If you work freelance or perhaps as an SME, do you EVER get used to the ebb and flow of your workload?

Nah, me neither.

In my just over thirty years of working for myself as a freelance graphic designer and, more recently videographer, I’ve seen periods of working 70-odd hour weeks for months on end, AND at the other extreme (and fortunately rare extreme) having exactly zero work in for a whole week.And have I got used to the difference? Nope, not even slightly.

You see when I’m busy, and this may the same for you too, it’s far too easy to forget about workflow, because you’re just that, ‘in the flow and working’. Everything’s good isn’t it? The sun is shining, the satisfaction of creating great work for my clients is hitting the creative spot and, in addition the bank balance stays, well, ‘nicely balanced’.

Coming from all this is confidence. Confidence in your abilities to not only DO the work, but to keep the work coming in in the first place. It seems however that this confidence can be a tad deceptive and misplaced. Sometime soon, inevitably and without warning, you find yourself sat twiddling your thumbs, looking out of the window, and wondering why everyone hates you and isn’t ringing or emailing to land mountains of creative work on your doorstep making you happy, confident and the sun starts shining blah blah blah, (see above).

And do we ever get used to it? Nope, not really.Well I certainly don’t. I know I must be doing something right, after all, I’ve worked for myself for a long time, and the wolves have never been even close to my door. But that ‘even keel’ of a steady stream of work has always eluded me. I know there are many occupations with a feast or famine feature as a central pillar to it. Think of actors and musicians for instance. Precarious is a word that looms heavily in their work/life balance.And this is by no means excludes people in retail, hospitality, or in fact all manner of business endeavour.

But you can get help. Lots of business gurus out there can show you how to develop tactics to minimise your downtime by creating business development plans, networking, attending to your online presence and marketing and many other tips and tricks. Or they can advocate measures and activities to ensure mental health wellbeing by going for a walk in nature, socialising, or just getting smashed off your face and waking up in a hedge.

For me though, just half an hour writing a bit of light hearted gubbins like this works wonders. I’ve actually had a busy week, until now. Until today. Friday.I’ve nothing to do today. Nothing at all.

And apparently neither have you, or you wouldn’t be reading this nonsense. Well, I thank you for sharing YOUR ‘down-time’.

And remember, there’s always a hedge somewhere with your name on it.