What keeps a freelancer busy?

Feb 10, 2005

A few days ago I had mentioned I’d been keeping a busy schedule (ok, I’m still keeping a busy schedule). A few years ago, just after my marriage (well, two catastrophes CAN happen at the same time!) I got a job in GE (General Electric) in their E-learning department as an instructional designer. This was a turning point in my life because I realized I could spend 14-15 hours (this included almost three-and-a-half hours of commuting) for a job and could spend around 24% of my pay on just commuting to-and-fro. It was a humbling experience: so much effort and so less in return. Within four months I realized the job was not for me. The more time I spent there, the more I realized that even if I spent half the time on my own work, I could be earning double the amount, without incurring travel expenses. I had a talk with my wife, Alka and quit the job.

Although, as stipulated, I earned double the amount working on my own within four months, I still worked for around 12-13 hours everyday. I realized it’s easier to work in an office environment because:

You mostly do the work you are assigned
Your work in the office is properly cut out and once you are done, you don’t have to worry about getting the new assignment.
There are different people employed to take care of different jobs
Different jobs are designated to different employees in the office. For instance, if you need new software installed, or if you want your hardware replaced, you just need to contact the systems administrator. If you want some graphics work done, there is always someone available
You need to market and sell your skill just once while giving the interview
Once you are in an organization, unless you are totally dispensable, only an extraordinary event can get you out of there. You don’t need to assure them again and again that yes, you can do the job. All you have to is, do the job that is given to you, well.

When you work on your own, even an overflowing flush in the toilet becomes your problem. You don’t only have to take care that you deliver on time; you also need to continuously sell and promote yourself in order to keep getting new projects. Everyday you find yourself doing the following vis-à-vis your work:

Promote your services
Convince your new clients
Answer to the email and phone queries
Do the follow-ups
Keep track of all the correspondence
Make sure your computer or laptop is running fit all the time
Deliver the projects on time
Keep track of individual payments
Convince clients multiple times to pay you
Keep in touch with your old clients
Take care of tax formalities

So in fact, you end up busier when you work on your own. But there are certain ways you can optimize your time and reduce your working hours considerably:

Define an organization mechanism — the better you are organized, the easier it is to reduce work time
Maintain a schedule — there is always this tendency to carry on working once you start working. Keep a schedule and don’t work beyond that schedule. For instance, if you decide to work 7 hours everyday, don’t go beyond that time
Outsource whenever you can — sometimes it is better to let other people do work that you find difficult to do or if it is time consuming. For instance, if you can get some work done in 20 dollars per hour and in the same duration you can do some other work for 30 dollars per hour, it is preferable that you outsource
Keep fixed hours for promoting your work
Get a self-promoting portfolio — once you have successfully worked for around 6 months, you have enough arsenal with you. Your portfolio should be convincing enough. If you have done good job and still your prospective clients don’t get convinced, then probably they are not looking for you

Do I have some regrets about my choice of working on my own? Not at all. No matter how hard I have to work, I will never ever exchange this lifestyle for a job-centric lifestyle. I’ll write more…