Why I’m turning down work and money

So I made the mistake of biting off more than I could chew and ended up taking way too much extra work on recently. I’m fairly new to the whole freelance scene and I hate letting people down so I ended up taking on more than I could handle. I did talk to Joe about what would happen if I/we got too many clients, but I expected it to build up gradually rather than suddenly reaching the point when I suddenly freaked out because I was mentally and physically exhausted and yet hadn’t realised it.

Does it look professional that I’m writing this? Probably not, but you know what, I have a policy of being completely open when it comes to talking about my attitudes and experiences. The work I do and have done hasn’t suffered at all, but one or two people have got things slightly late, which I’m not proud of. I’ve offered freebies as compensation, and it has taught me a big lesson about not taking too much on. I’ve already had to be honest with a few people approaching me for work and say that I just don’t have the time to do it right now. Working 80 or 90 hours a week for a considerable period of time is not fun. I’ve already mentioned before about how my work/life balance faded into obscurity a long time ago – if it ever existed in the first place – and having some much appreciated time off over Christmas made me remember how important relaxation actually is.

One of the issues I have is that offering SEO services presents a problem in terms of scaling. Everything I do is manual, and everything has to meet my standards. With every new client comes a new niche (I have a ‘no conflicts of interest’ policy), and learning the competitors, quirks, strategies and everything else in a new sector takes time. To do it fully takes months. So it’s tough to take on multiple niches from scratch and make a difference in a relatively short amount of time.

For now, I’m working on managing my workload. I never make an ‘I have too much work on’ excuse to clients because that’s a) not their fault b) not relevant to them. It’s my job to provide what I say I will, and if the pressure’s on me it’s my own fault. So what I’m doing is finishing up work which has an ‘end date’ and avoiding taking any more clients on (at least for SEO). What I’ll be left with is a mini group of established clients who have bigger/longer term ongoing needs that won’t be too much work. My biggest fear is dreading having work to do, which is a sign of burnout, so I’m cutting back in order to avoid it.

But you know what? Having to turn down work is a nice problem to have. My biggest fear is that I’d be dealing with clients from hell, but every single person I’ve worked with so far has been friendly, approachable and understanding.