¶ Intro / Opening
Welcome back to the Boss Responses podcast , where we talk about real challenges faced by freelance business owners . Today , we're discussing a situation that might resonate with many of you out there the tightrope walk between maintaining a steady , profitable output and preserving your creative energy and content quality .
It's a balancing act that can leave even the most experienced writers feeling stretched thin . Act that can leave even the most experienced writers feeling stretched thin . So , whether you're a seasoned content writer feeling the strain of constant deadlines , or if you're just starting out and want to establish healthy work practices , this episode is for you .
If you're a freelancer , business owner or anyone who deals with clients , you're in the right place . I'm your host , Treasa Edmond . I've been dealing with clients and running my business for nearly two decades and in that time I've dealt with my share of doubt , imposter syndrome and not knowing what to say when a client asked a question I wasn't ready for .
I created this podcast to empower you with the boss responses you need to grow your business . Each week , my guest co-host and I will bring you five episodes packed with practical insights . Monday through Thursday , we answer your questions , and Fridays , we dive deep to explore how our co-hosts embrace their role as the boss of their business .
Welcome to Boss Responses . We are back for day two with Jessica Walrack and Jessica . I'm asking you the question today . This says I'm a content writer and the type of content I write is on the lower side of the pricing spectrum , but it has high volume , so I'm doing pretty well financially . Lately the back-to-back deadlines have been getting
¶ Managing High Volume and Avoiding Burnout
to me , though . I'm trying to figure out how much I can reasonably accomplish in a day without suffering from creativity burnout . I know I can't just write for eight hours a day . Quality still matters , so I don't want to write crappy content . How can I figure out what my limits are without testing them until I crack ?
I'm really interested in your response because I know you kind of specialize in capacity stuff here .
Yeah , that's a great question and you know I learned my limits the hard way . To be honest , I did work and work and work until I felt burnt out Me too . But over the years I've learned to spot the early signs and just really pay attention to how I'm feeling throughout
¶ Setting Boundaries and Analyzing Projects
projects , like after I'm done with any assignment , I analyze how long it took me , how that breaks down per hour and per word in terms of the payment , and then I write down notes on how I felt about the project , things that I liked , things that I didn't like and that might include I felt like this took way too much time for what it was worth .
Maybe there was an aspect to it that was super time intensive , that I would charge more for in the future and just really gauging how I feel . I think that's really important and then drawing those boundaries , like paying attention to that and then putting it into action and how you schedule things and that really helps .
So if I write for eight hours a day one day , the next day I need three hours or four hours . My average I've learned over time is kind of like five hours before sentences start to look weird . I'm like looking up words like is this a word I'm like okay , I got to close my computer and take a break .
I when I can't spell simple words or when I think they start looking wrong . No-transcript . I love your idea of doing a recap at the end of a project , and just how did you come up with that ?
I think it was really from having things happen on projects that I really didn't like is where it started , and I just learned to optimize my roster and find my ideal clients and have a business that I actually enjoy and don't feel imprisoned by , like I have to pay really close attention to what I actually like and don't like .
So when something went really wrong , I'm like I never want this to happen again . I don't want to experience this ever again , and so I just started taking notes and then over time , it just became a habit .
That's brilliant , and that's not something I've done and I think I'm going to actually start . I think I've done it informally , but I've never made it a formal process and I think that's a formal process that would really help a lot of us A lot , and at first I was the same too .
It was like I didn't like that .
I'll remember for sure next time , but then there's so many things it's hard to keep track of it all , yeah , and yeah , and I think we overestimate our ability to keep track of all of that and I think it's an unreasonable expectation to expect us to do that , because you have a lot of things going on .
All of us do , and it's not good to do that With the creativity burnout . I could never write for eight hours a day . So if you can do that , you are a superwoman .
I'm impressed Once in a while and maybe it's the type of writing I do , but I can go four or five hours a day and that's my limit , and I never schedule more than five hours a day for writing . I do always block out time right before the deadline for the procrastination writing because that seems to work really well for me .
Is it really procrastination if you scheduled it ? That seems to work really well for me . Is it really procrastination if you scheduled it ? That's a bland one . We'll have to look at that . But the test quality does matter .
I know what it takes for me to write quality content , so I think in this case , instead of trying to figure out what my limits are , I would just be very diligent in carving out the time to make sure that I can do the quality writing If quality writing requires me to have a quiet location and a specific candle burning and dim lighting whatever it is , then
I would make sure that I have the ability to set that mood to do it . I'm actually the opposite , when I'm doing ghostwriting and I'm chugging out a chapter at the last minute for a client not that I would ever do that . I do all my writing with a lot of time and thought , but I go to a coffee shop where I can ignore people .
So I've discovered that I need to ignore something to write . Really well , If I'm stuck at home or the office writing , I put on British Murder Mysteries that I've already watched like 100 times because there's all the noise in the background . But I set the mood and for me that's how I avoid burnout . Not that it doesn't still happen .
¶ Recognizing Burnout and Self-Care
I think it's really important to point out that burnout is seldom permanent . Yeah , so it can happen , and if you do need to test your limits by getting to that point , then do it , but just realize that you need to do some self-care to get over it and then get back in the saddle and do your thing .
This is one of those situations I want to point out to people .
¶ Treating Yourself as an Employee
You are an employee of your business and I know a lot of freelancers are not buying into that and they should . You're running a business and you are your business's employee . So one of the ways to figure out on the limits especially is would you require an employee to do this ?
Would it be fair if you had another employee and you asked them to do this thing ? If not , then don't hold yourself to that standard . I'm just pretty hard and fast on that , and that's the question I constantly ask myself . Would I lob this on an employee last minute and expect them to do really great work ?
If not , then I'm not going to require that of myself either .
Yeah , and if you're starting to feel that pressure , like she says , lately the back-to-back deadlines have been getting to me , though . To me that's a sign , that's one of those little warning signs . Okay , something needs to change . Maybe you need to start looking for a client that's similar work but pays a little bit more .
Yeah , and then once you get into that position , it's like you feel that relief and you can feel like , ok , now I have more creative juice . I don't feel that pressure or that scarcity Like
¶ Consistently Moving Up in Freelancing
I got to get this without sounding like a ladder climber , but really moving up in quality on both my clients . The pay scale and the work that I'm doing constantly be improving . Eventually you'll reach a pinnacle I haven't yet . I've been doing this for 20 years .
You can do it for a long time and take baby steps if you want , but I really think it's important to consistently move up .
The people that you work with when you very first start freelancing are not the people you should be working with a couple of years later or 10 years later or 20 years later , no matter how much you like them , no matter how much you like the work . You should constantly be moving forward with your business , because you owe that to your business .
You just have to do that . That's a complicated topic . It is a complicated topic and burnout is a real thing .
We didn't even really talk about that , but burnout is a real thing and you do not want to consistently push yourself to the point of burnout , because if you do it over and over again , then you will absolutely end up hating your business , and I don't think any of us do what we do because we want to end up hating .
Yeah , and I think that's the natural flow of what happens . Like , when people start , they take as much work as they can . They're like I can work any time , the more I can work , the more money I can make , and you just like go , go , go , go go . Once you don't have an employer saying , okay , clock out .
If you're completely new to this , I think that it's natural to kind of get to that place . But yeah , definitely not somewhere you want to say it can really take a toll on your health .
And all of your health your mental and your physical health for sure . Boundaries are not for other people , they're for yourself . So even if you're setting a boundary with a client , you're setting the boundary to gauge how you're going to react if they cross it . You need to do those same things with you for your business .
So your business can only require so much from you before you cross a boundary . If you cross the boundary , how are you going to react to that ? I think that's one of the most important aspects of not getting burned is I have these boundaries . I'm not going to cross them . If I do , bad consequences . So what do you do ?
Do you have to get rid of a client ? Do you have to not take the next project because you need a couple of weeks to recuperate , whatever it takes , and build your business so that you can get to that point and maybe just don't get to that point at some point , but , yes , those are all really important . That's day two .
Tomorrow we're going to talk about a topic that I read about a lot on social having problems , finding new .