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May 14, 2008

What I Learned from Freelancing – Part 3 – Good Habits Rock

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:30 am

More from Deb Ng, who showed us yesterday how to be firm but not tough.

What I Learned from Freelancing – Part 3 – Good Habits Rock by Deb Ng

When I left my job to write on a freelance basis, I thought I had it all figured out – work in my pajamas, choose my own schedule, and basically do what I want. Then I learned without rules comes anarchy and anarchy for a freelancer isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Though it felt good to be lazy, I soon realized I wasn’t being very productive. Instead I picked up a few good habits. I:

When I first started, I had the whole freelancing thing pegged wrong. There’s a lot of freedom to it, but successful freelancers need to have discipline as well. When I started cultivating good habits, my career took off. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.

What other good habits do you think freelancers need to succeed? Does working in the jimmies give one the right mindset to face the business day?

Deb Ng blogs about the best ways to find, and keep, freelance writing jobs. Why not stop by and say hello?

Thanks, Deb!
This was wonderful!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!





Filed under Guest Writer, Successful Blog, Writing | 6 Comments »




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6 Comments to “What I Learned from Freelancing – Part 3 – Good Habits Rock”

  1. May 14th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
    SpaceAgeSage said

    Deb, what was the tipping point between enjoying the lazy approach and finally putting some productive habits into place? What really got you motivated to maintain the change?

  2. May 14th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
    Ricardo Bueno said

    I especially like point #2. Why? Because it’s oh so important.

    If you do what you say you’re going to do, it allows you to be authoritative so that when you speak, people will listen!

  3. May 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
    Mother Earth said

    I actually allow one pajama day – by design. It’s a sacred pajama day and is actually a day off on Monday that I use casually to create my week. I schedule no out of the house appointments. I wear all my hats and allow the day to ramble accordingly – no real structure. I get a ton done on Monday’s wearing my pajama’s. Seemingly this gesture actually has me on task and productive the rest of the week. Is it criminal to work in your pajama’s ? Not to me. If it hindered my abilty to have clients stop by or if I never left my home then yes it’s lazy and definitely a bad habit.

    I have enjoyed your posts.

  4. May 14th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
    Deb said

    @SpaceAgeSage – I think the tipping point was when I read an article from a more experienced freelancer who wrote about her daily habits. She was sick of seeing her job treated as a hobby so she made sure that she and the rest of the world took her seriously. Once I took my job seriosly my career took off.

    @Ricardo – All we really have is our good name, and if we lose that we lose our marketability and reliability. Thank you for your comment

    @Mother Earth – I admit it, I’ve worked in my pajamas on occasion but I found I’m more productive and less inclined to be lazy if I’m at least wearing jeans. I draw the line at panty hose though.

    Thank you for your kind words, and thank you Liz and everyone for making me feel so welcome.

  5. May 14th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
    Lisa said

    Thanks for this series. I am just getting into freelancing and hope to move from a full-time job to full-time writing for myself.

    I like the idea of a “pajama planning day”! I do agree, though, that for most days I would have an established routine that included showering and getting dressed.

    I really enjoyed reading your posts.

    Lisa

  6. June 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
    M. said

    You’re so right about the need for discipline. I’ve found that the romance of working for yourself wears off a bit once you realize there is nothing to keep you on-track but yourself. You can’t wait for the boss to tell you to get to work, because your boss is your client, and if they tell you that, you’ve already failed them.

    Keep up the great posts.

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