Among the many rules that freelancers are told early in their career is “make sure you work a regular 9-5 day.” (Read this post for my take on another rule I hate “Always dress for work.” )
Look, I get the idea behind it. If you don’t set aside specific hours in a day, you run the risk of
Not spending enough time working on your business
Allowing yourself to get too distracted by other things
Letting your work bleed into your personal life because you haven’t set boundaries between work time and private time.
These are all valid concerns. But the thing is, we get into freelancing so we can have more flexible hours. So we can decide when our work day starts and ends. So we can set our schedule around the times that we’re most creative and motivated.
And for many of us, that’s not generally the regular 9-5. My best writing hours are usually between 11 and 3, but not everyone works like that. Some people are at their best super early in the morning (and my hat off to you folks, because I am not a morning person, nor even, really, a mid-morning person). Others have their creative juices flowing later at night.
Thanks to society (and our past employers, most likely) we’re used to thinking of work as being a 40-hour, 9-5 grind. But as long as you’re achieving your goals and your business is sustainable, you don’t have to be locked into those hours.
The idea that we need to be working 9-5 also limits us to working with people in or near our time zone. While that’s often our target market, it doesn’t have to be. More and more of us are finding clients from around the world.
For a while, I worked with a company in New Zealand and during our Daylight Saving Time we had very few workday hours that overlapped. I generally had to make allowances (by working later in the day) so we could have meetings. If I wasn’t flexible about that, it could have caused problems.
The idea of 9-5 is a nice guideline, but it’s not set in stone and I don’t think any freelancer should feel bad if that’s not when they work best. Instead, I humbly suggest setting some parameters around your work schedule and figuring out the hours that work best for you and your clients.
Answer the following questions:
How many hours do I need to work in a day to complete my client work, market my business, and take care of any other work-related activities that need doing so that my business is successful and sustainable? (It doesn’t have to be 40 hours a week, according to this 2021 Contra survey, which found that the majority of freelancers who earn more than $70k a year work less than 40 hours a week, and some work less than 30.)
When do I do my best work (and by best work, I mean work that meets clients’ needs and is done in a fairly efficient manner)?
When do my clients need me to be available for meetings or to answer phone calls?
What other time constraints do I have going on in my life (for example, do you have children who need your attention between certain hours of the day? Are you caring for a parent who needs your time? Do you have another job you have to be at?)
What is my health like? Do you need to readjust your schedule to manage your health?
Once you’ve answered those questions you can set your schedule. If you really don’t like having a long-term set schedule, at the start of each week set out your start and end times for each day (if you need accommodation, set out two or three focused chunks of time that are your “work hours,” and if you need to be somewhat flexible with those times based on your health, allow yourself that).
I do think it’s important to set a schedule (even if each weekday looks a little different) so you have boundaries that stop your work life from overtaking your personal life. Having a start and end to each day motivates you to get work done more efficiently, rather than letting it drag on for hours longer than needed.
It also sends a message to clients and loved ones that there are certain times you won’t be available and can’t be disturbed.
Working outside the regular 9-5 hours gives you many benefits, as well. For example, you get to
Work when you’re at your best
Adjust your schedule to meet your needs on any given day
Open yourself up to new markets based on when you want to be working (I know of one freelancer who chose to work late at night and offered “rush” overnight editing services for clients—and did very well at it)
Shorten or lengthen your day as you need (for one summer, I worked longer days so I could always take a three-day weekend)
Schedule appointments and run errands while everyone else is working (I love grocery shopping on a mid-Wednesday afternoon when there are no lines and very little traffic)
There’s a lot of freedom in setting your schedule. The key is to set aside time in the day when you are focused on working and not allowing yourself to be distracted. You also need to be available sometimes to meet with your clients and it’s important to ensure you have enough time in your work day to complete the activities you need done.
Also, every so often evaluate your schedule and make sure it’s still working for you.
If you find you frequently have more work than time in the day, never get your administrative work done, or constantly find yourself rushing to get work done despite having long lead times for projects, you may need to rethink your schedule.
You don’t have to be locked into the 40-hour 9-5 grind just because that’s what you’re used to.
Here’s to your freelance success,
Heidi