The goal when I started this freelancer journey was to try and maintain a maximum three-day week, safeguarding the weekend as well as the two days with my daughter, wherever possible. The second challenge was to try and at least maintain the level of income I\u2019d had in employment. What I\u2019ve found is that I\u2019m playing a giant game of contract tetris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge in taking on new work is two-fold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, it\u2019s got to sit well week-to-week. I need to make sure any contracts I have don\u2019t add up to more than that three-day week, and realistically less than that to make sure I have time for the business admin I need to do alongside contract work. It\u2019s sometimes tricky to work out, given each contract is different, with some being fairly fixed and some being completely output-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m currently doing one role which is quite a set pattern each week (but with some flexibility where needed), another which is set hours across a month that can be flexed however they\/I need, and another which is a one-off event. For this last one, while the event itself is set, and we\u2019ve had some time-bound prep meetings, the rest of the preparation I\u2019ve been able to do whenever it suits. All of them have an element of fixed time, either through meetings, events or deadlines but flexibility to do remaining work across the week. While my contracted hours this week used all my three-day availability, I went into overtime doing my business admin (invoice, CPD, IT problem, marketing, and several hours of prep work for pitching for new work). Hopefully more of a one-off than a regular thing because I took the event on as a sudden extra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second challenge is looking at how contracts sit together longer term. There\u2019s something I want to explore more \u2013 whether high turnover of clients (because the work is say event delivery) or having fewer, longer-term relationships is better. My gut says maybe a mixture of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we begin October, I\u2019ve got:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s ended up a funny situation to have one contract extended and another shortened, both unexpectedly. Financially, it definitely worked out in my favour that way round. But one implication is that unless either extends, that\u2019s both ending in December which definitely isn\u2019t ideal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, behind the scenes I\u2019ve been doing a fair amount of looking and applying for other work. In the end, I\u2019ve applied as a collaboration with a freelance contact to undertake a fairly big monitoring, evaluation and learning contract together that would run for a year until next summer. Alongside that, I\u2019ve also applied to be a freelance trainer with another charity, and last week interviewed for another role that would be 4-6 days a month. At the same time, I saw two other roles I\u2019d love to have applied for but with a fairly full week and then the additional application work on top, I had to draw the line!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s essentially a giant game of tetris. If I\u2019d been successful in all of those applications, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to take them on. There was a brief family chat about whether my husband would reduce hours, take some of the weekday childcare and I increase mine but it started to get very tangled. And honestly, I wouldn\u2019t want to lose all of that time with my daughter, especially as it\u2019s so limited before she starts school, and it\u2019s a bonus way of keeping up with friends when our days off match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While it seems crazy to spend so much effort looking like you\u2019re trying to overcommit yourself (and how on earth do you handle a conversation of \u201cyes I know I applied but now I don\u2019t have time?\u201d if it ever comes to it?!!), realistically it\u2019s the safest thing to do. One of the biggest challenges of this move is that you\u2019re responsible for finding and securing your own work. Constantly. And that fear of not having enough, or even any, is always there. So even when my weeks look well filled right now, I\u2019m still scanning across the various platforms to check out other opportunities. A bit like Rightmove, it\u2019s fun to constantly have a look and see what\u2019s out there, even if right now I\u2019m not after anything. But whereas I\u2019m not after a new house for, well, potentially ever, I know my need for new contracts is imminent so keeping an eye out is astute from a business perspective because I need to be ready when the right thing comes up. With that in mind, I do need to think carefully about keeping a slice of my week safeguarded for that contract hunting as a minimum, let alone the additional work of writing proposals and submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt I achieved a massive coup recently when a previous client came back with further work. I think that\u2019s one aspect of the jigsaw \u2013 aiming to build a pool of clients who will keep boomeranging back with additional projects. I also think I\u2019ve been lucky (but maybe it’s more common than I realised) to have to contracts with such regular hours as it\u2019s provided such a reliable income. The true gold dust though I hear is to be add in the elusive retainer. Probably more common in other sectors than charity, and maybe also other roles e.g. its more likely I think you\u2019d keep someone on retainer for IT, risk, fundraising, areas with a more regular need. But having a regular retainer income is definitely work-goal territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I need to secure extensions or new contracts for January onwards, which is an interesting balancing act because I haven\u2019t got time to fit much more work in right now. So, I\u2019m hoping either one of my recent applications will come good, or more opportunities for the right time period come up. I\u2019m feeling more confident lately on where to hunt for opportunities, and it can only help that I\u2019m starting to build a portfolio of experience with previous clients, and testimonials alongside. I also had a really good experience recently writing a proposal with a freelance contact which has sown a seed about undertaking future opportunities in collaboration. I feel like keeping an eye on my projected income about 3 months from now is about the right timeline to make sure I\u2019m clear on whether I\u2019m \u201cfull\u201d or in need of securing more and need to up my application game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by Ben Stern<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The goal when I started this freelancer journey was to try and maintain a maximum three-day week, safeguarding the weekend as well as the two days with my daughter, wherever possible. The second challenge was to try and at least maintain the level of income I\u2019d had in employment. What I\u2019ve found is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34],"tags":[13,11,12,21,10],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contracts","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t