What are your working hours?

Lynne Level 1

June 29, 2016, 9:00 am

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What are your working hours?

What are your working hours and how do you structure your day? Do you prioritize your tasks?

One thing I love about working for myself and specifically online is that I can set my own working hours.

This is great because my number one priority is being mom. My 2 children (2 year old and 4 year old) go to play school in the morning so I get to work for 3-4 hours before I pick them up at 12. It is during this time I manage to get the bulk of my work done so I run through all my emails quickly and then I do content writing and research for my blogs. I am a morning person and I get my best work done early, as the day goes on my brain gets slower.

I then make them lunch and settle my son down for his nap. Then I settle my daughter down with a movie or with some drawing things and I am lucky if I manage to get another 1-2 hours work in.

Once my son is awake there will be no work done until my children are in bed, so I make supper and do household chores.

I then usually work again at 8pm for a few hours.

How do you structure your day and why do you do it that way?

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CryptoGuru

Hello! Thank you for this discussion, I am a father of 3 and a sole provider for my family. I wake up in the morning at about 6 a.m. and I automatically answer all the new orders I received while I was sleeping. Then, I go to my inbox and answer any questions that people may have left me. After I finish answering those question, I sort my orders by category and start checking them all one by one to see if they are done. I spend the rest of my day checking Seoclerks hourly, or as much as I can, to answer new orders and to get any new orders started. At night I do the same thing, I check all my orders by category and deliver what is done.

9 years ago

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Lynne

So you work a long day then if you work from 6am and still work at night too?
I must say that being a parent now the pressure is on a lot more! I never used to stress about money and I was a lot more relaxed. It is amazing how fast money gets sucked out when you have kids... the school fees, clothing, doctors bills, medical insurance... and all the little bits of money that just fly out.

9 years ago

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MasterA

The structure of my days varies from day to day. I do a 9 to 5 job so I need to work around these hours and I do work whenever I have free time but this is the advantage with freelancing. I normally do more work during weekends as I have more time then. It can be tough at times when I get too much work and I need to work until quite late; it is quite stressful but sometimes I can outsource my work to other freelancers to ease my workload. I try my best to work around my full time job.

8 years ago

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Lynne

Yes I am getting so busy now that I am thinking of outsourcing a good amount of my work. I am just trying to figure out what I will do and what I will outsource

I can only work weekends if my husband takes my kids out for the day!

8 years ago

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ajlancer

Hi Lynne Thanks for sharing your working structure. I think you are working very hard with your family and I appreciate your hard work beside a freelancer. Real life is completely different and there is a lot of work that has to done for family though for looking after my child, most of the work done by my wife. As a complete professional freelancer I am working in office from morning to deep night. I have no special time frame for daily work or task. And I am working at office and home a maximum 12-14 hours a day. In the morning when I am coming into the office just after 3-4 hours work, I take lunch and again I start my work just after taking short rest. And this way I am working each day either Friday. In the Friday I just working evening to night. Because Friday our weekend.

Regards by Ajlancer

9 years ago

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Lynne

12 - 14 hours if quite a long work day Ajlancer. I would never be able to get those sort of hours in again, well not with the kids and household things I do!

I think most families are still the traditional way of the wife looking after the kids. My husband has a full time job and works long hours. He often leaves in the morning before we all get up and then comes home quite late.

9 years ago

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Beverly

Hi Lynne, as the children get older, you will likely have more time to devote to your freelancing, writing and websites. Especially true once they are full time in school, you will have the house to yourself for awhile anyway on most days. At least, that's how it worked for me. I can still remember my daughter being two years old and running around after her all day and getting little bits of work done online during her naps or while she was playing with toys or watching a show. Now that she's almost into teen years, we have our comfortable routine and I'm able to get longer periods of work done. To be honest, I miss her baby years when she wanted nothing but mommy and me time. It goes so fast! Though I'm extremely grateful to have the opportunity to be a work at home mom for all these years since she was born, I never had to miss any of those precious moments. For whatever difficulties we faced along the way, it was totally worth it.

9 years ago

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Lynne

Oh yes Beverly I agree 100% with you. I had both my kids in play school until 5pm every day until February this year when I decided to close my online store and focus on my blogging instead. I just had to have them home with me. I couldn't bear having them in child care for a full day anymore. Especially my little 2 year old son. I felt awful for him.

So yes it can be a huge struggle some days and it is not easy juggling all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way right now.

9 years ago

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EliteWriter

It is pretty much as many hours I can manage to do. But these vary from one day to another, depending on other commitments, family responsibilities and needs, any errands and so on. I cannot say exactly how many hours a day as they are not fixed as a result. But on average I would say that it is about 6 hours a day for sure, sometimes more. I wish I were able to put in more hours, but at times I just feel tired out since I write and write all the time, and when too many hours pass I need to stop.

9 years ago

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Lynne

Yes I know exactly what you mean. I am finding that writing has a flow to it. I need to get into it and get my creative juices going and this I can really only do first thing in the morning for a few hours.

For me I literally take every childless moment or moment when my children are distracted by something else to work. It is the only way I can come close to getting everything done.

9 years ago

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Everett

Basically my working hours are early mornings to the afternoon. Most of the time I wake up early, about 6:00 to 6:30. Right when I wake up I immediately turn on the coffee pot, and make me some breakfast. Then I power on my computer and reply to orders, clients, or whatever else needs to be replied to. I then start my actual work.

Usually I can finish within about 3 to 5 hours, sometimes less, and sometimes more, this depends on my work load. I often try not to stay up online during the night as it tends to offset my sleeping schedule. For instance today I woke up at 2PM, and went to sleep at 5AM after working a total of 20 hours with only 4 hours of sleep the day before. This is very unhealthy so I try my best to stick with my schedule.

9 years ago

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Lynne

Working those odd hours will certainly throw you off whack. I have to be up at 5h30 - 6am every day. It is not a choice. My kids wake up at that time and start jumping on me. If I can sleep through that (very unlikely) then they need breakfast by 7am. They are hungry critters. If I don't make them breakfast or get up by 7am they are perfectly happy to start making their own... they are 2 and 4 so this is not good news for me. If I want the house standing I must get up and attend to their needs.

9 years ago

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Everett

Early bird gets the worm, right? I'm still fairly young, and don't have children. I could only imagine what it is like to be a work at home parent not with just one child but with two children! Wow, I'm not sure how I would do things differently if I did have children, or would I do things differently? No offense, but I don't even want to think about children at my age, it's not the time! LOL. I need to enjoy my years, and get situated financially before I even start thinking about them.

Kudos to anyone who is a work at home parent, I don't know how you do it, but you're amazing.

9 years ago

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Lynne

Everett you will be amazed at how you can get so much done in such a short amount of time when you have kids and how you learn to cope.

You know what? Having kids wasn't a choice I made. I met my husband and within 3 months I was 4 weeks pregnant. We were in a long distance relationship too..... and our second was not planned either.

You have to work with what life throws at you.

But yes, enjoy your freedom now while you can. I mean this in the nicest possible way when I say when you have kids life as you know it is gone forever. There is no going back and suddenly you have so many limitations on... well everything! The joys and rewards are huge though. Parenthood for me is a total love hate thing. It really is hard.

9 years ago

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hitmeasap

I don't have a proper work schedule, even though I'd benefit from it in the long run, I guess..

However, I usually work between 8 and 15 hours per day. A rough estimate would be an average of twelve hours, each and every day.
I'm using a to-do list to make my days a bit easier. I usually start my days checking each point on the list, and I do what I can to handle them, one by one, until the list is empty. If I struggle with one point on my to-do list, I move on to the next immediately as I don't want to spend unnecessary time trying to come up with a solution when I have other points to check.

So, first thing first. I check my list, complete and handle whatever I can, and move on to the next point. I go back to the point I skipped when the list is empty. After that, I spend much time with clients, potential clients and co-workers. The entire time I'm online actually. In some way.

9 years ago

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Lynne

I love to do lists and ticking things off. The ticking part gives me such a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of having gotten things done.

9 years ago

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TommyCarey

Since I quit, or got pushed out of, the 9 to 5 game I've been working online full time.

I'm the kind of guy that will work 60 hours a week so I don't have to work 40 for a company lol

A lot of you will understand that and agree completely ;)

My day has two different schedules. One depends on if my little girl is in school and one when she's on summer break.

When my little girl is in school:

I wake up at 7:00 am and get my little girl up and ready for school.
After she's dressed, had breakfast, and dropped off at school, I'll get home and feed my zoo.
Once the zoo has eaten I'll walk the puppy (he's 70lbs, but still my puppy).
After I get all that done, it's go time I'll crack open my laptop and start answering any emails I've gotten from last night and this morning before I was awake.
After I answer emails I'll check the profits from all my accounts, if there is any profit, sometimes there isn't and that's a bad way to start out
Once I've checked my profits and sales I'll begin working on clients campaigns in order to help them out. You gotta keep them happy in order to keep them signed up even longer
At around 2:10pm I stop working because I have to pick up my little girl at 2:30pm.
After I pick her up I'm usually done working until around 11pm. I may even be done for the night if I feel like I got enough done during the day.

When my little girl is on summer break:
Did you read everything above? Well I do most of that but you'll need to subtract me waking up to bring my girl to school and add in that I take care of her during the day while attempting to work

There are a lot more down times and breaks throughout the day when she's not in school because I can't just ignore her. But it's nice because I never feel like I'm working since she's here making me laugh or sleeping on my lap while I type

9 years ago

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Everett

I absolutely hate the 9 to 5 game, it's not a game, it's TORTURE. I'd be okay if I worked from home and made only 20k a year. My ultimate goal is to make enough money to live comfortably. I don't care if I have to live in a shack with one light bulb, I'll try my hardest to keep away from a 9 to 5.

However, one thing that is vital is this thing called "retirement". It always makes me wonder what I am going to do about retirement. I'm kinda lost, do I start saving now? Or do I want to continue working until I'm so old I can't eat by myself? It's kinda scary.

Do you think you'll ever get a 9 to 5 again, or would you go back for certain benefits?

9 years ago

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Lynne

Yes I worry about that too. Being an alcoholic and addict, using until I was 29 years old I kinda missed on the years when people are normally getting their footing in life, you know being responsible and settling into a career. At 37 years old I am now 8 years clean and only now starting to get a proper grip on things. I have 2 kids and no money saved for retirement. I have debt though, lots of it! Eeeek.

If you think retirement age is maybe 65 years old I have 29 years left to settle my debt, buy a house, buy a new car (mine is nearly done for), make sure I have enough money to get my kids a good education, save enough money to support myself for maybe another 30 odd years in case I live to be really old.... plus hopefully have enough money left over when I croak so my kids can get some inheritance.

OMG now I feel depressed again.

9 years ago

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Everett

The world works in mysterious ways. I've been thinking about my retirement, and I'm only 23 years young. I'm thinking of either saving money in another bank account, and not touching it until I am at least 65 year old or just maybe somehow work for a company to get some type of retirement.

I'm not too certain on how my retirement is going to go. But if it is anything like I mentioned it won't be sitting on the beach with a laptop or whatever technology we'll then, it'll be me working until I am 6 feet in the ground. Surely it may sound depressing, but if it's something I like to do, why not?

I think a lot of freelancers may have that issue, about retirement.. or perhaps I am the only one? I have no clue, but I seriously hope not..

9 years ago

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Lynne

I kinda think well what will I do when I am old if I am not working? What will keep me occupied? My kids will be grown up, maybe grandchildren?

But what about something that gives me satisfaction?

9 years ago

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Lynne

Do you get anything done while she is at home? How old is she?

I have to know these things. As a mom of a 2 year old and a 4 year old I am really keen to find out when I can get some work done with them home with me lol. Beverly said she has a teenager and can get work done... but I need to know what age I can be more productive from

9 years ago

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danigo

hello dear,, its quite exciting ,,good discussion started
well iam also tell something about my working hours given our timezone in our country
in our country,, working hours is 7-8, from seven a.m to 17.00 pm ,,even its quite long time,but if you spend to playing games its spending 2-3 hours,,so in one day we may comeback to the home around 22.00 Pm and sometimes hit traffic jam,,about 30 minutes
quite boring in it..

9 years ago

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Lynne

I really don't enjoy traffic at all, I don't mind driving so much, but sitting in a traffic jam is never fun.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

That is a good question, how do you structure your day. For a busybody like me, it would be foolish to just hit the keyboard when there is time. I should find time for my freelancing otherwise my reputation will suffer. Early to wake up can give me some time and I also allocate an hour at night for my freelancing. For me, freelancing is a job and I should be professional.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

What are your working hours?

What are your working hours?

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