Poll: As a freelancer, is time management an issue for you?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jun 6, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "As a freelancer, is time management an issue for you?".

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ajmal hussain
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No (not any more) Jun 6, 2019

Experience has taught me how to manage my time; I am very organized at work and even known to deliver quite often ahead of time.

ajmal hussain
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:41
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes Jun 6, 2019

I have to confess, I've been getting too distracted lately -- texts, phone calls, emails that I want to respond to, questions from colleagues on KudoZ ...

Still, I get more done working at home as a freelancer than I used to at the office. There were even more interruptions.


ajmal hussain
 
Mariana Passos
Mariana Passos  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 13:41
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Unforeseen events Jun 6, 2019

I can make good use of my time when things to according to plan.
Usually what messes up my time management are things out of my control, like sickness in my family, unexpected visitors...
But I'm getting better in working around those things.


 
Ivana Kahle
Ivana Kahle  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 14:41
Member (2007)
German to Croatian
+ ...
Not any more Jun 6, 2019

... since I attended a workshop on Efficient Time Management.
Our trainer (Dario Zorić) was excellent.
Time management is a skill that can be learned.
Happy translating and time managing


ajmal hussain
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 14:41
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jun 6, 2019

Except when I've planned my weekend to fit in some work and people suddenly invite me to a barbecue or whatever. It happened last Saturday - I'd already arranged to take a friend to the airport in addition to the translation, so the barbecue invite was really inconvenient for me. If they'd told me about it before the weekend, I could've gone. At least my friends and family are used to me working weekends by now, so they don't mind so much.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Interruptions Jun 6, 2019

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

Still, I get more done working at home as a freelancer than I used to at the office. There were even more interruptions.


I know exactly what you mean: when I was working in-house I bought an espresso coffee machine for my office and told my colleagues that they were welcomed to use it. Though it was nice to chat and have a coffee with them, quite often I had to remind them that I had work to do…


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 14:41
English to Italian
only when Jun 6, 2019

it comes to taking some time off...

 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:41
Member (2005)
French to English
Revision deadlines Jun 6, 2019

These are getting dangerously short for some assignments, and one client systematically quotes at an unrealistically fast working pace: 1500 or 1800 words per hour as opposed to my advertised 1200-word rate. That is what I understand as a time management issue.

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:41
French to English
I don't know Jun 6, 2019

Sometimes I have so much work I don't have time for anything else.

Other times, I have no work for weeks and can't decide what to do with the free time.

Actually, I don't see time as something to be managed. For me, time is in itself an interesting human concept that deserves discussion, but not here, obviously.


Hege Jakobsen Lepri
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 15:41
Greek to English
Issue? Jun 7, 2019

I suspect the even split in the answers to this is due to the poor phrasing of the question. Of course, time management is an "issue", in the sense that it is something the effective freelance worker has to be able to handle properly. On the other hand, it's not something that I personally have any trouble with in the normal run of things and the same seems to apply to most of the people responding here.

So I answered "Other".

It would have been clearer to ask: Do you f
... See more
I suspect the even split in the answers to this is due to the poor phrasing of the question. Of course, time management is an "issue", in the sense that it is something the effective freelance worker has to be able to handle properly. On the other hand, it's not something that I personally have any trouble with in the normal run of things and the same seems to apply to most of the people responding here.

So I answered "Other".

It would have been clearer to ask: Do you find it difficult to manage your time?
Collapse


Vera Schoen
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Jennifer Forbes
ahartje
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:41
French to English
Issue? Jun 7, 2019

Yes it's an issue I have to deal with.
But it's not a terrible problem for me, more for my clients. If they have an emergency, I'll charge extra, that's all. I realised when working at the agency that emergencies sometimes evaporate when you pair the words "emergency" and "fee".


 


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Poll: As a freelancer, is time management an issue for you?






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