A previous blog entry discusses Freelance vs. Full Time Writing. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been discovering a big benefit of working as a freelancer. My mom role collided with my freelancer role when my son’s medical challenges erupted.
Not to worry — he’s fine. I don’t mind talking about it, but it doesn’t belong in a public forum living in cyberspace for all eternity. Feel free to contact me privately if you’d like to know details.
My spouse and I had been struggling since spring trying to figure out how to help him and what would be best for him this summer. We thought we had it figured out only to find the program had no room for him. We put him in two programs and they worked OK. But I had to take time out of the day to deal with some incidences.
Two more opportunities came up and I had to investigate them … during the day. Yesterday, he started a three week program that made oil companies happy as we drove through lots of traffic to get there. The program could make a big difference for him and it requires parents to attend meetings every morning and afternoon — so count the commute and meetings and you have a formula for eating up lots of working time.
My spouse works for a corporation, so I’ve felt bad about him having to attend these meetings and miss a lot of work. Imagine if I had still worked for a corporation and having to make up all the missed time or take vacation days for something that is no vacation.
So I go to most of the meetings and my spouse goes to a couple of them. We appreciate having my flexibility, but it doesn’t ease our feeling guilty for our jobs. I emailed my regular clients to let them know what’s going on and that I would prioritize work as needed.
Needless to say, I’m running around with my virtual head cut off and doing only what I need to do for the next couple of weeks. That means sacrificing my social networking including blogs, Twitter, and elsewhere. I won’t blog as often. I’m all about getting the kids where they need to be and keeping the work going.
How do you handle unexpected job interruptions?
4 thoughts on “The Freelancing Flexibility Advantage”
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It’s hard when life throws a monkeywrench with our kids and work gets diverted. Wishing you smoother days ahead!
I simply expect job interruptions, though it is certainly frustrating at times. One of the pros of working at home is that you are always there for the kids.
Of course one of the cons of working at home is that you are always there for the kids…
Hope all turns out well for you!
~Graham
@Graham, right on! Thank you. Absolutely — being there for the kids has its benefits and its challenges. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I believe every ideal job has its drawbacks / down side.
I’d love to know if anyone out there truly loves EVERYTHING about his dream job. Every job is going to have a negative… including sports. They get hurt, they have days where they don’t want to run or lift weights because our bodies refuse to cooperate.
its hard when job gets in with personal life.. maybe you should have a job that fits perfectly with your schedule or just simply have a vacation so that you wont be stressed out..