Taking time out for your own projects

Being a busy freelancer is wonderful. The dream is to make a good living from your freelance writing business, and being busy is a badge of honor.

But are you making time for your own projects?

As long as you are freelancing, you’re still working for someone else. No, it’s not as bad as corporate whoredom in a cubicle cage, but the work you do isn’t for you.

Many freelancers have the goal of creating their own products – info products, e-books, books, etc – and reaching those goals means dedicating time to your own projects.

Recently I’ve spent an hour a day optimizing old, forgotten websites. Does this give me billable hours? No. However, in the long term these sites will pay off – they’re already generating 1/3 more ad income than they were a couple of months ago. Two of them have good affiliate potential, and two of them have room for info products like reports and e-books.

In addition, I have just completed an e-book I began some time ago for one of those sites, and it is just being polished now. Writing an e-book isn’t a sure thing for income, but any income you earn is off your own work for your own products. It’s something you are passionate about – not something you’re being paid to care about, like you do for clients.

Client work is the bread and butter for all of us freelancers, at least in the beginning. But there comes a point where we may want to transition over to working for ourselves, and at that moment, we need to make room in our lives to accomplish those goals.

An hour or two each day. Is that really going to set you behind on your work schedule? Where can adjustments be made?

• Use a DVR to record your favorite show while you work on your project
• Hire a sitter for a couple of hours once a week
• Get the family more involved in household chores and responsibilities
• Wean off low paying clients (especially those that pay little for time consuming work)
• Use a portable voice recorder to keep track of ideas and flesh out passages while you’re on the go

What methods can you incorporate into your freelance writing business in order to make more time for your own projects?

Related: The 14-day e-book challenge starts today! Are YOU ready?