RIP PTO

Today’s edition of Wishful Working is a 4 minute read.

Hello from past Kara! By the time you receive this email, I’ll be in the middle of vacation — traipsing through Ireland and Yorkshire with my husband and a few friends 🤗 But right now, I’m sitting at my desk, trying to make sure this email gets finished and scheduled before I have to get on a plane. Which brings me to today’s topic: Taking time off as a freelancer. 

My recent tweet sums up my feelings on the matter: 

The sentiment seems to resonate 😅

When I was an employee, taking PTO was ✨ magical ✨ — you’re telling me I get paid while not working?! Now that I’m self-employed, taking time off is a little more complicated.

In some ways, it’s even more awesome than it was before:

• I don’t need anyone’s permission to take time off 🙌

• I don’t have to hoard days for any reason

• I can take significantly longer breaks and/or trips without worrying about draining my PTO balance

• I can adjust my schedule to fit my spouse’s schedule (he’s a farmer with unpredictable, seasonal hours)

But in other ways, it’s much harder to take time off as a freelancer:

• There’s no such thing as paid time off anymore — when I take time off, I almost always experience a noticeable dip in income

• Because of this fact, taking time off requires quite a bit more planning and saving than it once did

• I not only have to account for the actual time away, but I have to anticipate a possible lull in work when I get back

• Instead of submitting one time off request to HR, I have to let all of my separate clients know about my time off and adjust meetings and deadlines accordingly

• If I’m really busy, it can be hard to set boundaries and extract myself from my work to take a break

• I’m always slightly concerned about missing out on potential opportunities when I take longer breaks

Right now, my main ways of dealing with the above challenges are budgeting (I’m a big budget nerd — shoutout to YNAB) and relying on savings and/or my partner’s income when my revenue takes a hit (which, obviously, is not an option for everyone).

BUT I’ve been thinking a lot about other solutions to the PTO problem. I would like to try to incorporate some of these things into my freelance business to make time off less painful, and maybe you will too — or maybe you already do!

1. Collect Upfront Payments: I know I should collect some sort of deposit at the beginning of bigger projects, but I don’t currently do that most of the time. 😅 Upfront payments and/or milestone payments throughout a project could help a lot with financial planning.

2. Onboard More Retainer Clients: Having clients who pay a fixed monthly fee for services can provide a more stable income stream to support time off.

3. Take Strategic Breaks: I’m actually pretty good at this one — I took a long break during December because it was going to be slow for client work anyway, and I planned a vacation for February for the same reason.

4. Diversify Your Revenue Streams: Currently, all of my income comes from writing projects I do directly for clients, but many freelancers have other income sources, such as digital products, workshops, memberships, newsletter sponsorships, speaking engagements, etc. Although I think “passive” income is a misnomer, I definitely see the appeal of generating revenue outside of my writing work.

I’ll just say one more thing about taking time off as a freelancer: DO IT. Even though it’s difficult and complicated, it’s absolutely essential.

And to the traditionally employed — you better use every single second of your PTO every single year. 😡

See you next week,

Kara