Entries tagged as ‘self employed’
Anne Morrow Lindbergh observed that, for the most part, mothers and housewives were the “great vacationless class” because they had little time off. I would add the self-employed to her list.
If you’re self-employed as I am, it’s often difficult to see your way to a holiday. You’re either too busy or too broke or both. I haven’t had a vacation for a long time. So I decided that it was time to hang up my Gone Fishin’ sign and take a vacation in August. Nothing fancy. Two weeks in and around my hometown of Victoria.
Here are a few tips that you might find useful if you’re still struggling with the notion of taking a vacation.
- Silence the “Gremlins”. As soon as I think or say “vacation”, my inner critics start whispering. That’s irresponsible. People depend on you. Your business will fail. You’ll lose clients ! Gremlins want to keep the status quo. You need to recognize these voices for what they are and politely tell them to “Get lost”. If you don’t, you’ll end up chained to your desk.
- Plan ahead and set firm dates. Setting dates forces you to make a commitment. I’m closing up the office on August 20th and returning two weeks later on September 4th. It’s critical to allow yourself several weeks lead time. The more the better. This allows you to wrap up projects or stages of a project. Don’t cram everything into the final week before your vacation. You’ll end up exhausted and won’t enjoy your time off. Make sure that you don’t plan any project work the week you return. This will allow you to settle in and catch up on e-mails and other administrative matters.
- Inform your current clients. This post is a way of letting all of my loyal readers know that I’m not going to be writing any new material for the two weeks I’m on vacation. I’ll still be posting three times a week but these will be articles from my archives. Don’t try to pretend that you’re still at your desk. Letting clients know of your vacation avoids the embarrassment of their trying to reach you and not getting a reply for a couple of weeks. Trust that your clients understand that you’re human and like everyone else need some free time.
- Set up an e-mail auto-responder. Even though I’m having a “staycation”, I’ll resist the temptation to peak at my e-mails. I’m going to leave an auto-responder message that goes something like, “Thank you for contacting me. I’m currently away from my desk and unavailable from August 21st until September 5th. I’ll answer your e-mail on my return. If this is an emergency, please call 250-514-****.”
- Leave a vacation voice-message on your answering service. Even if you’re staying close to home on your vacation, you don’t want the interruption of business calls. That’s why I’ll be adding a telephone message that says something like, “Thanks for calling. I’m away from my desk until September 5th. Please leave a message and I’ll be happy to return your call when I’m back. If this is an emergency, please call 250-514-****.” A word of caution. It’s advisable in both your e-mail and telephone messages not to give the impression that you’ve left your home or office vacant. This information could fall into the wrong hands and lead to a robbery.
- Relax. It sounds obvious. But if you’re like me, you probably have what I’d call the “Manager of the Universe” syndrome. It goes, “The world will stop spinning on its axis if I’m not at my desk 24/7.” Well I know and you know that’s ridiculous. It’s quite amazing how the world keeps turning even when we’re not involved. So, I’m giving myself permission not to worry and just to relax.
Photo by The Hamster Factor
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Categories: Holidays · Personal Care · Personal historian · Tips
Tagged: Tips, How to, self employed, freelancers, vacation, time off, overworked
Saying “no” politely is a necessity if one wants to lead any kind of stable life. ~ Richard Chamberlain
The “N” word has a bad reputation. It’s seen as negative and mean. Many of us find it hard to say. But saying No will help you not only with your work as a personal historian but also with your life in general. I’m getting better at saying No but there’s room for improvement. The reality is that saying No is a healthy way of providing us with the space we need to be the best we can be. Saying No takes back control of our lives. You have a right to say No and feel good about it. Here are ten things where No can be the answer. Do you have any to add to the list? Send me a comment. Love to hear from you.
- No to clutter. Physical and mental clutter fills space and leaves us less energy for the things we really want to do. Clean up your office and throw stuff out. Being mindful of the moment and focusing on one thing at a time will reduce mental clutter.
- No to worry. “I worry about scientists discovering that lettuce has been fattening all along,” says Erma Bombeck. So what are you worrying about? Can you do something about it? Then do it. Action is a powerful antidote to worry. If your worry is something you can’t do anything about, then let it go. For every minute spent worrying we could spend that minute reflecting on the good in our lives. The mind can’t hold two thoughts at the same time. Hold thoughts that are pleasing. Soon there will be little space for worry!
- No to the Gremlin. Our Inner Critic keeps us locked in old beliefs and time worn patterns. Recognizing our Gremlins and saying No to them opens up new ways of interacting with the world.
- No to procrastination. When we think of tasks as difficult or inconvenient, there’s a tendency to procrastinate. When we give in to procrastination, we perform poorly and are often under increased stress. One solution: break big tasks into small size pieces.
- No to time wasters. How is your time wasted during the day? Make a list of all the situations that waste your time and then zap them! You know what they are - answering soliciting calls, listening to gossip, trying to find that document you filed somewhere, surfing the Internet, and grocery shopping at the busiest time of the day.
- No to overwhelm. Taking on one more task or project can tip us into overwhelm. Ask what you will have to say No to before saying yes to your next project.
- No to pleasing people all the time. “I really cannot give you the formula for success. But I can give you the formula for failure. It’s this: try to please everyone,” says Bernard Meltzer. We all want to be liked. For some of us that means saying yes to everyone so that they’ll like us. It’s a no win situation. You can’t please everyone all the time and so someone is bound to feel slighted. It’s better to be clear who the people are that have a priority on your time and be generous to them than to stretch yourself thinly and satisfy no one.
- No to tolerations. Our lives are full of things that we tolerate. They sap our energy and limit our potential. Tolerations can be big and small from tolerating an unhappy relationship to tolerating a squeaky door. Limit your tolerations and you’ll have more room in your life.
- No to blame. Blaming others for our difficulties is not helpful. A better approach is to examine your strengths. Then ask yourself, “How can I use my strengths to improve my business and my life?”
- No to “toxic” clients. You don’t want to be around clients for whom nothing is right. You may think that you need every client you can lay your hands on but you can do better. Fire your “toxic” client and you’ll leave an opening for someone who really values your services.
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Categories: Home Office · How to · Personal historian · Tips
Tagged: benefits of saying no, No is the answer, Personal historian, power of No, self employed, Tips
If you’re self-employed as I am, you’re probably all too familiar with the trap of filling most of your days with work. There are deadlines to meet, marketing activities, clients to see, and administrative chores. Maybe you’ve found a way to manage all this and still have a life. If you haven’t, here are some lessons learned from my three decades of experience that you might find helpful. To be honest, sometimes I “mess up” and don’t follow my own guidelines. But they’ve become a habit now and so it’s easier to get back on track when I’ve run amok. Let me know what works for you.
- Take mini breaks. Taking breaks restores your energy and helps prevent repetitive stress injuries. I take at least four or five breaks during my day. I stop for a 15 minute cup of tea around 10 am after putting in an hour or more of work. I break for lunch and have a power nap afterwards – no more than 30 minutes otherwise I feel groggy. Mid afternoon, I stop for 30 minutes, make some tea (You can tell I like tea!) and read the newspaper. Between 4:30 pm or 5 pm I go for a brisk 30 minute walk. I get back and work until 7 pm. Then I stop for the day.
- Make a date with yourself. I found that unless I actually designated a day free from work and other chores, I never really managed to take time off. So I looked at my work and social demands and decided that Mondays worked best for me. Now here’s the trick. This is a day you designate just for you. It’s not a time to do all the chores around the house that you’ve been neglecting. I use my day for play and relaxation. I may read, go for a long walk, check out my favorite Thrift Stores, or putter in the garden.
- Begin your day unrushed and peacefully. I take about two hours from the time I get up until I sit down to work. My day starts (after I feed our cat, Annie) with 30 minutes of meditation. This is followed by about thirty-five minutes of stretching and strengthening exercises. I stop for breakfast, clean up the dishes, and then have a shower. No matter what my day holds for me, I know that starting it off in a calm and peaceful manner means I can cope with almost anything.
- Fix a definite time to end your work day. For years I’ve made a rule that at 7 pm I stop work. I get up and walk away from my desk. I don’t take calls unless it’s an emergency. If you don’t discipline yourself to stop work at a fixed time each day, the danger is that you end up working until you collapse into your bed.
- Set boundaries and keep to them. If you’re unclear what boundaries are important to you, chances are you’ll get blown about like a leaf in a storm. I’ve alluded to some of my boundaries above. I end my day at 7 pm. There has to be a very compelling reason to change that. Monday is my free day. Nothing interrupts that unless it’s a call from Barack Obama! And that has yet to happen. There are other boundaries you can set that have to do with your fees, the quality of work you expect from yourself and others, the type of personal history project you won’t undertake and, so on.
Photo by Sergei Yahchybekov
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Categories: How to · Personal historian · Tips
Tagged: freelancer, How to, managing time, Personal historian, self employed, Tips
