Freelancing can be great but it can also be pretty hard. Your work slowly starts taking up too much of your time and you find that you don’t have time left for any hobbies or to spend with friends and family. We associate burnout with the corporate world but it is also something that affects freelancers. Here’s what you can do about it.
Freelancing is pretty exciting. You get the flexibility to work from anywhere. You can choose your schedule. And you get the freedom to pick the kind of work you want. No-fuss, no muss.
But there are two sides to everything.
While all these benefits are great, you can’t expect them to stave off the associated stress. Freelancing has its fair share of difficulties, and as a freelancer, you may feel bogged down by them. Be it the lack of enough opportunities or too many of them, freelancer burnout is inevitable.
- What is freelancer burnout?
- Causes of freelancer burnout
- Burnout symptoms
- How to avoid burnout – Tips and best practices
- How to overcome burnout
- Real-life stories and tips from successful freelancers
What is freelancer burnout?
Burnout is when you feel exhausted or unsatisfied with the demands of your work. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies burnout as “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”
Join our freelancer community today!
Create your profile in just 2 minutes and start attracting new clients.
The term “burnout” was first officially mentioned by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974 in a psychology-related paper. According to Freudenberger, burnout came with symptoms like exhaustion resulting from work’s excessive demands and physical symptoms, including headaches, closed thinking, quickness to anger, and sleeplessness.
So, if you are struggling to make your freelance business a success, or in case it already is a success, but you still find it difficult to carry on, you’ve got a classic case of suffering from burnout.
According to a report published by ReclaimAI, approximately 43% of freelancers are burnt out from long work days whereas 64.3% of freelancers are burnt out from lack of work-life balance or not having enough time off.
Constantly feeling tired and lacking motivation makes it harder for you as a freelancer to meet your current obligations, especially if you’re under time pressure. This can have dire effects on your long-term career sustainability and mental health. But addressing burnout early on and taking measures to avoid it can help you create an ideal work-life balance.
Causes of freelancer burnout
Being overloaded and overbooked with work is one of the prime causes why freelancers feel burned out. Other reasons may include:
- Unreasonable deadlines – To win new clients or to hold onto existing ones, freelancers may often commit to deadlines that aren’t feasible. And the less time you have to complete your work, the more likely you are to experience burnout.
- Isolation – Freelancing is a tough job. Working without a team means you miss a psychological buffer against stress.
- Avoiding delegation – If you are someone who doesn’t like to delegate work to others, you will soon be exhausted trying to do everything on your own. While you may want to perform your core job yourself, by not outsourcing the less important tasks, you suffer a toll on your mental and physical health.
- Work-Life Imbalance – As a freelancer, it can be tough to separate work time and personal time, especially if you work from home. This can create a work-life imbalance.
- Unpredictable Income – The stress that comes with financial instability contributes to feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.
- Overwork – Lots of freelancers take on too many projects or work excessively long hours. In fact, instead of working the standard 8 hours, many freelancers actually end up working longer hours than the typical 9 to 5.
- Client Demands – High expectations and pressure from clients is another reason why freelancers experience burnout.
- Lack of Boundaries – Not establishing and maintaining clear boundaries with clients and work hours can lead to you being on work mode 24X7. This can lead to stress and eventually burnout.
Am I suffering from burnout? – Burnout symptoms
Burnout is difficult to diagnose. But it isn’t impossible to realise when you are going through this psychological condition.
Here are some common signs and symptoms of burnout:
How to avoid burnout – Tips and best practices
1. Choose your work wisely
If you are overloaded with work, ask yourself: “Do I have time to take on a new project? Am I mentally prepared to put that much more on my plate?”.
If you are not sure, leave that client or project. You can consider increasing your freelance rates instead. This will help you get rid of low paying jobs so you can then concentrate on higher-paying clients with a lesser amount of work. Also, learn the art of saying no to the work you don’t want to take up. This will free your time for the work you actually love doing.
2. Socialise
Isolation often brings stress. To beat the blues, go out and socialise. Meet your friends once a week or find a group of pseudo-co-workers with whom you can bounce ideas off.
Schedule this time in your working week and stay dedicated to it. You should always find a moment for yourself and your loved ones.
3. Seek support
If you are a designer, then outsource your copyrighting work to a writer. If you are a writer, then hire a proofreader to take off some load.
The idea is to delegate and get assistance wherever you can. Every freelancer should focus on what they do best and delegate all tasks that don’t add much value to their business.
If needed, you can even consult a therapist who can help you strike the right balance without hampering your professional and personal life.
4. Indulge in self-care
Consider taking a break from work. You can schedule regular breaks to reduce your workload or can even fuel your creativity by going on a vacation. Eat healthy, exercise, and meditate. To combat burnout, take care of your body and mind.
5. Control expenses
Not having a steady income is often one of the main sources of stress for freelancers. You aim to earn as much as possible but sometimes the next project is not in the pipeline yet.
You can’t always control your income but you can reduce your expenses to improve your liquidity. Cook more at home, cancel all services you’re not using (online tools, Netflix, gym, etc.).
6. Ask for deposits or upfront payment
To reduce the anxiety of not being paid by your next client, you can ask your clients for upfront payments. Getting paid 100% upfront is pretty improbable but look at asking for a fixed sum deposit for work done.
7. Time management
Effective time management is another crucial thing you need to do in order to stave off burnout.Take a close look at all the tasks you have to do. At first, it may seem that everything is significant but the truth is some tasks are more important than others. Find out what needs to be done now and what can be done later – this will help you learn to prioritise your time.
8. Healthy work environment
Working in an environment where you’re always ‘on’ as a freelancer can be chaotic and stressful. As a freelancer, you’re able to dictate where and how you work so it’s important that you create a healthy work environment that allows you to maintain a proper work/life balance.
Organising your workspace, prioritising ergonomics for your well-being, investing in tech that helps – these are just some of the things you can do to create an ideal work environment.
How to overcome burnout
From finding new clients and invoicing existing ones to managing all the workload on your own (without having somebody to share a cup of coffee with or brainstorm an exciting blog topic), everything falls on your shoulders as a freelancer.
There can then be times when you may feel that the struggles of freelancing outweigh its perks. Instances when payments get stalled, or when an unforeseen ‘personal commitment’ pops up and disturbs your planned schedule, you can be left feeling burned out.
If you already feel like you’ve reached the burnout stage, don’t fret. Consider the following options:
- Acknowledge that you’re burned out: First and foremost, you need to accept the fact that you’re burned out. This may be challenging but remember, your recovery can only start once you’ve admitted that you’re suffering.
- Make immediate changes: Next, you will need to distance yourself from immediate stressors in life. These may be particular habits or situations but you need to start giving yourself some space in order to destress.
- Practise self-compassion: Go easy on yourself. Burnout is a real and common symptom of prolonged stress and anyone can suffer from it.
- Seek support: Surround yourself with people who can help you alleviate your stress. Don’t be afraid to lean on them for support, emotional assistance and advice.
- Try relaxing activities: Taking part in activities that calm and relax you can help reduce your stress levels. You could also consider trying out relaxation techniques such as deep breathing exercises, guided imagery meditation, etc.
- Practise good self-care: Last but not least, focus on your physical and mental health. Make it a point to get enough sleep, exercise regularly and do things you enjoy – this can significantly impact your recovery.
Real-life stories and tips from successful freelancers
If you ever feel like you’re alone when it comes to being burned out, you’re not. Let’s take a look at some real-life insights from freelancers who have suffered from burnout and the steps they took to overcome it:
Eleanor, freelance content writer and creator of blog Not So Modern Girl, talks about how burnout actually led to her redirecting her freelance career and coming back stronger than ever. In the weeks and months leading up to her burnout, Eleanor would say yes to any and all projects and work non-stop to meet her deadlines – leading to her eventual burnout.
To cope with this, Eleanor eventually started prioritising her work-life balance, started saying no to the wrong opportunities, and made her freelance boundaries very clear to the right ones.
She also set about making connections with other freelancers who now give her fantastic advice about growing her freelance career.
Next on the list is Brennan Dunn – DYF founder & co-owner. Brennan would wake up everyday feeling overwhelmed about the long to-do-list waiting for him.
To overcome his burnout, Brennan eventually stopped making to-do-lists and instead focused on writing down his tasks on a big sheet of printer paper the night before.
He also uses productivity techniques like the Pomodoro technique, and seeks support from his friends, business coach and therapist on a regular basis.
Ashley Cummings, author and freelance writer, took steps to manage her burnout before it got too much to handle. In her post she talks about how she fired clients that weren’t a good fit, compartmentalised her time so she could focus on writing for 4 hours straight, refocused her writing goals and committed to engaging more in activities that brought her joy.
She also took steps to improve her physical and mental health and set boundaries to stave off burnout.
Burn that burnout – You’ve got this!
Remember, you can always take on more work to make more income. But keep in mind – it is much more worthwhile if you enjoy what you do. We hope the tips mentioned above help you keep your tasks in balance, and don’t let your passion turn into a monotonous job.
Enjoy the freedom of freelancing. You deserve it!
