Business
How To Manage Freelance Work During A Holiday?
Freelance work can give us the luxury to combine work while enjoying a much awaited holiday travel with family members or loved ones. Learning to manage time properly is of great importance when situations like these occur, especially if you have a project that requires completion even while on vacation.
Here are some helpful tips that you can apply while spending a holiday and finishing a work deadline at the same time:
1. Gear yourself with the needed work materials and tools
If you will be travelling, then, it would be appropriate to properly gear yourself with all the needed gadgets, tools and other work materials that will allow you to do your freelance work while on holiday. Laptops, portable modem for internet connection especially if you are not sure if there is wifi connection in the area you are going, memory stick and other helpful tools must be included in your list of what to bring.
2. Schedule your working hours from holiday activities
Managing your time could help do more productive hours for work and play. Set a schedule of the activities you need to do in a day. Following a detailed list of what needs to be done will provide you more time to enjoy your holiday. If you need to do some work, find the best time when you can do it like when all the children are in bed exhausted from a day’s outing or getting up early the next day to catch up with work and have the remaining hours of the day for pure relaxation.
3. Find an appropriate working area
Finding an ideal workplace while on a holiday trip can be very challenging, especially if the environment is too inviting to just relax or have a dip in the pool. Find a quiet part of the place where you can focus on your work. If your hotel room has a balcony, then when everyone is out, confine yourself there and do as much work as you can without any disturbance while at the same time enjoying the fresh breeze or wonderful view.
4. Limit other forms of distraction
Since you are on a vacation, you cannot help if sometimes your surroundings isn’t too conducive for your concentration when doing work like children playing around or passersby if you intend to work in the hotel visitor’s lounge area. Arm yourself with a pair of quality earphones to lessen the noise and select a corner place to avoid getting distracted.
5. Have fun
Don’t forget that your main reason for going on a holiday is to have fun and relax yourself. Don’t stress yourself with the deadline. Enjoy the beautiful scenery of the place and the chance to be with your loved ones. There is a time for everything, but at for now, you just need to relax and have fun even for an hour or two everyday while on leave, then, later continue whatever work that needs to be done. Proper allocation of your hours for all the activities in a day is important to make the most of your holiday.
Managing freelance work while on a holiday is really challenging, but if you are really determined to have fun even there is a rush work that cannot be put on hold, then, be prepared to make all the necessary adjustments. Keep in mind that your main reason for the holiday is to unwind and have quality time for yourself and your loved ones. Everything will be accomplished with a happy mood feeling. Energize yourself with the needed rest.
Tagged business, freelancer, freelence work, holiday, Internet access, Work
endi360June 30, 2012 at 11:03 pm
#3 is the most important factor on the list imho. I always have trouble finding a place where I could just sit and do some work when I’m on a holiday. There are just way too many distractions, especially when travelling with family/kids. A good method I found useful is to work in the morning when everyone is at the beach or sleeping, this way I could get the most work done without any distraction, just like I’m doing right now. Thanks for the article, I found the rest of the tips very helpful.
youtubedominationJuly 1, 2012 at 7:57 am
I believe the most important thing is to manage your time well, so #2 imho.
LinxJuly 2, 2012 at 1:23 am
I fully agree with you that ‘proper allocation of time’ is vital. Often, we go on vacation because we need time out and to spend precious hours with loved ones in a great environment. Having that swallowed up by work would be sad.
So, saying that you would get up earlier and put in 2 hours a day only or even get a freelancer to do the majority of work would be great.
So, yes, managing your time properly is probably the most important thing – for me, at least.
TashWordJuly 2, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Personally, if I am on holidays I don’t work – that’s what holidays means.
WHat I have done int eh past is to have my family travel with me for work – they holiday and I work with clients. However, I then make sure my non-client time is spent with my family so I work fewer hours than at home so I recharge a bit, too. Clear boundaries at home or away is really important as a freelancer.
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Aidan BradleyJuly 2, 2012 at 7:26 pm
I find that I’m very much a morning person, am as such am generally up long before anyone else (A terrific resilience to hangovers helps also), so first thing is a nice time for me to get things done. It’s quiet, no distractions, and it’s before the mobile data networks get all clogged up
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budgetwaysJuly 4, 2012 at 4:34 am
All good plans to make it through the holidays. Personally, I try to get the work done before the holiday, so I can focus on enjoying the holiday. Of course this takes extra work, but I find that I am most productive when I work in long spurts.
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akanbiJuly 6, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I would handle the holidays the same way I would a work at home job, assign certain days when you are working full time, while others are completely dedicated to the holiday and family. Balance is key.
BreakfreeJuly 7, 2012 at 1:02 am
I am new to freelance working but certainly I have been wondering for a month how would I manage with the holidays and freelancing. As for the tips, they are really helpful and clear . I know how to get organized but it is better and inspires me more when I am following a list of tips. Also the last tip was the best and I am certain it will help me to mix work with pleasure. Thanks
n42kJuly 7, 2012 at 8:00 am
Thank you for this list of recommendations. I will surely keep them in mind the next time I do freelance work when I’m on holidays! The last time I went on holidays with work, it was horrible. I didn’t have internet there, and I kept getting distracted by the children and so in about a week, I didn’t get anything done and I had double the work the next week.
CarolinaJuly 18, 2012 at 7:13 am
I find that a good schedule have saved my life in so many occasions. I have to be prepared and organized, otherwise, I will only sit at the beach sipping martinis.
DesireeJuly 21, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Being a freelancer myself, I find that there is a great truth in this article.
However, the theory is always easier than what you actually manage to do, and although I totally agree with you, Doree, I must admit that I never manage to stick to such a structured plan.
This is why sometimes, I kinda miss my 8 to 5 job, it provided a lot more structure than my current schedule does.
ashmonnJuly 26, 2012 at 6:06 am
With Labor day fast approaching, I was looking for a way for me to increase my productivity during those long holiday weekends.
I made a complete mess of my work schedule during the 4th of July holiday and now I know how to avoid those same pitfalls.
arajooAugust 11, 2012 at 6:37 pm
This is my main problem before. I remember spending Christmas, New Year and Valentines day in front of the computer because work needs to be done that exact day. it is hard to manage work on a holiday but it is not impossible especially if you have a checklist on what to do just like this post.
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toughtrasherAugust 23, 2012 at 11:29 pm
I think having fun disables some of the other points made in this post. I disagree with scheduling your work hours when trying to do freelancing on a holiday. It is, of course, a holiday and you should be able to work at your own pace.
If you desperately need the money, I don’t believe you should be on holiday then.
Just my opinion.
PaladinOctober 4, 2012 at 11:47 am
I am new to freelance working but certainly I have been wondering for a month how would I manage with the holidays and freelancing. As for the tips, they are really helpful and clear . I know how to get organized but it is better and inspires me more when I am following a list of tips. Also the last tip was the best and I am certain it will help me to mix work with pleasure. Thanks.
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