When There Isn’t Enough Time in the Day: Balancing Freelancing and a Full-Time Job
Today’s guest post is written by Shelby L. Graves, MPH, CHES, Shelby Graves Freelance.
Are you considering adding a freelancing role to your full-time workload? It’s important to have a plan for organizing your schedule and preventing burnout.
Those of us who freelance or work as consultants receive questions about how to get into the freelancing field, balance our time, and make more money on quite a regular basis. Fortunately, Leah Roman has fantastic resources on how to dive into the world of consulting through her blog and courses. At the risk of sounding cliche, I will posit that we do not talk about the real work/life balance of freelancing and consulting near enough.
If you want to be successful as a freelancer or consultant, you will need to put in the legwork to plan for your work/life balance. Read ahead to learn more about my experience in freelancing while working a full-time job in public health.
My Own Experience
I trace my ability to balance multiple roles back to - you guessed it - grad school. During my MPH experience, I worked as a Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Nanny, and Graduate Intern, all while completing 12-15 hours of coursework per semester. Was this a healthy work/life balance? Certainly not. Did I gain valuable time management skills? You bet.
I first started freelancing as a part-time writer in 2017. I started writing 1-5 articles per month and also assisted with content creation for a private company’s social media accounts. At the time, I was working as a Global Health Fellow, so my schedule was more flexible. I worked approximately 40-45 hours per week between my Fellowship and freelancing. This was the easiest workflow to manage.
Things “got serious,” when I took on writing for a new company in 2019, while also working as a full-time Health Policy Analyst. My work for a local health department was capped at 40 hours per week, making it easier to take on writing jobs over the weekend. This definitely filled my schedule beyond my 40 hour per week workflow, but it was also exciting to apply my creativity to a regular gig and bring in more money. By the fall, I decided to add services to my freelancing website, solidifying my role as an independent freelancer.
Fast forward to 2021, and I now work closer to 45 hours per week in my full-time role (thank you, pandemic), write 4-8 articles per month as a freelance writer, and offer comprehensive professional development services to budding public health professionals. This means I’m sometimes working 60 hours per week.
I have held down this workflow for close to two years and have learned a lot about my own work style and cycles of burnout. Now I can share some of my insights to help others to avoid burning out. Spoiler alert - you need time management skills, sound stress management techniques, and a high level of flexibility to balance freelancing and a full-time job.
My Tips for Better Balance
When I first started freelancing, I wanted to hit the ground running. The opportunity to mix up my daily routine, apply my creativity to a new area, and bring in additional pay was invigorating. I took on new clients and assignments with zeal - and at much too low a rate. This led to my first bout of true, debilitating burnout since grad school.
I had to take a break from writing and freelancing for a full month, re-evaluate my rates, revisit my boundaries, and incorporate new tools into my workflow to get myself back on track. I developed the following tips for a better work/life balance while freelancing and working full-time.
Be realistic with your schedule. It’s important to plan your schedule, client caseload, and partnering events in advance. Take a look at the number of hours you work and commute for your full-time job. Then actually clock the time you spend with clients, preparing client work, and applying for new freelancing/consulting work. Once you have a close estimate of the hours you spend working, you can better plan both your work and rest. Set your ideal and maximum client caseloads prior to accepting new clients or assignments. Stick to your established capacity and revisit this often.
Get the right tools. I use a number of tools to help me stay on top of my deadlines. Examples of helpful tools include Google Calendar, a TimeTimer, Dropbox, Toggl, and HootSuite. You want to schedule social media content and posting in advance, have all your meetings clearly marked on your schedule, and keep all your client files meticulously organized. This will help you to stay on top of your deadlines, spend less time tracking the small details, and create a more balanced schedule.
Revisit your pricing. Clients are not only paying for your product, they are also paying for your time. The more limited your time, the more valuable your consultation services can become. I recommend revisiting your price list to ensure you are being paid appropriately for your time and services. This is something I am actively working on, because I have all my products and services priced to a full-time student budget. However, having too low of prices can result in taking on too much work at a time to bridge the gap in your income. This leads to burnout - not to mention, additional stress when it comes time to pay your quarterly self-employment taxes.
Say no more often. If you are freelancing, you will inevitably be asked to partner for events, promote other freelancers’ work, or work for free. You have to learn how to say no when your plate is too full or someone is asking too much of you. If you are uncomfortable shutting people down in DMs or email - offer additional consultation options or a free Q&A Day, but stick to your service guidelines and boundaries.
Schedule time off in advance. We all need rest. Whether you are working a part-time, full-time, or multiple jobs - you are going to need to schedule time off. As a freelancer, you aren’t guaranteed paid time off, but you can rearrange your workflow or deadlines. As you progress as a freelancer, you will likely notice trends in lulls and influxes in your work. Take advantage of these patterns or anticipated lulls by scheduling time off. This might include opting out of assignments or client work for one weekend or even one full month. You will come back refreshed and ready to tackle new projects.
Post and stick to your boundaries. You need to write down your boundaries. Once you have evaluated your freelancing boundaries, you may want to post them publicly. This is mostly applicable to those who run social media pages and are managing daily DMs from followers or clients. I have my boundaries posted on my page and in my highlights. I also regularly share them for new followers. This will help you to calm some of the background noise that comes along with freelancing and managing a social media platform.
Additional Resources for Support
There are so many resources for freelancers and consultants that can help you to get on track with your work/life balance. A few of the resources I recommend are:
About Shelby:
Shelby is a full-time public health professional and part-time freelancer. Her background includes working in state and local public health systems and writing for reputable healthcare websites. You can learn more about her at shelbygravesfreelance.com or follow her on Instagram @seriously.shelbs.