This weekend was Memorial Day weekend and even though it was a 3-day weekend, I never seemed to find the time to get as much done for my online freelancing business as I had planned. In fact, I completely spaced about a deadline I had on Friday night which is something I’ve never ever done before.
After beating myself up about it last night, I decided to do my very best to rectify the situation by turning in a killer post along with a sincere apology with no B.S. attached. #honestyisthebestpolicy
Anyway, after I got that situation all squared-away, at least from my end now I’m just stuck waiting to hear if I lost my writing gig with that client, I spent some time thinking about what it really means to be self-employed. After all this really happened because after I shut my computer off at my full-time job on Friday I didn’t turn it back on until Monday evening.
On one hand, we all need to take breaks and value our time with friends and family. But on the other, it really happened because I stepped away from my routine and something slipped through the cracks due to me taking some time off.
Does this mean that if you are self-employed you can’t ever take a break? Not necessarily, but you do have to put some additional consideration into it.
Plan Ahead
One of the perks that most people who are fully self-employed list as a benefit is that you don’t have to ask permission to take time off from work. While it’s true that you no longer have to submit a leave slip and hope that it’s approved, you do still have to plan ahead. You either have to work ahead or have a plan to work even during your vacation, which means it’s not really “time off” if you are still working on vacation.
Pay Someone to Work for You
Another choice you have when you are self-employed and you want to have more time off for vacation or on a regular basis is to pay someone to do some of the work for you. Hiring out some tasks of your business is smart as different people have different areas of expertise and this can really work in your favor. On the down-side is that hiring help can be very expensive and if you aren’t careful about it you might end up spending more on business costs than you intend.
Taking time off when you are self-employed is difficult, but not impossible. Unfortunately, this is one thing people often over-look when they are considering becoming self-employed. Self-employed does mean more flexibility to a point, but you still have to get your work done in order to get paid.
I guess the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Do you think it’s more or less difficult to take time off when you are self-employed?
