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Adjusting Your Freelancing Workload

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Have desk, will write
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One of your work from home New Year’s resolutions might be to reduce your freelancing workload, or to find more time for other pursuits. This is important, since you don’t want to be stressed too much about what is happening in your home business, and have it encroach too much on the rest of your life. However, it is important to carefully consider your options before adjusting your freelancing workload. Here are some things to consider as you work on changing things up with your home business:

* Cost efficiency of clients. Consider renegotiating your fee with clients you have had for a long time, giving them a chance to pay what you are worth. Some clients, though, may not be cost efficient at all, and it is time to let them go.

* Stress level associated with clients. Sometimes your relationship with a client is more of a factor. If you don’t like the work, or if the client stresses you out, or you find the work difficult to deal with, it can be a good idea to cut ties with that client, and keep a less stressful client, even if s/he is less cost efficient.

* What you can handle. Consider your quality of life. If you can afford to cut back in order to spend more time with your family, or do something for yourself, it might be a good idea to do so.

For courtesy’s sake, though, it is a good idea to let your clients know at least two weeks in advance, so that they have time to make other arrangements.

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Home Business New Year’s Resolutions

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umair shuaib.
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As the new year approaches, many of us think about what we would like to accomplish in 2010. I’ve got my own personal and financial resolutions, as well as a couple for my home business. I thought about what I’d like to accomplish, and asked myself a few questions. And, really, I came up with a rather short list of home business New Year’s resolutions:

* Cut ties with clients that demand more and pay less.

* Focus on developing a more targeted plan with social media.

* Begin deciding which clients to cut as my husband finishes his Ph.D. and looks for a job.

I am really fairly satisfied with my home business overall, and quite happy with the way things have been going. I am fortunate in my connections, and my hard work laying a foundation over the years has paid off. Now it’s about refining my focus to a point where I might have time to write my own book or develop my personal blog. Those goals are another year or three in the future, but what I do now will eventually get me there.

Do you have New Year’s resolutions for your home business?

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Setting Home Business Goals for 2010: Ask these Questions First

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Image by Billie Hara via Flickr

Everyone sets goals this time of year. And that includes home business owners. We are all interested in setting goals to provide some sort of guidance in the coming year. And it is also a good time to reflect on how things went this year. As you look toward 2010, it is a good idea to stop a minute and consider this past year. Freelance Folder offers five questions you should ask yourself before you start setting your home business goals for next year:

1. Are you doing what you want to be doing?

2. Which projects did you most struggle with? Why?

3. Did you lose customers? Why?

4. Did you gain customers? Why?

5. Are you comfortable with your typical workload?

When I began asking myself these questions, it really opened my eyes to how things have been going and what I might want to accomplish for next year. As a result, I’ve been holding off on my home business goals for 2010. But I think I’m about ready to make them.

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Merry Christmas from WorkShak!

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Today is Christmas Eve, and if you’re like me, you’re operating on a shorter schedule. But the home business rarely gets a day off! So you’re probably hurry to finish a few things up so that you don’t have to do anything tomorrow. I know I am!

Hopefully, you have received the gift of a successful home business this year — or at least one that is on the road to success.

Merry Christmas!

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I’d Have a Breakdown, But I Don’t Have The Time

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swearing in cartoon
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Sometimes we all feel overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to do as home business owners. And, during the holidays, this can be even more challenging. There are family functions to attend, and kids are home from school. And domestic partners might have time off. All of this can combine to create a situation in which you just don’t seem to have a lot of time to accomplish what you’d like. Hell, sometimes it’s difficult to get done what you need to do.

I know. I’m the verge of a breakdown myself. I’d like to go curl up in a fetal position somewhere and just completely lose it for about an hour. But I don’t have the time. Everything is spiraling out of control, and, quite frankly, I’ve been up late a lot with company and I was completely unconscious for two hours longer than usual this morning. Which means that I didn’t enjoy it because I wasn’t aware of the problem until I woke up and saw the clock. At which point I leaped out of bed thinking horrible swear words inside my head.

So I’ve though of some fatal mistakes that I made in the lead up to this week:

* Foolishly agreeing to a long-term freelancing project two weeks ago, even though I knew I’d have company.

* Trying to do everything. I mean, I cleaned the house. I should have just left it.

* Not doing enough extra when I had the time. Poor preparation.

I did a little preparation, but not nearly enough. However, I have started telling people that I am unavailable for anything new until after the new year. Because I just can’t handle it. But I’m thinking that tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be busy and long.

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Freelancing: Do Your Clients Value Your Time?

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The Gift album cover

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. I have a client who has a very small regular order, and he is one of my oldest clients, so re-negotiations have been few and far between. But this client also expects quite a lot from me, asking for more and more, even though he is my smallest client. After I got off a 30 minute phone call with someone he wanted me to interview for a longer piece that we didn’t negotiate beyond the usual monthly quota, I asked myself: What am I doing? Does this guy even value my time, or value my work as a professional?

It struck me that those that pay the least often expect the most from you.

Then, a couple hours later, I received an Amazon gift code for a rather substantial sum in my email inbox. This was from a different client (for whom I do a different sort of work) — one of my biggest. These guys have a lot of regular, good-paying work for me. And they sent me a very nice Christmas bonus on top of everything. This company truly values me and my time and wants to establish a very positive working relationship with me.

It made me wonder if I should raise my rate for the other guy. Would he value me more if he had pay more for my services? Or would he dump me? After yesterday, I’m not sure that I would mind.

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Are You Optimistic About Your Personal Economy in 2010?

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Country Financial
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Many people who make money from home are looking toward 2010 and working out how they feel about their prospects. This makes for an interesting look forward. The COUNTRY Financial Security Index measures how people feel about the economy and tracks trends about financial security. It’s pretty evenly split in terms of what people feel about financial prospects for 2010, reports COUNTRY:

As 2009 draws to a close, Americans are almost evenly divided on their future financial predictions for 2010, according to a survey conducted in connection with this month’s COUNTRY Financial Security Index®. Twenty-nine percent say things will be better, 28 percent say things will be worse and 32 percent think the status quo will prevail.

It’s an interesting look at the general attitudes in the country. I, personally, think that mine will stay pretty close to the same. The recession didn’t have much of an effect on my freelance home business, and I doubt things will change much for me.

Where do you fit in? Are you hopeful for a better year in your personal economy?

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