dustyLogic

So I took some time off. Not because I felt like I needed to, but because that’s what normal people do I really enjoy what I do, so I don’t really feel the need to go for holidays to get away from work. Nevertheless, there is more to life then work. Who knows, maybe visiting a new place or doing something new will give me some new ideas or different views on things.

Anyways, wife and I decide to go for a road trip to Vancouver. I love driving as I get to see a lot more and also gives me a chance to meet all sorts of people along the way. (Side note :One thing I quickly learned when I decided to leave the cubeland, is to talk to whoever I get a chance to talk to. I find socializing being a very effective marketing strategy for a freelancer.) The whole trip took 11 days and about 3500km. From the prairies, through the desert, through the forests and mountains to the ocean and back. The weather was very cooperative, except when we were approaching Vancouver that it started raining. How weird, it never rains in Vancouver

It was the first time I took some real time off since I started freelancing. It definitely takes more preparation when you are a doing your own thing. If you have any ongoing projects, you need to make sure that you leave your customer in a stable state so that they can survive without you during your absence. And even then, there is a chance that they will call and email you whenever they need to. You can always chose to ignore the calls and not check your emails, but if you are like me, the “missed call” will leave you wondering what is happening and why they called. I did end up being called on only two occasions. One customer had an issue not related to my contract work, but he didn’t know who to call so he called me. That is rather normal in my field, since I’m a Software Engineer or more commonly known as “The computer guy”. The second time I got called because I forgot to send my invoice. What a nice customer, I wish all of them couldn’t wait to pay me. That being said, I think I did take care of my customers, but it definitely takes more effort. As an employee, there are other employees to take care of things during your absence, as a freelancer there is no one there to have your back.

Now to the aftermath. The worst thing one can do to him/herself after coming back from holidays is to try to get the wheels in motion as soon as possible. There is no logic in taking time off and then burning yourself out in the next few days. I’ve done it before, and I learned my lesson. This time, I decided to take it easy in the first week after we came back. On each day I did a bit of work, but none of the crazy-deadline-multitasking-work. I also took some time to organize our holiday pictures, to take care of some long overdue paper work, reorganized my office room, etc. Oh yea, one thing I forgot to mention: Being an obsessive perfectionist who never stops thinking about the most efficient ways of doing things, while planning our road trip I planned to pass by IKEA to pickup some new furniture for my home office. I’ll be posting some pre and post pics of my office.

Since we came back, there has been some new opportunities and other goodies coming my way, stayed tuned.