Juggling the festive period as a freelancer
And a podcast on supercharging your pitching
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This week many in our community have already downed tools or are at least beginning to wind down ready for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
It is always a tricky time for self-employed journalists. Our clients may stop completely over the holiday period or operate on a skeleton staff with articles done well in advance.
And if our editors are not in the office or commissioning content, it does seem like an excellent time to take a well-earned break. We freelancers are allowed annual leave as well!
So what is the best approach for managing this period. After more than 15 years as a freelancer, FFJ co-founder Emma has completely accepted that there will be at least a week if not two where no work will be done.
“I make sure I plan in advance when my last reporting shift is and what my other deadlines are, then once that is done I spend some time doing any outstanding admin or tax stuff to make sure I’m starting the New Year in a good place,” she says.
In the past week, Emma has also accepted three commissions for January from editors who were also clearly getting some last minute things on their to-do lists out of the way.
Those deadlines are at the end of January, she notes, “so there’s no pressure to get anything done over Christmas and I can have a real chunk of time off”.
There have been other years when she has had to finish features to be ready for an early January deadline but she tries to avoid that now.
However, it may be handy to bear in mind that everything will be really quiet so without the usual constant emails of phone calls, it could be the perfect time to get on top of any piece of work that has been hanging over you. And there is a chance you may want an excuse to sneak away from the family for a few hours.
Siobhan Robertson, writer and social media manager at Empoword Journalism says: “I’m going to really try and take a break because I’ve barely stopped for months. I will be using the time to get on top of the things that need done around the house though.”
Getting those other tasks done that you do not usually have time for can be a great way to set yourself up for a productive first day or week when the 2nd January rolls around.
After 17 years working as a freelancer full time writing about global health, social affairs and social travel, Sally Howard has now learnt to avoid the temptation to pitch into the void in the lead up to and during Christmas.
“Sure undertake admin or clear your tax returns, but pitching from mid December on is wasted effort and it's an expression of workaholism to take pride in working while 9-to-5ers kick back.”
The exception to this rule is if you're genuinely cash-strapped, she says. There will be, for example, cover shifts to pick up if you need work as staff journalists take their annual leave.
Whatever your preferred way of working over the Christmas period, make sure you take some time to rest and step fully away from emails and social media to refresh and reset yourselves. Go for a walk, read a book, watch some terrible films and fully switch off. Hopefully this will mean you chomping at the bit to return to work in January.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the team at FFJ 🥂
New podcast episode
In this week’s must-listen episode we’re talking about how to Supercharge your pitching. With help from our fabulous guests Punteha van Terheyden who specialises in true-life stories and Flic Everett, a self-employed journalist and editor, we explore what makes a winning pitch and how to improve your chances of getting a commission and the most common pitching mistakes freelancers make.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at the link below.
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For anyone who wants more support with their freelancing and access to extra resources including resource lists, successful pitch examples and bonus podcast episodes, the premium version of this newsletter is just £40 a year or £3.33 a month. Honestly its a bit of a bargain and obviously is a completely tax deductible business expense. Any questions just shout at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Triumph of the week
Sending the 100th invoice of the year.
That feeling when
The end is in sight 🎄
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Bye for now!
