Freelancers do not; on the whole have the rigidly controlled day that employees at work have. This can be a benefit or a problem. Many people become freelancers because they are self motivated and hardworking and want the flexibility to organise their own work life perhaps around their family life or range of freelancing projects. They like the uncertainty, the sense of personal control (though it can sometimes feel more hectic) and the achievement of directing their own life and mainly choosing their own work. These are the kind of people who are successful freelancing. However, others think that the flexible freelancing lifestyle means more that they will find things more relaxing, less pressurised –and they are right. You can stay in bed all day and do nothing – and no-one will bother you. On the other hand you’ll not make it freelancing. If a person cannot self motivate and self-manage then they are doomed. The son of a friend of mine decided to freelance from home, but instead of making client calls he would sit and watch horse racing on his laptop. He could not steel himself to do work he found stressful. Wrong!
To manage the freelancing lifestyle successfully networking is paramount: keep in touch with people you trained with, people you worked with, attend conferences in your area, use the internet, social networking sites, clients, friends of clients – listen to people, see how other people find work. Create your own support network.
It is also essential that you keep your administration up to date – and seek help from administrative services such as accountants or secretarial services if you are not able to do this yourself – even use a call answering service to organise you diary.