#freelance-gigs

No specific advice to share but I relate. I am juggling freelancing with a demanding day job plus family life with my wife and daighter

I am.
Don't take on too much. Even though you want to. When you realize you can work all the time and make extra money, you kind of want to. You will need to say no to some projects that you want to do.
When you're working, don't get distracted by other things. Do your work. Block off time that is specific to work and specific to yourself and your family.
In 2020, I worked day and night, plus having a family, and my daughter was home with me all the time. So not much sleep, daycare, and work all the time.
When it finally slowed down, I realized how much I was running on fumes. It took me a while before I was ready to take on additional projects again because I was burnt-out on doing anymore than the minimum.
I'm much better this time around on making time for things other than work! I don't want to feel the way I did before, so I use my time better.

Thanks for sharing a bit of your story @Hannah Wiginton. I've got 3 kids 5 and under, and I can definitely relate to a lot of what you said.

I've been experimenting more with time-blocking and building some additional systems/processes over the last few weeks...here's hoping they pay dividends in the future 🤞

Prioritize what you love the most.

Hey @Larry Barker! I am a part-time freelancer alongside my full-time job. I'm working at a startup and with work from home, there is not a 9 to 5 check-in. Sometimes I end up working more than 8 to 9 hours at my full-time job and barely have the brain juice to create content for my freelance clients.

I changed my way of working as a freelancer, wherein I started requesting a list of tasks/articles to be written a week in advance.

For example, I would say, have a list of 6 articles to be written in a week. So then I can calculate how many hours will I need to invest per article and accordingly work around that without affecting my full-time job.

It's still a struggle, but hey, it pays the bills haha!

It is such a struggle. The biggest thing that has helped me is to get into a routine (easier said than done with young kids I know). For example, every single day I am up at 5, and I get a workout and an hour of client work in before my kids wake up. Every Sunday am, I work from 6-9am, strictly focused on my client work. Just picking some hours to really commit to and focus (and having the support of a partner) really has helped me stabilize amidst those feelings of chaos.

I've been doing this for about 4 years. Like @Michaela Mendes said, it's easiest to stick to a schedule.

I tend to spend half a Sunday and then Monday, Tuesday evening. Otherwise you torture yourself all the time about not working more.

The toughest part is not taking on too much and hitting deadlines. I pre-schedule what I'm going to work on and when in my calendar, giving myself a day or two of wiggle room if something personal comes up. That way, I know if I have to say 'no' to a new project and I get a little peace of mind that all the work will get done.

That said: it's not easy! I recently cut back quite a bit for work/life balance.

But I will say it's been the best thing to push my 9-5 career forward. I've gotten to see lots of content teams' workflows/processes and taken away small lessons from every client. In a 9-5 you're not as frequently exposed to new things (if you're a content writer day in, day out)

love this. Thanks for the input everyone!

Increase prices and be pickier about who you work with. As well as all of the other great tips on here.

This has gotten me in all the feels @Larry Barker while I don't have a 9-5 - I am 100% freelance and I struggle with work/life balance a ton. (even though you're "supposed" to have more of it when you freelance..but..) I have 2 kiddos 4 &9. My husband says that I have such a hard time breaking between work/home, but it's hard when I don't have a "set" time to work like you do 9-5. When you are at home as "mom" or "dad" your kids don't think you're at work, because...duh you are sitting right there. So I'm always back and forth and back and forth, where as my 9-5 work was cut and dry. While this doesn't help, and it's a woe is me, the struggle is real everywhere - and I'm sending you support/good vibes!

Thanks @Julie Simpson! I hear you on the struggle and I hope you figure out what works well for you in this season!

Hi @Larry Barker I have a FT job and freelance and have 2 kids. My kids are 6 and 12 so it’s a bit easier than 5 and under. I don’t take any rush work and schedule projects ahead of time. I’m getting better at adding some extra time to my timeline for the unexpected. Still working on not working every evening.

Thanks for starting this thread, @Larry Barker! I’m so amazed by all the responses here and the moms and dads that are juggling kids and two jobs.

I have a FT teaching job in South Korea and manage a team of teachers in a small English academy. Over the last 2 years, my job has become more and more stressful and demanding. The only reason I’m still there (I do love it!) and running my freelancing biz part-time is because I’m not quite ready to leave Korea and need the job to secure my visa.

Despite not having kids or a full-time live-in partner, I’ve still been finding it difficult to move forward and not stress out. I meet with a therapist online once a week and a few weeks ago, she said, “It sounds like you’re on the edge of burnout.” And I was.

I’m still trying to figure out a normal routine where I can fit everything in and feel sane. But I think the most valuable thing I’ve done in the last few months was hire a therapist – NOT a biz coach which was the route I went previously – to help me identify where and when I need to step back and take breaks. It’s been so rewarding to pay someone to listen to me whine about things and comfort me when it’s warranted or kick me in the proverbial pants when I need to “boss up.” Finding a truly objective person has been a game changer and I know it will help me get better organized and prioritized for the rest of the year!