If you don’t have work every day – don’t panic. Or at least try not to panic. When you’re freelancing you have to be aware that you won’t always have an even flow of work. Sometimes everything shows up at once, and then you might need to work evenings and weekends, and sometimes you have almost nothing. So what should you do during slow periods?
If you can, you could try saving other tasks for these days. You could send invoices, do your bookkeeping, contact new customers, network with other translators etc.
Or you could try enjoying some time off. It’s easy to end up in a vicious circle where you work too much during certain periods and still find that you can’t relax when you are short on work. If possible, you should try to have a small financial buffer so that you don’t have to panic if you don’t have work.
So my tips are:
Try to find new clients, and then focus on nice clients who pay well. Keep a cool head and don’t accept bad terms and conditions just because you don’t have work right now.
Take it easy. Enjoy life, read a book, take a walk. It’s important to allow yourself som rest for your own mental health. Then you’ll be more efficient later.
Relax