Have you heard of freelance business hours yet? ⏱
Didn't you know? You are available 24/7 my friend.
Some time ago, I pitched a time-sensitive project to a client on an early Friday morning. I had to get a green light within the next few hours to be able to complete the project on time.
The morning went by, then the afternoon, but each time I checked my email … crickets. 🦗
Around 5 PM, I closed my laptop with a sigh and accepted this project would not see the light of day.
In the end, I got the go-ahead the next day – a Saturday – in the form of an email (which I did not see) and a follow-up text message (which I of course saw) a few minutes later.
Getting such a work-related message on my phone out of the blue prompted a mix of emotions.
First came a rush of panic when I saw the text message notification and the sender’s name. Clients generally only text me on weekends when there is an emergency that I need to help fix.
Then I read the actual message and annoyance kicked in. Because I realised there was, in fact, no emergency situation. Yet here I was, performing my usual, messy routine of trying to leave my place on time to get somewhere – when suddenly I’m yanked back to work and thinking about work. I was annoyed because this text was the virtual equivalent of a client showing up at my door unannounced and uninvited.
Next, I got frustrated because I was unsure how to respond. Text her back and abandon my rule of not engaging with work on weekends, unless I absolutely have to? Or not text her back but feel guilty all weekend about stressing her out with my silence and/or coming across as flaky?
I’m aware that some (many?) bosses probably intrude on employees’ downtime in the same way this client did, but freelancers face unique challenges when it comes to resisting the time pressures put on us by some clients.
The time commitment employees make to their employers is literally spelled out in their contracts. It’s obvious when someone can reasonably be assumed to be available and when they are likely to be enjoying some down time. They’re called office hours.
But when you’re a freelancer who works on a project basis – as many freelancers, including myself, do – your office hours aren’t so clear. I could be a freelancer who works Thursdays through Mondays for instance. Or someone who prefers to work early mornings and logs off by two in the afternoon.
Fair enough, right? My clients cannot know that I don’t work weekends, so it’s on me to make that clear to them.
But there’s another subtler dynamic at play, one that I find really unfair and really difficult to combat. It’s the unrealistic and harmful expectation that freelancers are always “on”. That they are always available, that there is never a bad time to call them up, that they don’t do weekends and that there is always room in their agenda for a short-notice assignment. In short, the stereotype that freelancers have no business hours because they’re always working.
An example: I send in a first draft of a project, the client never so much as acknowledges that they’ve received it, one or two weeks go by where I don’t hear anything from them, BUT then they want me to make some last-minute changes within the next hour.
And I could give you so many more frustrating examples, but the main point is this: it feels like a client is holding up hoops and I have to jump through them to get the prize … I mean, assignment.
I like to think I’m flexible with my availability. I do take last-minute assignments when my favourite clients ask me to and I try to accommodate clients’ schedules as much as I can – particularly those who are in different time zones. But it really bugs me when clients just assume their schedule fully overlaps with mine.
It takes a lot of fortitude not to drop everything to get back to a client ASAP when the subject line begins with URGENT!!! It’s hard not to let myself be swayed by that pressure, to shake off the fear that I will be considered an unreliable, lazy, unresponsive or inflexible freelancer if I don’t drop everything I was doing to help out a client. And, of course, that they’ll hire someone else the next time they have a job.
I became a freelancer because there were no jobs when I graduated, but one of the reasons I’ve remained a freelancer is that I love working on my own schedule. And the fact that I keep strict boundaries between work and play obviously does not make me lazy. Right?
Is this something you’ve also struggled with? What are the time pressures like in your industry and how do you deal with them?
Speak soon,
Lazy Linda
What I’m reading, watching, listening to this week:
I spent a good 30 minutes scrolling through my Facebook feed so I could dig up this video for you! It’s not quite as funny as I remember it to be, but I still think it encapsulates the unglamourous realities of freelance life pretty well. Particularly that Skype call lie!
I’ve really been enjoying Creative Boom’s Instagram posts. Aside from the odd inspirational quote, this UK platforms mostly highlights the work of creative professionals. And who doesn’t want some amazing artworks to pop up in their feeds ???