Clear Up Your End of the Year Loose Ends
December 18, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
Now is a good time to tidy up and tie off any loose ends. The next couple of weeks are going to be hectic for many of us as we celebrate our holidays, travel and prepare for the year ahead. Here are a few things you might want to do now, to save yourself some time later.
Get As Much Work Done As Possible
Not only do you want to not have to worry about work during this festive time, your clients will appreciate not having to work as well. If you complete your assignments before your deadline, you’re allowing yourself some free time and giving your client one less thing to worry about. I once had a client so appreciate of my getting work done early in anticipation of the holidays, she sent me a big fat bonus.
Make Sure Your Clients Have Your Personal Details
January begins tax time. It will help your clients send out your information early if they don’t have to send out emails chasing down addresses, Social Security Numbers and W-9’s. Ask if they have everything they need now.
Make Sure No One Is Expecting Anything Else from You
I often contact my clients this time of year to find out if there’s anything else they’ll need from me before the year ends. I’ve never forgotten about a project, but anything’s possible during this busy season. Isn’t it better to end the year and start a brand new year with a clean slate?
Work Ahead
I’ll be taking a few days off next week as I visit with family. .Hopefully, most of my blogging clients won’t know the difference. I’m using an offline blog editor to write ahead. Freelance writers with regular columns and gigs can do the same.
The holidays are a special time for me. I have a big family with lots of brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. It’s the only time of the year I see certain family members. I’d much rather spend the holidays celebrating with loved ones than finishing up all of my end of the year tasks.
- How do you prepare for the holidays?
- Downsizing for the Holidays: Five Tips for Getting Back into the Freelance Groove on January 2
- 9 Things Freelancers Should Do Before the End of the Year
- How to Tell if You’re Spreading Yourself Too Thin
- 10 Things All Freelance Writers Should Do Before the End of 2009
I’ve just finished writing blog posts until January 3 earlier, Deb. My long-planned vacation finally starts tomorrow. While I still do have a very light workload left (due to a new gig I just got), I feel so accomplished having written almost three weeks’ worth of posts in advance.
Sadly, I’d been planning to take all of next week off, but my stinking propane company apparently failed to switch our account from “auto-deliver” to “will-call” back in August. I have the name of the woman we talked to back then, but she’s left the company and after spending half an hour fighting with the manager, they are holding us responsible for this unplanned bill of $700. The most I got from Ultramar was the offer to give us 45 days to pay it off without a late fee instead of 30 days.
So I had my breakdown and now I’m scrambling to find jobs for next week.
@Ann That so sucks! Sorry you are having to go through that. They should be breaking it up more for you since it was their mistake. Some companies just don’t care about customer service; mainly because if there isn’t somewhere else for you to get the propane; they know you are stuck. I hope your holidays go well!
Great tips Deb!