It\u2019s a phrase I\u2019ve heard so many times \u2013 that freelancing is all about feast or famine. Newbies and established players seem to agree on it, there will be times when you have more work than you know what to do with, and times when you worry how you\u2019ll pay the mortgage. It\u2019s simply a roller-coaster you have to ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, after a frustratingly busy summer (when I\u2019d hoped to have more time off for the school holidays), I entered autumn in a quieter period of work. Having done one period like it earlier in the year, I was ready, and I had a plan. Here\u2019s how it worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great thing about being really busy over summer was that I banked more work, and more income, and it was able to sit there was a buffer for my quieter autumn. My side of the mortgage and bills was covered for a while and that really took the pressure off. I\u2019m regularly grateful for my savers mindset, and I realise now it\u2019s one of the greatest strengths I bring to running my own business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My biggest focus was myself. I suddenly had the space to do the two big courses I\u2019ve been dreaming about for a year, with very little to stop me other than some childcare juggling and gritting my teeth about the expense. I\u2019m now a certified coach and certified in the LEGO\u00ae Serious Play\u00ae facilitation method and both have brought a huge amount of learning, new connections and joy over the last few months. I couldn\u2019t be more glad that I got the chance to do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I consciously put a chunk of this time towards offering pro bono support in areas I want to do more in \u2013 mentoring, coaching and action learning sets. I\u2019ve loved the opportunity to test new concepts, practice and develop myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other area of focus was downtime \u2013 I managed more lunchtime swims, walking a friend\u2019s dog and book reading than ever before. It did me the world of good. I even managed tv in the day once \u2013 and managed to feel hugely guilty I wasn\u2019t working in the middle of a random Wednesday. Action point to myself, let go of the guilt about downtime. When you\u2019ve earnt it, luxuriate in it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by\u00a0Jon Flobrant<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a phrase I\u2019ve heard so many times \u2013 that freelancing is all about feast or famine. Newbies and established players seem to agree on it, there will be times when you have more work than you know what to do with, and times when you worry how you\u2019ll pay the mortgage. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":589,"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":[37],"tags":[13,11,15,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-development","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-founder","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","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