How to Kill a Freelance Career: Things that Destroy Freelancers

I've worked for myself in some capacity for over 15 years. I've been full-time self employed for about seven or so years at the time of this writing, working for no one but myself. Over the years, I've coached some writers to successful online or freelance careers, working from home. However, the overwhelming majority of people who start out with freelance writing inevitably give it up or take a 'real' job somewhere outside of the home.

The reasons for this are as varied as the people who make the excuses. The reality is: you can make a great living working from home, being your own boss, writing, freelancing, and doing things you love. However, in order to make that living and be successful as a freelancer, particularly as a freelance writer, you have to be cognizant of the things that can kill your freelancing career before it ever starts.

Email Can Kill a Freelance Career

Yes, as a freelancer, we need email. It's how we communicate with our clients and fellow writers. It's how we accept assignments, and it's how we return them. For most of us, it's also how we accept payment. Even so, we don't need to drown in email every day, all day. When you are writing or researching, you should close your email client and email notifications. Set a regular schedule in between working or writing to check your email and respond. Write one article or finish one project or part of a project, submit and log it, then check email, respond, and then close your email client and move on to the next article. You'll be amazed how much more productive you will be if your email doesn't control you.

Chat / Twitter / Instant Messages Kill a Freelance Career

Turn them all off, every last one of them. Check them at the beginning of your day, around lunchtime, and toward the end of the day. Turn them back on in the evenings, but keep them off when you're actually doing work. If it's important, someone will call you. If they don't know your number, it can't be all that important. Remember, you control your internet; it doesn't control you.

Internet Games Kill a Freelance Career

I'm the worst at this one. I'm a total addict. I can stay away from online games, but once I start playing, I have a hard time walking away. "Just one more game, just one more... and then, just one more." I have had to set aside time in the evenings, before bedtime, to play games and wind down, and I don't let myself even log on to game sites during the day. Don't let yourself play the games until the work is finished. Make the games your reward for a job well done, not a time killer that kills your freelancing career.

Television Kills a Freelance Career

Sure, you think you can multitask and watch TV while you write or work, don't you? You can't. You think you can, but your performance slows and probably suffers when you're trying to watch television while writing or working. If you're like me and you write and work all the time, at all hours of the day and night, it's inevitable the TV will be on sometimes when you are working or writing. During the day, though, 'normal work hours', try your best to keep the television off, just like you would at a 'real' job.

Telephone Kills a Freelance Career

I love my internet phone, because I can simply not log in. If someone leaves me a message, it sends me an email. If my email is open, I can see who messaged me, and choose to answer or not. My close family and friends have my cell number, if it's an emergency. I have a rule: don't call me during 'office hours'. Most will respect that, and those who don't get to talk to my voice mail. The phone is supposed to save you time, not waste it. Again, you control the phone as a tool for you, not you being a slave to it. Trust me, the world will not burn down if you skip answering your phone while you're working.

Poor Diet Can Kill a Freelance Career

I love working from home, but I found when I first started working from home, I had a bad habit of eating little snacks all day long, and not healthy things. Not only was I sitting more and less active, but I was eating more too. I had to get things out of the house that were unhealthy and replace them with healthy alternatives. I also had to schedule a lunchtime meal, where I took a break and walked away from the computer and ate a healthy lunch.

You'd be amazed how much energy a bad diet can zap from you, and losing energy means losing productivity too. Eat healthy foods that will increase your energy and stamina as well as keep you full.

Poor Posture and Body Can Kill a Freelance Career

It's imperative to stand up and move around when you are working from home, and especially true if you are like me and work long, hard hours. Your hands and feet will swell, your back will ache, your shoulders will hunch, your eyesight will be strained. You must force yourself to get up at least once per hour and stretch and move around. Also, at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon, you should take a 15-20 minute break and walk around the block, clean house, or do something active.

If you don't do this, you will pay for it in more than one way--your body becomes weaker and it can kill you and your productivity suffers and that can kill your freelance career. Quite frankly, you can't write much when you're dead. Take care of your health, and you'll feel better and be more productive too.

The Internet Kills a Freelance Career

Yeah, I know. The internet is what makes you be able to have a freelance career, but when you let the internet control you instead of using it like the tool it was designed to be, it will kill your freelance career. If you get lost researching, you'd best make new articles out of the information you have researched. If you're going to waste the time on the internet, make it pay you back somehow. Think of it this way: if you wondered about it enough to search for it on the internet, someone else probably wondered about it too. So write it up and share it!

Slow Down and Think to Save Your Freelance Career!

Get plenty of sleep, plenty of sunshine, plenty of exercise and good foods for your body. Taking care of yourself makes you a healthier and more productive person. Working from home, it's easy to fall into a trap where you feel you are working all the time, but your body is wasting away from want of movement and fresh air and sunshine.

The healthier and more rested you are, the better your work will be, and the faster you can perform your duties while freelancing. Remove distractions, take care of your health and emotional needs, and control the tools you use in your freelancing career to prevent killing your freelance career.