Stress and work free holidays for freelancers
Written by Lara Fasoli, founder of FSL Language Solutions and EN<>IT<ES professional translator, interpreter and copywriter for sports, marketing and manufacturing
Picture this.
You’ve delivered all your projects, ticked all the items off your to-do list, you’re setting your "out of office" message and you’re already thinking about what to pack and the sunscreen you still need to buy to avoid getting sunburn on the first day. Have you checked-in for the flight? Where have you stashed the flip-flops and the bathing suits? Remember to water the plants before you….
BLING
Oh no.
Hey! I have a very important and big project and I thought you were the perfect translator for it – the budget for it is generous but the deadline is quite tight. Would you be interested?
Do you hear that sound?
Those are your stress and work free holidays drifting off into the sunset and headed to a sandy white beach whilst you take on the project (how could you turn down such good money!?) and prepare for some intense indoor translation sessions.
Let’s now move on to the good news: with some prep and good organisation, this scenario is completely avoidable and you’ll be able to enjoy the well-deserved holiday you’ve worked so hard for the rest of the year – or at least it will be easier to say no to last minute projects landing in your inbox!
Let them know in advance
Sit down and make a list of the summer days you want for yourself. Whether that means two weeks of touring another continent or just a day off to go to the pool, make a note of the days and how much work you can do: none at all, reduced hours, replying to emails only. It is important that clients know whether you are reachable or not – maybe they want to check your availability for a future project, and if they see a vague OoO they might assume you’ve left for days and they'd better contact somebody else. Making this distinction clear is pivotal in taking advantage of opportunities even during the summer periods whilst enjoying some days of relaxation. The list you’re coming up with will of course be different for translation and interpreting clients (for example, when I visit my family I don’t take the full day off as they all work and I would get bored during the day, but I am not available for face-to-face interpreting assignments), and it might change from client to client as well: depending on the agreement you have with them, or the usual workload they send. If you’re only working reduced hours you can prioritize the clients who send you more work or those who pay best. One thing I find crucial is to remark, write in bold, highlight in yellow and underline three times when you will absolutely not be at your desk and won’t be able to reply to emails.
I find that informing clients a couple of weeks prior to my first period off is a good compromise: you’re giving them sufficient notice in order to plan accordingly and they won’t have forgotten about your holiday when the time comes. Gentle reminders are also always a good idea, especially in the form of casual chat in email:
How are you doing today?
Great, thank for asking - I am super-excited and looking forward to my week in *insert summer destination* on Monday! How about you?
Of course, this works if you have a more personal relationship with your clients. Another idea I can suggest is to have a small note after your signature, informing the clients of your upcoming leave: more formal, super-efficient.
Help them
This unfortunately doesn’t apply to most clients, but I always mention the fact that I am happy to suggest and vouch for a trusted colleague who’ll be able to take care of their projects in my absence. This has various upsides:
The client will have less work to do in sourcing another translator, especially if you’re their main (or only!) provider, and they will be thankful.
As we’re talking about a trusted colleague, you can be pretty sure that once you’re back the client will switch back to you, so you won’t be replaced by a substitute they might find in your absence.
Inform everybody
And when I say everybody, I mean pretty much anybody you’ve ever worked with. I have noticed that during summer or at national holidays, it is the agencies for which I work less, or for which I never work but I am nevertheless on their books, that try and contact me with that cheeky project on Good Friday or with the deadline on a Bank Holiday Monday. This is why I now include all agencies that I am registered with, also for other reasons:
It works as a nice reminder of your existence;
If you phrase your email well, you’re letting them know not only when you won’t be there, but also of when you will be available to take projects. Especially during the summer period, when work tends to dry up, it’s good to let as many people know that you’re available and ready to take on projects. I find summer a good opportunity to establish a stronger relationship with clients that have a different preferential freelancer, and if they don’t stick with you once the holidays are over, oh well – you’ve lost nothing!
Stick to your guns
You’ve set your build-up to holiday perfectly, everybody knows about your availability and you’re on track to leave without any pending projects. Now comes the difficult part: saying no to those emails that do still come in. PMs are sometimes put in difficult positions and have to make the best of what they have, it’s only normal that they will find an easy way out, asking the freelancers they trust to help out even if they know that they are approaching their holidays. So, stick to your guns and start saying no – the first time is the most difficult one, but then it gets easier, also because once you reject them, you start getting less last minute “please-please-please-help-me” emails.
Here I am also talking about projects that you can squeeze in (please note that squeeze here is the keyword – of course, if you can fit a project comfortably in your schedule, why on earth would you turn it down?) in the few days before departure or those you can start but will eventually have to be finished and returned whilst on holiday. What I have noticed is that leaving for a trip takes up some time: getting organised, actually packing, buying those essentials you need but you haven’t got in the house, etc… and the longer you’re away, the longer it takes. Although I have managed to set a packing personal record of just 12 minutes, we need to remember that our aim here is a stress-free holiday, not just a work-free one. If the prelude of our going away are two days of frenzy made of last-minute deadlines, shopping and taxi runs to the airport, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
Start well, continue better
Remember to set your OoO! The last thing I always do before leaving my desk for a few days is setting up a clear OoO where I specify the days I will be gone, what my access to emails will be and when I will be able to reply. I usually redirect my clients to the trusted colleague I mentioned before or I say if the matter is urgent to contact me on my mobile, warning them of international charges if I am in a different continent (and guess what - it works like a charm).
Now that you’re officially on holiday, switch off the email notifications from your phone and relax!
But, if you’re anything like me, this is the equivalent of going cold turkey from caffeine or smoking. I do feel the need for a holiday and switching off, but after a couple of days of basking in the sun and having naps on the beach I get restless.
As I do want my stress and work free holiday to be possible, I have found some ways to cope, namely a good reading list loaded up in my Kindle and a to-do list of all the business-related things I have postponed over the course of the year. Here are some examples just to give you an idea of what tasks I am talking about:
Work on a new social media strategy
Take the time to jot down blog post ideas, and why not, get around to writing them
Tackle all the files and folders you've created and saved somewhere in your PC during the year that now look like an impenetrable maze
Create a new admin system
If you’re an ITI member you can squeeze in some CPDs thanks to the library of free online webinars.
Update your website’s style, adding new content, translating it into another language or create a new site altogether!
Clean up your TMs or your terminology banks
Schedule in some deliberate solo practice or ask a colleague and practice
Have the business-related books you’ve had your eye on at the ready!
In case the restlessness comes haunting you, start tackling it. If you don’t feel the need to be productive and you’re happy to just doze off on the beach, go do it!
If you’ve told clients that you won’t have access to email, you can check them every two or three days if you feel the urge, but remember to exercise self-discipline - your mind and body need to rest, no taking new projects on whilst on holiday! You will thank yourself once the holiday is over and it’s time to be back at the desk.
What other ways do you use to have a nice relaxing holiday, with no projects in the way of ruining your fun? Let me know on LinkedIn or Instagram!
