Peter Tran – Sydney, Australia

Working as a freelancer is great in terms of freedom – no one to tell you when to start, work whenever you want to and wear whatever you want (or not wear anything at all!). However, with this amount of freedom, it can be quite difficult to maintain a strict regime or structure, especially with no one to mentor or discipline you. How easy is it to tell yourself that you can afford to sleep in as will be able to complete that outstanding project later in the afternoon?

It can be questionable as to why you would do this, but to condition one’s mind into maintaining order and discipline, on a workday, one should always:

1. Aim to wake up at a certain time – I always wake up at 7AM, without the aid of an alarm clock as my internal body clock seems to be fixated around this time.
2. Brush your teeth, have breakfast and groom yourself.
3. Put some proper clothes on – for Pete’s sake, if you want to play the part – dress the part! Feeling good means that you will aim to do a good job.
4. Start your working day alongside others. I normally sit down and start doing work at 9AM.
5. Have a plan of what to do for the day. This list should be one that you can check off throughout the day. You may have a more long term plan that will require a week or a month to complete, but if you break it down into smaller tasks, they become quite manageable.
6. Ensure you take regular breaks – coffee/tea breaks, have a piece of fruit, answer emails or read up on the latest articles on Sydney Morning Herald or News.com.au, which is what I do.
7. Aim to keep fit and regular – I cannot stress this enough. Laziness will do you no good, same goes with working overtime. Eat right, ensure you have enough nutrients and hit the gym or play sports regularly. Looking after yourself will allow you to focus better. I am to hit the gym three times a week and join a regular fitness group called Smashing Calories on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

What I find that can be a challenge as well is managing workload – some weeks you will be bombarded with work, other weeks can end up being dry periods. Coming from a full-time role into a freelance one, the transition from a regular flow of pay to one that comes in chunks can be quite a surprise to some.

To cushion these niggling issues, it is best to prepare well in advanced to avoid such issues.

1. Be on the lookout for jobs and ensure you have them queued up for when you complete the more recent ones. Slot them into a timetable and ensure you have an even load and ensure your customer is okay with you starting on a later date.
2. Take the strain of maintaining a client’s website by offering to do this for them. Draw up support agreements or plans that may allow you to administer a client’s website (e.g. 4 hours a month) for a small fee. The client will most likely see this as a small price to pay to keep their website active and up-to-date.

There are plenty of other things that will keep consistent and the income constant. I’d love to hear of ideas and tips that you may have on how you would combat the challenges of being a freelancer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!