How to Avoid Writing Burnout When Freelancing

Corey: You’ve been doing this for a -long- time. How do you avoid burnout?

Jenn: I take time off whenever I need it. If I want vacation time, I take it. If I want a personal day to recharge, I take it (assuming there are no deadlines that day). If I’m sick, I take downtime to feel better because I’m no good to clients in that state. It’s in everyone’s interest that you avoid burning out, and the only way to do that is to find the right balance for you.

In my case, I only work four days per week. Weekends never felt long enough. By the time I was able to unwind, Monday was coming around again. So I said enough was enough. I now take off every Friday. I also set my general work schedule around times when I’m most productive. I don’t follow this schedule every day, but I try to. It involves getting up at 4am, and starting work at 5am. I work until noon.

I’ve found that I get more done and earn more money working 28 hours a week than I ever did when I was working 40, 60, or even more. People waste a lot of time during the week, and they don’t often realize how much until they pare it down and have to prioritize better. It forces you to streamline things and find ways to work more efficiently.    Once you learn how to do that, the “work smarter, not harder” principle kicks in. You can earn more while working less. And nothing beats burnout better than that.

Jenn’s #1 Freelancing Tip

Market yourself every day, even when you’re busy. It can be as little as commenting on others’ blogs or as big as overhauling your marketing plan. Work to build and maintain your visibility. Stay in touch with past and current clients to land new gigs from them. And be an active member of your professional network to increase the number of referrals you get. Every little bit counts and when you’re good at marketing your freelance services, you can largely avoid the up / down cycle so commonly associated with freelancing.

How Do You Avoid BurnOut?

What’s your number one tip for avoiding freelancing burn-out?

What to Do If You’re Going to Miss a Deadline

Don’t Panic

The first thing you need to remember is that it’s okay to miss a deadline because of an emergency. Life happens. Your clients are people, and they don’t want you slaving over a hot keyboard when you’re in labor anymore than you do. So take a deep breathe and cut yourself some slack.

Contact the Client Immediately

As soon as you realize you won’t be able to make a deadline, contact the client. A lot of freelancers spend time ruminating over whether or not they can squeeze the project in. Take the safer route and let them know that you’ll need more time to provide the quality they’re looking for. Don’t rush projects in the middle of an emergency, or you could face some serious burnout and damage the working relationship.

Don’t Lie

Sometimes you miss a deadline because you didn’t plan ahead. The important thing to remember when telling a client is to never lie about the reason behind a missed deadline. Honesty builds trust between you and the client, and 9 times out of 10, they’ll understand.

Use the Word “Because”

The word “because” has psychological effects, and it’s often used in persuasive writing. Similarly, you should use the word “because” when describing the reason for missing the upcoming deadline. It makes the client resonate the connection between cause and effect, and makes them more likely to be persuaded to take your side. See it in action below with the sample email.

Sample Email

Hey {client},

I’m emailing you this morning to let you know that I won’t be able to meet the deadline of [date] because a family emergency has occurred. I apologize for the inconvenience. I should be able to get you the pieces by [new date]. Let me know if that is sufficient. Otherwise, I will send over the partial work and we can arrange for a partial payment, or we can cancel the job from here. Please let me know,

Your name

What are your tips for notifying a client about deadline requirements? Share them below in the comments.

What is a Niche Blog?

A niche blog is a blog about a specific topic. WW is a niche blog. Headway Hub is a niche blog. Basically, it’s a site that posts articles that cater to a specific kind of audience. If you have the passion and expertise, that audience could fuel some serious income. Just think about what you could do…

Build a Niche Portfolio

We’ve talked about the different types of portfolios before. With a niche blog, you can both grow your potential client base and showcase your expertise to the world.

Create Passive Income

Passive income happens when you utilize the audience your niche blog has to generate profits. This can be done by creating information products, marketing affiliate products, and running advertisements like adsense. Allowing for inactive income lets you take on fewer clients and get way more job satisfaction.

Practice Your Writing

Blogs give you consistent opportunities to write about your topic and practice different writing styles and different forms of writing. One day you might be writing a review when the other you could be conducting an interview. It’s a great way to stretch your mind-muscles.

Cement Your Authority

Being able to write about a topic in-depth is what makes an authority figure an authority figure. When you blog regularly on your niche, you’re saying, “I’m a great writer who knows what I’m talking about.” And isn’t that what high-paying clients are looking for? (The answer is yes.)

If you want to learn more about taking on your own personal project, check out the first edition of “Ask Jen” where Jennifer Mattern talks to us about developing personal projects and diversifying income.

Okay I have presents to receive. Have a great weekend!

Her answers were so thorough, in fact, that I’ve decided to spread them out over the month of August in a column called “Ask Jenn.” Here’s the first one.

Should Freelancers Take On Personal Projects?

Corey: Thanks for joining us, Jenn. The first thing someone notices about you is that you do a lot of independent projects in addition to taking on clients. Do you think a mix of personal projects and clients is needed to be successful?

Jenn: I think diversification is smart in any business model, and especially in writing. That said, I don’t think that means you need non-client income streams to be a successful freelance writer. It helps in that you aren’t limited by billable hours anymore, but you can diversify on the service side as well.

Don’t rely too heavily on a single client or too few of them. Keep marketing to attract new projects from new clients so if one can’t order again as planned you aren’t left wondering where your next payment will come from. I like the independent nature of my own projects and sites. Others prefer taking on more client work. Do what works for you. Diversify the individual income sources to protect yourself.

How to Balance Work and Personal Endeavors

Corey: What is your suggestion for balancing personal and professional work?

Jenn: I don’t think there’s any difference between personal and professional work. Whether it’s for a client or a project of my own, it’s still work, and it still gets scheduled into my working hours. The real challenge is in balancing that collective work and your personal life.

On that side, you have to be able to forgive yourself. You’ll rarely have time to do everything you want to do, both in your business and personal life. That’s okay. You learn to prioritize. You learn to let go of some things. And you learn to work more productively so you don’t have to sacrifice your time with family, friends, and the things you love to do outside of work.

I have days when I feel like a superwoman. I can do anything I put my mind to. It’s like time stops, and I mysteriously can handle several days’ worth of writing in a single morning. Those are the easy days. I finish work early and have more time to devote to my real life — from chores and errands to enjoying a good book or hobby.

Other days go by too quickly. I don’t finish everything on my to-do list. Maybe a I got a late start, so I have to work late. These days seem to drag on endlessly. But you can’t get caught up in them. That just leads to workaholic tendencies. You feel like there’s always more to do, so you work longer hours. You sacrifice your personal life. And it wears you down.

In the end I found that I can do twice as much work in a shorter work day than a longer one. Having a life outside of work increases focus and productivity when you do work. And really I guess that’s how I balance my own projects and client work. I have a life outside both of them, and I value it highly. That gives me the energy to do what needs to be done, whether it’s developing a new site of my own or managing a client’s blog.

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Why Grammar is Actually Important for Web Writing

A lot of new writers and bloggers I come across make the argument that grammar isn’t important because it hinders the ability for writers to get their message across. Using correct grammar is “not important as long as you say what you’re trying to say.” But imagine this:

Two WordPress themes are both available for $50. They both have the exact same features.

One is made entirely out of images and uses tables for the layout. The colors are all over the place and the logo image is a low quality jpg with those ugly splotches all over it.

The other is written in valid HTML and CSS. It’s easy to change and all of the images are formatted correctly so that they display in high resolution.

Which theme do you want to use?

Grammar is the Foundation of Great Writing

Just like HTML and CSS are the foundation for a great WordPress theme, grammar is the foundation for great articles. The truth is, those who denounce grammar are the people who refuse to learn something new.

I’m not afraid to say that these naysayers are lazy writers who simply come up with an excuse to keep from doing what’s necessary to improve their writing and make way more money. They would rather write 50 articles for $0.01/word than a 500 word article for $75.

The better quality you can provide, the more money you will make.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Students – Those Who Want to Learn

Articles are usually written for the students. These are the readers that are looking to be educated by the content you create. This blog is written for the students (you!) to help them further their careers. Another example is Problogger, which teaches new bloggers about running a successful blog.

Writing for the student means using vocabulary that’s easy to understand.

Students also respond to certain types of content, such as definition posts and how-to articles. This is an audience that lives for information and resources. Their goal is eventually to become knowledgeable enough to join…

The Colleagues – Those Who Want to Discuss

Articles written for the colleagues are meant to fuel community discussion and develop relationships with readers.

The best example I can give is Jim Connolly’s blog, where he talks directly to other small business owners. He’s building relationships and presenting ideas for discussion, as opposed to writing tutorials for newcomers.

Colleagues respond to posts that help develop their already established ideals. These articles can include resource discussion and thoughts on industry practices.

Who is your audience? What kinds of articles are you writing to connect with them?

Writing Whale readers have the chance to win a free copy of the freelancer theme complete with setup services.

How to Win a FREE Copy of the Freelancer Theme

It’s super easy to win. All you have to do is enter your email in the box below.

The winner will be announced on August 6th, 2011 at 9am EST. To stay updated on the contest, be sure to follow us on twitter.

About Thomas Usborne

Corey: Hey Tom! I guess we’ll just jump right in. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? Do you do any freelance work?

Tom: Well, my name is Thomas Usborne, and I’m a freelance web developer. I’ve been working with clients for about 3 years now through my company, Midnight Donkey.

I was able to get off to a good start thanks to my Dad, Nick Usborne, who is an excellent web writer. I always wanted to pursue a freelance career like this, and I’m extremely grateful that I’ve been able to do so.

Where Did the Idea Come From?

Corey: Freelancing can definitely be a lot of fun. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. So, where did the actual idea for a WordPress theme just for freelancers come from?

Tom: When my Dad and I get together, we come up with some pretty cool ideas. A couple summers ago, when I had just started to dabble in the World of WordPress, he mentioned that I should develop my own theme geared specifically towards freelancers.

We went through our usual “I don’t know if I can do that”, “Oh shut up yes you can!”, and later that night I started researching WordPress’ API more and coming up with a general focus for the theme.

How the Theme Benefits Freelancers

Corey: I’m definitely glad you decided to go for it. One thing that really impressed me was how usable the theme is. What kind of challenges did you face when making it easy to use for freelancers who aren’t into web development?

Tom: I focus on usability more than anything really – a lot of my clients are freelance writers who want all the control they can get, but can’t be bothered/don’t have the time to learn any of the complicated stuff.

Some people don’t have a problem with hiring a developer/designer to set everything up and make it look pretty, but some people would rather “paint their own canvas” so to speak. So Freelancer Theme gives them the power to be independent in setting up their online presence. Also, I always run my features by my friends and parents, who do a great job at making sure I don’t over complicate things.

Freelancer’s Most Powerful Feature

Corey: Simplicity is definitely a must, and you’ve got that down pact. What’s your favorite feature that’s built into the theme?

Tom: My favorite feature.. that’s a hard one. I think the Visual Options are the most powerful feature Freelancer has to offer. The extent to which you can customize the look of your website is really crazy, it just takes some time and a little imagination. The Visual Options also open up a huge door to freelancers who wish to set up and design websites for their clients. Even someone who has never touched HTML or CSS in their life can design a good looking website in record time.

I also have to mention the Samples/Downloads feature, which is an page/post feature you can use to display samples of your work. It’s an extremely versatile feature that allows it’s user to display their work in an eye pleasing way, without knowing any code. It can be used for content based samples, or you can use it as a full blown image gallery which opens your work in a beautiful lightbox, and allows you to scroll through all of your work like a slideshow – it’s a really, really cool feature once you get to know it.

Handling the Competition

Corey: You seem to be off to a great start, but what about other premium frameworks? Do you see them as competition?

Tom: Absolutely, friendly competition is the driving force behind improvement. There’s thousands and thousands of themes out there people can choose from, so that alone is enough for me to make sure I make Freelancer stand above the rest. Plus, everyone wins when there’s competition – I learn more, and the user gets more =)

The Future of the Freelancer Theme

Corey: Here’s the big one. Where do you see Freelancer theme in a few years from now?

Tom: I’m a pretty ambitious guy, so the sky is the limit for me. Right now, I just want to focus on making the freelancer theme a complete website building platform that anyone can use to their advantage.

Services for Freelancer Users

Corey: Are there any other services that you offer that freelancers should be aware of?

Tom: We offer a setup package for people who want to get straight to building. Setting DNS servers and installing WordPress can be pretty overwhelming if you’ve never touched a website before, so the setup package allows you to sit back and get your content ready while we do all the technical stuff.

Experience the Freelancer Theme

Tom has built a great product that truly doesn’t disappoint. If you’re in the market for a premium theme to power your portfolio, check out my in-depth Freelancer theme review. Then head on over to the theme site and purchase the Freelancer theme.