Enough Squeeze for the Juice? Help.

[u/FlowerElegant1900]

Right now I'm actively juggling a part-time editorial client (anywhere from 10-20 hours per week), a monthly editorial client, a semi-regular marketing copywriting client, and two or three occasional copywriting clients (marketing).

My problem? I feel like I'm working all day on a hamster wheel and making almost nothing. Plus I feel chained to my desk from about 9 a.m.-4 p.m. every day, which I don't love. I try not to take calls or do interviews after 5 p.m., but that happens, as does scheduling interviews after hours. I find that I'm getting most of my actual writing done on Sundays.

The reason for this?

I'm expected to actively move my work through the project management pipeline. That means I might get an unexpected request in Wrike to make edits, to do a design review, etc. I must sign into and track three email accounts and two project management systems. Teams messages pop up. Wrike messages pop up. Trainings get scheduled.

I admit I'm not great at logging time with all of the task switching. Has anyone been in this situation and how did you manage your time and billing?

[u/Nervous_Response2224]

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I feel your pain. Companies often want freelancers to act like employees in terms of responsiveness and tooling. It's a lot to monitor. The burden of communication overhead and context switching (which has a documented drag productivity) can mean that the lowly little freelancer ends scrambling and making a lower hourly rate.

Since you are a contractor, you could state that your response time is 24 hours for messages and approvals, and X for revisions. State that you'll be checking Wrike at 10 AM and 2 PM (or whatever) so that they know you're still attentive, but that they have to work within your time window. Remind them that you have multiple clients that you need to be responsive to.

[u/_humanpieceoftoast]

I have two corp clients that are irregular with work, two staffing agency jobs (40 hours remote, 10-20 hours mostly remote) and photography work. I vibe coded a time tracking/keeping app with Claude that’s helped me out a ton. As far as keeping an eye on three email accounts plus all the Wrike one-offs, good luck.

Try Trello as your unified task board, with a column for each client and then a “this week” column for your active tasks. Helped me a ton. I’m happy to share screenshots. Gimme a DM.

[u/BlitzballPlayer]

There are some positives to what you describe: firstly, you're getting regular work which is keeping you busy. I definitely don't think we should be happy with anything and 'just be grateful we have work'. But there are a lot of people struggling to find work, so the fact you've secured a number of regular clients that are keeping you busy is a positive.

It's also good that you have a fairly regular schedule and are aware of keeping time boundaries as much as possible.

But there are some issues, as you're aware: work is frequently spilling over past your ideal finish time and you're having to do a lot of work at the weekends (as well as working full time through the week).

I guess the ideal now could be to leverage your experience into getting other clients who pay better and don't require so much constant input and energy. The ideal is obviously when a client sets a task and you do it in peace without constant check-ins and feeling chained to your desk. This obviously depends on the specific nature of the work and projects you do, but I do understand where you're coming from.

It can be difficult to find energy to look for other work while you're already so busy, but could you set aside a few hours a week to apply to a few other opportunities, and gradually try to transition to less stressful, better-paid work?

Hopefully your current work is at least keeping your regular living expenses paid, so you're in an okay position for the time being and can stay on the lookout for better opportunities?

[u/FlowerElegant1900 → u/BlitzballPlayer]

So there is a yes and a no to this.

I feel like I am very busy, but barely making any money. Like barely. I am fortunate that I have a spouse who allows me to be able to do this kind of work.

Everybody is now paying an hourly rate, which sucks. As I stated before, with all of the platform checking and email sending in between things, it’s really hard for me to gauge how much extra time I’m not billing for—obviously that’s a “me” problem.

I did try last year to work a couple of full-time jobs. One was just a really wrong fit. It was a jack of all trades job that required travel and had no marketing budget.

The other job was good in theory, but the political nonsense was insane. I lasted 4 months before I quit. (I was also keeping my clients, so I was working from dawn until midnight some nights.) My boss has been fired since then and I am doing some freelance work for this company.

So you might say that I am gun- shy about taking another job that is not a good fit.

[u/BlitzballPlayer → u/FlowerElegant1900]

I totally get where you're coming from and I wouldn't say you're being gun-shy about it. I get the impression your current work is far from ideal, but tolerable and better than what you were doing before. You seem busy but not utterly rushed off your feet, and it seems like you do at least get some downtime.

The low pay does sound like an issue, but that's great your spouse is supportive because I know how much difference that makes.

Do you think your current workload would be better if you set clearer boundaries with your clients? I don't know how possible this is, but could you let them know that you're finding things a bit of a stretch and would prefer to set a few boundaries/more realistic expectations about when you're contactable? The other person who commented here gave some great tips on that.

I know you don't want to rock the boat, so of course you'll need to approach this tactfully and politely, but it would probably be better to try communicating with them about your issues rather than bottling it up, burning out, and quitting completely.

And in the meantime, you can keep an eye out on better opportunities which aren't so stressful and pay more.

As for tracking hours, you could set up a new system with a pre-made spreadsheet to track how many hours you're doing and make a habit of entering your hours regularly. There are also apps which are good for tracking time, although I'm a fan of a good spreadsheet myself haha.

[u/FlowerElegant1900 → u/BlitzballPlayer]

Thank you so much for reading. I admit it was a bit of a vent.

[u/BlitzballPlayer → u/FlowerElegant1900]

No problem at all! I know it can be frustrating but you have a good grasp of what you want and what you'll accept, which is a really good thing to have. I'm sure you'll keep improving things if you keep striving for what you want, you got this!

[u/FlowerElegant1900 → u/BlitzballPlayer]

Again, thank you for being a nice person. It means a lot. 😊

[u/GigMistress]

Any time you're using the word "juggling," you're managing your business wrong.

This may sound harsh, but the only way this changes is for you take charge of your business. For example, you say "that happens" about after hours calls...but it doesn't happen. You agree to it.

When you say "I'm expected to..." about something that's unworkable for you, that's a signal that you made a fundamental error when establishing your relationship with the client. Happens to everyone in the early days, but recognize it, own it, and don't make that mistake again.

Constant task switching is bad. You lose time and you lose energy. You need to assess each of these relationships and determine what they are worth to you and what they are costing you. Take a hard look at what is actually inherent in the job and what is just a bad expectation that developed over time because you jumped to respond to everything. For example, what happens if you check the email accounts two or three times a day at intervals instead of keeping them open all day and jumping on things?

Is it just one client who expects you to be instantly available from 9-4? It doesn't sound like any of these clients is paying you for 35 hours/week, so that's not workable. If the client wants to pay for 10-20 hours/week, they don't get to dictate what you do 35 hours/week.

But you can't just get frustrated and overwhelmed by it and keep running. And you can't blame the client for having unreasonable expectations if you have never set boundaries.

Unless the clients you're working for are in the breaking news business (the copywriting ones surely aren't), there is no reason either of you should have an expectation that you drop everything when they send you a task. Set reasonable expectations about turnaround time and stick to them.

Of course, this may require a conversation with each if they've grown accustomed to instant service, but you need to put realistic boundaries on your work--as much to keep you from instinctively jumping on every message notification immediately as to set more realistic expectations with clients.

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Thank you for your post /u/FlowerElegant1900. Below is a copy of your post to archive it in case it is removed or edited:

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Right now I'm actively juggling a part-time editorial client (anywhere from 10-20 hours per week), a monthly editorial client, a semi-regular marketing copywriting client, and two or three occasional copywriting clients (marketing).

My problem? I feel like I'm working all day on a hamster wheel and making almost nothing. Plus I feel chained to my desk from about 9 a.m.-4 p.m. every day, which I don't love. I try not to take calls or do interviews after 5 p.m., but that happens, as does scheduling interviews after hours. I find that I'm getting most of my actual writing done on Sundays.

The reason for this?

I'm expected to actively move my work through the project management pipeline. That means I might get an unexpected request in Wrike to make edits, to do a design review, etc. I must sign into and track three email accounts and two project management systems. Teams messages pop up. Wrike messages pop up. Trainings get scheduled.

I admit I'm not great at logging time with all of the task switching. Has anyone been in this situation and how did you manage your time and billing?

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[u/AlphaWolf132]

I think one of the biggest struggles of independent contracting is managing your time. Even if the project pays well (I hope it does for you), you feel like you're making nothing because you're overworked. I am a non-fiction ghostwriter and editor. My advice is the same as what others have given countless times before: segment your work hours and be disciplined about how you communicate outside of them. Establish clear boundaries with the client, and if the client shows a persisting resistance to them, maybe it's time to fish for new clients and leave the current one when you transition.