Freelance Writing and Sick Days
October 22nd, 2007 by Michael KwanTypically, when you get yourself a regular 9-to-5 job, you’re provided with a certain number of paid sick days. After all, we’re all allowed to fall under the weather from time to time, and we shouldn’t have to suffer financially because of it. Based on Michael Moore’s SiCKO, people in other countries can sometimes get even better treatment. Unfortunately, despite all the advantages of being a dot com entrepreneur, sick days are perhaps one of its biggest pitfalls.
I just came back from the doctor’s office a couple hours ago, telling him about this nagging cough that has been bothering me for the past few days. He very quickly determined that it’s bronchitis and it should be cleared up with a few days of antibiotics. I’m feeling a little more tired than usual and my mind isn’t quite functioning the way it should be too. If I had myself a regular job, I probably would have called in sick today. This would especially be true if I was in some sort of customer service environment, because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want me to hack up a lung in front of a customer. Imagine if I was in food service!
By taking the route of being a self-employed freelance writer, balancing the projects of several clients simultaneously, it can be difficult for me to take a day off unexpectedly. Contrast this to when I can plan for a few days off, as was the case with my Mexican cruise. When I can plan for it, I can put in a few extra hours beforehand and make it appear like I never left. A blog time stamp is excellent for this purpose. Unfortunately, I can’t exactly plan on when I’ll contract some bronchitis.
More than anything, this discussion emphasizes the importance of passive and residual income. This is something that I need to work on, because it would be nice to know that even if I did nothing one day, I’d still make a little chunk of change to keep me afloat. I get some random advertising money on this blog, but it’s far from being any sort of sustainable income. Maybe it’s time I set up a website that runs itself.
Filed under Freelance Writing.
The obvious answer is to clone yourself. What are the odds of both of you getting sick at the same time, especially if you make your clone live in the shed out back?
Of course, we’re years away from cloning ourselves and probably even decades or more from making an exact duplicate of ourselves (same developmental-age, memories, etc.) But, what of virtual clones? What if a computer could replicate your thinking and do your writing and tasks for you when you’re sick? Or worse.
Hmmm. I’ll have to get to work on that right away!
But, you can take some days off blogging… In fact, why did you even spend the time writing up this blog post if you’re sick…?
Because I feel an intense dedication to my readers.
I made a promise to myself that I’d put up at least one post per day, regardless of circumstances.
Maybe you should consider lining up some backup posts just in case you get sick. That way you have less work to do and more time to rest. Of course, this’ll only mostly work on your blog, but it’s still less work. You could probably do the same with the posts you make over at BlueFur’s Blog too.
Sick days are the same as any day for me…it doesn’t really matter. If I’m sick, it doesn’t mean that I can’t write.
It’s not like we’re piling lumber in the rain or anything.
Yeah, I still got my work done yesterday, but I wasn’t nearly as efficient as I normally am. My brain was like mush at times, so I had to take more breaks than usual.
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“Maybe it’s time I set up a website that runs itself.”
Afterwards, write down the exact steps you took to get that to work. Then send them to me.
I would like to know the formula for this as well
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