If you do freelance work, chances are there are a lot of things that you love about it. There might also be one thing that you do not like so much about it – the irregular nature of the work. Since much freelance work is done on a project basis, there is the possibility that you may finish one or more projects and then have nothing on your plate for a while. From a leisure perspective that is great, you have some free time to do what you wish. From an economic perspective, though, a period of time without any money coming through the door is not a good thing especially when you can not predict when the drought will end.
There are a few things that you can do to help prevent gaps in your workload, if you want or need to prevent them. The first thing that you can do is to look for long term projects or assignments. Not only will you be able to build a predictable work schedule, you will have at least some money coming in on a regular schedule. Some freelance professionals can fill all of their available working hours with long term assignments and therefore are able to experience a feeling of security in their work.
If you can not fill all of your time with long term assignments, make sure that you look for new assignments before you actually need them. Since finding and bidding on projects takes time, and you do not win every project you bid on, you can not afford to leave looking for work until you run out of work to do. Setting aside even an hour or two each week to browse projects and write proposals can make the difference between having work when you need it and going without work for weeks or even months.
If you do encounter a gap in work or a lightened workload for a period of time, you can make the best of it by doing other things related to your business during the extra time that you have available. For example, look over your books to make sure that all of your invoices have been sent out and make calls to check on any invoices that have not been paid on time. You can also engage in professional development by reading, taking online courses, or even reviewing and revising your business plan.
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