One of the (many) challenges of freelancing is managing clients who expect us to be available at any and all times. The Internet—especially social media—and email, along with changing phone technology, are among the major culprits, but freelancers are often our own worst enemies when it comes to setting limits on when and how we can be reached by clients.
Before cell and smart phones became so ubiquitous, having a separate phone number for your freelance business was one way to keep personal and business calls from bumping into each other—not only could you identify work calls and not answer them when you were off the clock, but you could ignore personal calls that came in when you were on deadline and return after you “closed” your office. Nowadays, though, many freelancers only have one phone, and it’s increasingly a cell phone rather than a landline. It may have voicemail capacity, but we often don’t use that; we seem to be programmed to answer calls no matter when they come in.
Thanks to technology and the demands of the marketplace, it isn’t surprising to get calls or messages from clients late at night and over the weekends. Nor is it unusual for someone to send a project around 5:00 PM on a Friday and expect to get it back at 9:01 on Monday morning. Clients tend to assume that freelancers will take calls, answer messages, and work on projects at any and all hours. Many of us do our best to fulfill those expectations. But we shouldn’t.
Nowadays, tools like the Internet and cell phones, while invaluable for our freelance businesses, create the expectation of constant availability. It’s up to us to decide whether we want to be that accessible.
A professional business has office hours—times when the “office” is open, we communicate with clients and colleagues, and we do our work. A professional business also has downtime—hours when the office is closed and we are not available. It doesn’t matter if we aren’t available because we have family to pay attention to, pets to play with, friends to hang out with, shopping to do, or naps to take. It doesn’t matter if we might actually do work at odd hours beyond 9 to 5. What matters is that we set the ground rules for when we’re available to clients, and at least try to stick to such schedules.
Setting hours doesn’t mean you don’t work outside those hours—late at night, very early in the morning, over weekends, on holidays. It just means that clients are educated from the beginning of the relationship about how and when they can reach you, and when they can expect you to be available to discuss their projects. In addition to posting office hours, you may want to include language for your contracts, letters of agreement, or early email messages along the lines of, “I look forward to working together. Please be aware that my office hours are X to Y. I may not return calls or messages received after Y until the next business morning.”
Several colleagues recommend not just setting office hours, but posting those hours at your website. That’s a very good way to establish your freelance business as exactly that—a business, with formal hours of availability.
Once you establish and publicize your business hours, contact after-hours is easy to manage: Don't answer the phone or email messages outside those hours (even if sometimes you do work outside them—that's your choice, not something you should do because a client pushes you to do it). Or have caller ID on at least one phone, so you can pick and choose which calls you answer and which go to voicemail. If you only have one line and no caller ID, practice saying something like, “Thanks for calling, but this is not within my office hours. Let’s talk first thing on Monday” for those times when you inadvertently pick up a call from a client late at night or over the weekend.
All that said, I haven’t posted business hours at my own site, but it might be time to rethink doing so. Posting one’s hours strikes me as most important for new freelancers, but useful for established ones as well. I’m in the midst of a site revamp, and business hours might be part of the new look. After all, it’s a new year—a good time for new approaches!
Ruth E. “I can write about anything!” Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) is a long-time, successful freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and more. Her technical communication projects include proofreading a 1,000-plus-page manual for a local company working with a federal agency, and writing and editing website content for various tech-oriented businesses. She has spoken at local and national STC conferences; is the author of Get Paid to Write! Getting Started as a Freelance Writer and Freelancing 101: Launching Your Editorial Business; and hosts an annual conference for freelancers through her Communication Central business.
Only 2 clients and 3 colleagues have ever called me in 17 years. 🙁
I’m making light. My clients keep regular business hours, and they haven’t expected me to do otherwise, this, and caller ID, have made setting hours unnecessary.
Now, if you mentioned setting hours so your _family_ would know when you were NOT available….
It’s harder to manage family and friends than clients, but family have to be trained/educated to respect our work. Some home-based freelancers put their work hours on the doors to their home offices, if they have doors. Some just tell spouses, partners and kids when to leave them alone for work, and when not to answer the phone because of business hours. It’s important to be consistent about those hours. People with children often work in the hours the kids are asleep or at daycare or school.