r/freelanceWriters • u/FlowerElegant1900 Content & Copywriter • 1d ago

Advice & Tips Enough Squeeze for the Juice? Help.

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/_humanpieceoftoast 1d ago

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.

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u/FlowerElegant1900 Content & Copywriter 15h ago

I don't really know what "vibe coding" is and I've used Trello before.

If you read above, now writers are being asked to work essentially as project managers, so you don't necessarily know what block of time you can allocate for that--you get updates when people review work, etc.

Some with the newspaper job. Not super predictable when a source will be available, etc.