation of freelancing

I see Michael’s point here in that freelancing doesn’t necessarily mean you can do whatever you want when you want (although some folks who provide supplementary income in a family unit may have quite a bit of flexibility). Your deadlines and clients are often your “bosses” in the freelance world. That said, you still have a bit more project-to-project flexibility than most employees. Quitting a project or not taking a project given to you at work may not be an option (not without quitting the one job you have), but I can decide not to work for a client anymore if I don’t like the way I’m treated (and I have). I do take care of my responsibility for the specific project I’ve contracted for, but I can definitely choose not to work for that client again and just continue with my other ones, and recruit a new one without disrupting my life or changing careers. And within the span of contract and deadline, I do have the freedom of not being actively supervised, and I can do my work from 4 p.m. to midnight if I want to.

3. and 4. Personal/work life separation (or not!)

This is a combo of Michael’s #3 and #4. Yes, I can refuse to take calls from clients after 5 p.m. Really, I can. I do tend to be too responsive to clients, but it’s just my extroverted personality and desire to please (which I need to curb), and is not necessarily part of the fabric of freelancing. And job-fear makes a lot of employees too responsive to bosses in their off hours, so I don’t see that big of a difference, particularly in our mobile-device-ruled world. It’s up to all of us to set the boundaries and not make every client or job-boss’s emergency my own. Forward to voice mail and don’t check your email every five minutes. That’ll do it. And no one will die.

My biggest challenge is keeping home stuff at bay so I can get work done. One way to solve this problem is to have an office outside the home, or at least take breaks from being around the laundry and vacuuming duties by spending time at the local coffee-house. I knew Starbucks was good for something besides coffee!

5. Setting aside time for vacation

Michael covered the paid-vs.-unpaid part of this up at the Benefits section, but here he wrote about finding the time for a break. I have to admit that I haven’t had much in the way of vacation in the last fifteen years, but it’s mainly because of the unpaid nature of vacation, not because I couldn’t make time for it. Workaholism is the worker’s responsibility. Again, it’s about setting boundaries. Demanding bosses will browbeat employees into not taking their earned time off, too, so it’s really about not being afraid to set those boundaries with other people. Bosses or clients, neither are supposed to be your totalitarian dictators. If that’s the case, then you’re likely in the wrong job or the wrong business, or you are a workaholic and are afraid to stop. Or you’re being exploited and you should be paid a lot better so you have the power to set boundaries.

6. Deskbounded-ness

Well, yes, many freelance service providers (editors, website designers, business consultants, programmers) will sit (or stand or walk a treadmill) in front of a screen, but how is this different from similar on-site employee jobs? The only way to get away from the screen is to do some kind of artisan work, or be a wilderness guide, or  a landscaper, or a shop owner, some other job or business that involves being outdoors/in a shop. That’s really about what work you feel like you are suited for, not whether you are doing it on a freelance basis or as an on-site employee. We all have to find some balance of activities to keep body and mind healthy. See No. 5.

7. Social drought of working as sole proprietor

Michael makes a good point here. By definition, if you are working the kinds of tasks normally associated with “freelancing,” you’ll be a sole proprietor doing most/all of the work yourself in a home office. There won’t be any office chatter at the cooler (or donuts in the morning, or meetings, either!) or prospects for friendly after-work sessions at the local watering hole, etc. I have found solo freelancing to be a bit of a challenge because I’m an extrovert. It does pay to have an interest outside of work (church, social club, music, etc.) to go to on your time off (which you should be arranging anyway—see 3, 4, and 5). I also have a lot of online interaction (only downside is it means more screen time) that’s personal and not about work.

8. Expecting others to understand the unpredictability

I do also agree with Michael on this one: If you need regular paychecks and don’t want to do all your own bookkeeping and whatnot, it will be hard to make a living freelancing. I’d love to hire out some of that stuff, but I haven’t been able to do it except for tax preparation. Other folks do sometimes think that because I’ve got all this “flexibility,” I’m not really working hard and can be interrupted for errands, etc. This situation goes back to the setting of boundaries in all aspects of your life, though. Might be time to adopt the local coffeehouse and “go to work” so folks at home or in your neighborhood can think of you as not being available.

Actually, this has been an excellent exercise for me in looking at how to use my time better as a freelancer. Most of it seems to be about setting boundaries with others (work- and play-related) and creating your own structure to work for you.

Let me know in the comments how freelancing works, or doesn’t/didn’t for you, and why you still work that way or have gone back to an employee position with an organization. I’d love to know!