Over the holiday weekend, I received an urgent email from a client asking about the status of a newsletter that needed to be sent out before the end of the month. The only problem was, I hadn’t gotten the original email. Thanks to autofill, she’d accidentally sent it to another Jake in her address book. My decision was easy: She’s a fantastic long-term client who’d made an honest mistake, so I took a break from repairing the deck and completed her job. This event coincided with several discussions I saw on Facebook with freelancers talking (and some complaining) about having to work over the holiday weekend, which brings me to today’s topic: setting freelance client boundaries. [Read more…]
It’s not so bad being busy
Last weekend I was outside doing some yardwork, and two neighborhood elementary schoolgirls were doing laps through the cul de sac. First, they came buzzing through on scooters. Then, a couple of circles around on bikes. Next came rollerblades. Then once again, with one of them on a bike, towing the other (somewhat perilously, with a bungee cord) on old-fashioned rollerskates. Every time through, they waved and said “hi,” like they hadn’t seen me in hours.
It was wonderful, keeping me entertained as I was digging in the pipes for our drip irrigation system and winter flowers, and cursing under my breath at the number of tree roots I had to hack out with an ax. [Read more…]