Freelance Folder: How to overcome freelancing stress June 17, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.trackback
We all know freelancing can be stressful. The ebb and flow of freelancing can sometimes be hard to deal with. If you are busy, you have lots of work and deadlines to contend with. Jobs can sometimes fall through the cracks. Your work-life balance suffers. If you have a day or two with no translation requests, you worry when the next job will come (and if it will come in at all) and might even worry about how you will pay the bills if business slows down significantly. Freelance Folder published a must-read post on How to Overcome Freelancing Stress that offers “Seven Tips for Reducing Your Freelancing Stress.” It is a must-read for every freelancer and contains tips for dealing with common stressors such as client conflict and not finding enough clients. You might find a solution you haven’t thought of to one of your biggest stressors. If you feel something is missing that affects translators in particular and have found a solution, please share it here in the comments.
Musings from an overworked translator 
I’ll start. I find having a financial cushion to be great for my peace of mind. I am working on accumulating a cushion that covers three months’ income, but even the one month I have set aside already does a lot to calm my nerves when business slows down for a day or two. I know I have some money set aside to pay my bills for a month if something happens.
Wow! Thanks Jill for calling my post a must-read. 🙂
I’m not a translator, but I do imagine that there can be some stresses specific to the field. It will be interesting to see what your readers have to say.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
I think taking on too much is a killer. Most of us are guilty of doing it at some point. Learning to work within our limitations is a great way of avoiding stress. Of course, you don’t know what your limitations are until they have been “stress tested”. But once you do know, staying well within them is a good idea.
It’s all about planning really. As your suggestion about having a financial reserve – spot on. I prefer several months worth, but that’s not always going to be possible for many people.
Funny this should come out while I’m working on an article that’s about getting the balance right. 😉 Should be out near the end of the month.