All Work And Little Rest

People complain I don't read and reply to their Whatsapp messages, Faceboook messages, BBM chats and even email. The truth is I avoid checking my BBM, Whatsapp and Facebook messages. I am still trying to reduce my work/requests load and get a more healthy sleep daily.

image: overthinkingit.com

I spend most week days on the road from one client to another and spend my weekends trying to clear the list of work I am passed deadline in sending. The only time of the day I get to clearly see emails, SMS and messages are at night. Replying to them always eat into my sleep time and I end up sleeping less than 4 hours that day.

My work is split into two categories:

• category 1: work that generates immediate cash
• category 2: work that has a long pay cycle

I once spent 3 months coding a business process automation program for a client and got paid 7 months after. And I still have one project I completed that the payment is over 9 months due. You just have to mix all types of work. You can't simply turn down jobs because you want to have more time to read emails, reply SMS, chat more with friends or spend more time on Whatsapp. It's even hard to gauge the amount of work you can handle without cutting into sleep time.

The good side is that it gives me some leverage. Getting a lot of work requests has helped me pushed up my rates almost 6 times since the beginning of this year. When a potential client tries to over bargain the price I walk away without worrying about where the next job will come from. In fact, I am sometimes happy when a potential client walks away because of my pricing, it is the best way to lose a client. Better than telling him you have no time for his job. He will call you back when he's got a more worthy project and wants high quality service. Rather than he thinking you are always too busy and will not have time for his project.

I have been able to set-up our monthly training satisfactorily. I have put in place a working strategy that will help me achieve the enterprise product offerings/development I have always been talking about. The part of my business I am still struggling with is rightly charging for my consulting projects. But I know that just as my training pricing took a year and lots of training organized to get right, I will also get this right with time. Hopefully, I will be able to charge millions for ones I currently charge thousands. And now is the best time to start fixing that area. I will start raising the charges I quote and see the reactions. 

I guess it is the price one pays at the start of something one's entire life depends on.

Yesterday, I went visiting my ex-colleagues at the company I acquired most of my Excel skills. Once it was nearing 5:00pm they were getting set to end the day. I really envied them. My own day never ends. Even when I sleep, I still feel the grip of the jobs I have pending and about to miss their deadlines around my neck.

For me, it has been all work and little rest. It is already killing the little flame of social interaction left in me. I no longer keep up with emails, SMS, Facebook messages, Whatsapp chats, BBM chats, and even phone calls.