I review my last month's freelance work schedule, and determine whether or not it makes sense to keep dividing up the month.
Every so often, I try a new freelance work experiment. Last month, I decided to divide the month into sections, front-loading the month with most of my regular work.
Now that the month is over, and I am into a new month, I want to review the process, and decide how it went.
Freeing Up More Time at the End of the Month
One of the things I liked about front-loading my freelance work for the money is that there was more time at the end of the month. Not that I used it as effectively as I should have.
I liked this because I had most of the regular stuff out of the way, and I didn't have to worry about it the rest of the month. This allowed me to feel less rushed throughout, since I wasn't worrying about whether or not I needed to get another post written for one of the regular blogging clients. Instead, I focused on bigger projects, and had time to work on a few of my pet projects, most notably the new Money Mastermind Show that I'm doing with some other personal finance bloggers.
Overall, I enjoyed the outcome because I took advantage of feeling fresh and optimistic and banged out a lot of my work items early on, when I felt best.
This also turned out well because I ended up with some unexpected and time-consuming life events on my plate as well during the month. The flexibility in my schedule, resulting from front-loading my freelance work for the month, turned out to be a godsend.
How Will It Work During the Summer?
The real test of this new freelance work schedule will come now that it's summer. Summer comes with its own schedule challenges, since my son is home from school and my husband's teaching schedule changes. Plus, I am still dealing with some Life Things.
However, I hope to maintain the main thrust of last month's freelance work experiment. I've got some challenges to work around, but it should be fine. At least I hope so.
One of the great things about my “job” is that it comes with a great deal of flexibility. I don't have to work during certain times of the day. Well, most of the time anyway. There are some clients that expect me to turn in my work during the earlier part of the day. By and large, though, I can work whenever it makes the most sense for me.
I think I will kind of miss the freelance work schedule I enjoyed earlier in the year. I can still adhere to parts of it, particularly the working as much as possible earlier in the day. But I might need to change my exercise schedule around (the pool schedule changes with summer swimming lessons), and I have to account for the fact that I've promised my son the ultimate Summer. Of. HIKING.
Overall, though, I should still have plenty of time for my work, provided I remain productive during the times I should be working.
That's the other thing I have to face about the reality of freelance work. I got a little lazy last month because I got so much done early on. I kind of lounged around a bit, and there were days I put of work or did nothing to improve myself or my business. I watched too many Honest Trailers and read too many SF/Fantasy novels. The fact that I have so much going on this summer will, I hope, help me get my butt in gear and be a little more productive.
