What Happened to Taking Your Time to Make a Decision?
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Instant correspondence through email. Instant messenger for those who need something even faster. Cell phones on our hips at all times of the day. Working from home in the wee hours of the night. Weekends a thing of the past.
We like to communicate quickly these days, and it seems like technology is doing everything it can to speed up the process. As freelancers, we’ve adapted ourselves to be open 24/7 – if we’re not available to talk right this minute, we vow to respond to your email within a matter of a few hours.
Despite all these upgrades and changes, however, the human mind has not sped up in equal measure. While it’s a pretty safe bet that we’re accustomed to making decisions and thinking on our feet much faster than our ancient forbears, some things simply take time. And no one seems to be able to handle that in the business world.
I have clients who get antsy if they don’t get a response from me on the same day they send an email. Some clients get antsy if I don’t respond within one or two hours. Some people want to see some final touches to the work I’ve done for them, and they throw on an ASAP tagline to make it sound really serious. The bank wants to know why I haven’t stopped by to pick up my checks yet.
I respect the pace at which others move. I realize that sometimes, clients need a response before they can go ahead with their own projects. Others want to be assured that I am doing my promised work in a timely manner. Some people simply can’t survive unless everyone else around them is working as urgently as they are.
All of these are valid emotions and situations, and I’m not belittling the way others do business. However, some days, I’m out running errands. I might be out flying a kite with my daughter. Maybe I’m unsure how to respond or I need to talk with my business partner or spouse before I make a decision. Perhaps I need some time to formulate the appropriate response. Maybe I need to be sure of my own mind before I leap in. Or maybe, just maybe, I simply don’t want to answer my emails that day.
Guess what? These are valid emotions and situations, too.
I will always respond to an email or a client request within a matter of days. If something is marked urgent, I do my best to not keep the other person waiting. But I am a freelancer. I work for myself. Making money is not my primary objective – taking care of myself and my family is number one, making money is number two. I turn down jobs all the time that require daily updates or me to be available by instant messenger at a given time during the day. I don’t continue working with clients who need me urgently and immediately all the time.
And if it takes me three days to make a decision, it takes three days. Period.
Lorna Doone Brewer is both a writer and an entrepreneur at heart. This is where those two worlds meet. She also blogs at 
Tamara Berry used to miss interaction with her daughter. Now she misses interaction with adults. Freelance writing is her happy medium.
Good point and good post.
I can see both sides of the coin. As a businessman, I don’t like unresponsive workers, and I tend not to work with them again if it takes a day to get an answer, especially during what I consider working hours: Mon to Fri, 9 to 5.
As a freelancer, I do need free time and I do take time off to enjoy my family. The fast pace of Internet working can be draining.
But to work in a freelance Internet environment was my choice - and so, I must deal, cope, and find strategies to run my business and respond to clients.
When you’re in business, you do need to be responsive. Stores post hours of operation, and they can’t just shut down when they feel like taking a day off.
They do shut down though. Stores in my region don’t open after 5pm. They may not open on weekends. I think freelancers are allowed that right to have free time as well.
I think it comes down to making the decision of what your work is: a hobby or a business?
Set hours if you feel it’s too much. Be responsive during those hours. Put up an email auto-responder when the shop is closed.
But I don’t think it’s fair to expect clients to be understanding when you say, “Sorry, I was out flying a kite with my kids.” Most people *will* understand (I do), but many won’t. A lack of same day response on a working day isn’t acceptable, in my mind.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..The Ultimate Men with Pens Guide to Twitter
I hear ya!
I feel as though I am tethered to my computer, and it’s really not how I want to live my life. I think if I didn’t have my daughter at home with me during the day, I would be able to make the distinction between home and work more easily. Work would be from 8-2 with weekends off. But when kids are home, work time is always fragmented. You have to take time off to fly a kite every so often, because toddlers simply do not understand if you say “no, I’m busy.” I find I am very picky about the people for whom I work. If they can’t understand that, at this point in my life, my kids are my first priority while they are home from school, then I can’t work for them. It’s not me being unprofessional; it’s me being a good and responsible parent.
James - Thanks for offering a different viewpoint on the subject. I wonder if running a freelancing “business” and simply being a freelancer mean two different things. In the former, the business side of things comes first. In the latter, the “free” side comes first. Perhaps it boils down to a matter of different goals at the end of the day.
Lis - I am also picky about the clients I take. To me, no amount of money is worth losing the freedom I’ve gained from being a freelancer. Having a toddler means my life is not my own - that’s simply where I am right now. If my clients can’t handle it, I’ll find some who can.
@ Tamara - That’s a nice take on the definition, but a freelancer is a worker. Self-employed, too. Work comes with responsibilities, I think.
On the other hand, the purest definition of freelancer is a worker who takes on short-term assignments from employers. No mention of “business”, really, simply the responsibility to produce a service for a set fee.
So maybe we’re both right.
However, you guys do have a business website and promote yourself as an agency for hire… does that not put you in the business category of the whole thing?
And to play devil’s advocate, I do understand the “freelancing should be free” concept. I blogged about the constraints and the problems recently here:
Freelancing Isn’t Free
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..The Ultimate Men with Pens Guide to Twitter
I’ve often pondered whether kids ADD and ADHD might be attributed to this very phenomenon. Surely, my kids have shown adverse reactions to my hurried lifestyle. And by all means- take 3 days if you need to!
Mrs Hannigan has 6 girls’s last blog post..the no sayer
Excellent post. I’ve had so many clients like that it really took the joy out of working for them. My soon to be ex-partner had a cell phone/pda attached to her hip at all times and I often thought it was an excuse not to pay attention.
How about “Right Effort” it just can’t happen without a little concentration.