How I Take Time Off from Work as Freelance Writer
Early October, I took a one-week trip to Dublin and London. Last Monday, I had dental surgery and spent a week on the couch watching trash TV, reading, and doing creative writing.
That's basically two weeks off in October. Yet, October was one of my highest earning months this year.
How did I do this?
If you are working a regular W2 job, you will have X vacation days. Upon approval off your boss, you can take them whenever you please.
This is not the case for freelancers. We don't have vacation days. We make them ourselves.
Many freelancers fall into the mistake of not taking time off. I did too. Even though I intentionally worked part-time hours from the very beginning, I didn't take vacations. I had days off during the week. I managed to have 2-3 or even 4 days off. But never a week. I took my work on trips. No more. The past few years, I've learned how to take time off.
I had a few options and I chose what felt the best for me.
If you work with short-term clients, taking time off is easy. You simply don't take on work during X period. This is not my case, though. I work with long-term clients with ongoing weekly work.
I could tell my clients that I'm going on vacation. That would be fine. But I would lose money in the process. And with too much time off, maybe I would run the risk of losing some clients too.
I could outsource. But I don't want to.
Instead, I choose to work ahead each time I take time off.
I expect clients to give me my assignments ahead of time. Many of them have their content calendar planned 1 - 3 months ahead. Others are not that organized but they still give me plenty of time. If all else fails, I can also just ask them to give me a topic ahead of time. It's never been an issue.
Then I work. Since I already work part-time hours, it's not difficult to add on a few extra hours to work ahead. I often do that anyways. I still didn't have to work 40+ hours a week to work ahead and clear my schedule for my trip and surgery.
So how can I work part-time hours and still make a comfortable full-time income? Pricing my work right helps. But more on that another time.
I hope this has given you some options on how to take vacations. I also hope it has given you permission to take time off. Taking time off is so important. You don't have to burn out :)
Let's change hustle culture. More time off. More mental health care. More 'you time'. More joy in your work. No burnouts.
I believe in you,
Kat
ps. I have a course now, you can sign up here: https://nohustlefreelancer.com/no-hustle-freelance-writer-course
You can read my blog or follow me on Linkedin for more: https://nohustlefreelancer.com/blog and https://www.linkedin.com/in/katgal/
Today's pep talk:
"I think the first thing - if you want to be a writer - the first thing you need to do is write. Which sounds like an obvious piece of advice. But so many people have this feeling they want to be a writer and they love to read but they don't actually write very much. The main part of being a writer, though, is being profoundly alone for hours on end, uninterrupted by email or friends or children or romantic partners and really sinking into the work and writing. That's how I write. That's how writing gets done." - Sheryl Strayed