This weekend I met up with a friend from college who has a cushy new consulting job. "My boss is so chill," she gushed. "We get six weeks of paid time off, and I can take a day off whenever I want."
I almost choked on my veggie burger and asked for a referral. Almost. "Yeah, my boss can be a real b**** sometimes," I confided. "She wouldn't let me take off Columbus Day, and she makes me put in lots of overtime."
My friend laughed, thinking I was kidding. I wasn't.
Show of hands: how many of you work harder and longer at freelancing than you did when you were working for the man?
I thought so. Many of us leave our jobs for the flexibility of freelancing, then end up feeling we're chained to our laptops pounding out query letters and emails to editors (or maybe that's just me on an especially intense day). Of course, most of this pressure is self-induced, because freelancers tend to be highly driven and hard-working. And we'd rather boss ourselves than have someone else running our lives.
Steph Auteri has a great post reminding us not to skimp on sleep, food, or bonding time. How do you balance your personal needs with your professional drive? When you're crunched for time, what needs are non-negotiable?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Susan,
Let us not forget the other man we're all working for regardless of workplace, gender, race, ethnicity, and so on - the tax man - who always manages to come out on top!
Mark
@Mark: how could I forget? I have a quarterly date with the tax man, so we're intimately familiar (too close, many would say).
LOL - I wish I knew! If health and safety labour laws ever came into effect for freelancers I'd be in big trouble! ;)
My hand's up!
My hand is up, too. My boss can be a real witch and does not let me goof off at the pool during the day as much as I would like to. :) But then again, I can just tell her to shut up! And I do!
In all seriousness, I do work harder now than I did in corporate America, but I love it. I am a newcomer to freelance translation, and I am still figuring it all out. Even when I am crunched for time, I do something outside the house every day, even if it's just a long run, lunch with a friend, happy hour, etc. Many days, I will have two social activities, and when I am busy, I choose one (or none, if necessary). Sleep is non-negotiable; I need it. I get eight hours' sleep, pretty consistently.
I work seven days a week but I don't think I could stop if I tried. I love it! Some days are shorter than other depending on social commitments, but for the most part I'm always in front of my computer doing something related to my freelance work. But it doesn't really feel like work most of the time. How lucky are we?!
@Monica: on a good day I feel lucky and a bad day I feel like I'm insane for doing this! But overall, I'm glad I did.
Absolutely! I worked on Columbus Day too. The upside is sometimes I take random "just because" days off--although those are getting fewer and farther between lately.
To be honest my boss is often a slacker. I'm forever getting on her case because she'd rather spend an extra hour in bed. Still, sometimes she's got me working till the early hours in the morning.
Sometimes I've wondered if I'd be better suited to a 9-to-5. Would having someone else in charge of the hours I work make me more productive? Probably not. lol
Post a Comment