My 10% Policy

Striving to beat deadlines.

As I triumphantly hit the ‘send’ button, shooting off that assignment with the latest travel article I owe to the international travel agent I’m writing for these days, I had a smug smile on my face thinking of all the headache I’d just saved myself for the upcoming weekend.  Entering the word ‘DONE’ on my work plan spread sheet always gives me a liberating feeling and one that motivates me to continue operating in this way.  As a rule, since I’ve been freelancing on Elance, I tend to assign a deadline for myself that is 10% sooner than the actual deadline – hence the 10% Policy.  This has worked wonders for me so far and there’s no sign of my changing this fantastic formula thus far.  Here are a few reasons why I find it’s working so well:

Happy Clients

If you’ve read my website (yes, it’s simple I know but I have actually gained some business through this little old site, so I’m happy with it for now) then you will know that my mantra is “A Happy Client is the Best Client.  Plain and Simple.”  Well, folks – it truly is as simple as that.  Turning in work early, without a doubt, has resulted in happy clients, time and again.  And I, for one, am not ready to get off THAT boat anytime soon. 

Regular Work

Happy clients usually mean clients that want more.  So, in my quest to set up a regular and consistent stream of work (more on that in another post), when I get a repeat client it’s MY turn to be the happy one.  The thing is, (going on a slight tangent here) when you know you have work coming and in certain batches that you come to know of and expect, it makes it easier to live life and earn well at the same time.  For me, this translates into being able to plan well and actually BE a (reasonably) successful mother of three, wife of one (does polyandry even exist anymore?  I think not) and friend/colleague of countless more.  So yeah, regular work is good and if turning in work before the deadline makes it more likely to happen, then more power to you.

Leeway

Let’s face it – life has its ups and downs and quite unlike the real workplace where your boss can pretty much see that you’re not doing so hot, an online work place offers the slight challenge of needing to prove yourself remotely.  (Imagine the myriad of excuses most online employers must have to face when it comes to why deadlines haven’t been met or shoddy work was submitted.)  So when I suffer my newest migraine the only conversation I want to have is with my pillow and two fat Excedrins.  Knowing that the product descriptions I promised the newest beauty products entrepreneur in North American are done, is terrific!  AND if, for some reason, IDIDN’T get the chance to complete an assignment, the leeway I get from having tacked on an extra 10% of play time (in my mind, anyway) is paramount.

Flexibility

The more projects that pile up, the more flexibility I need.  Not only do I appreciate the ability to switch around what I’m working on, on any given day, but I also highly value the capability to offer that same flexibility to my clients.  In the short time thus far that I’ve been using Elance as a freelance platform, I’ve already been faced with several requests to do something on an urgent basis.  It was my planning and hindsight and this awesome 10% policy that paved the way for me to say “YES! I can take care of it for you in the next 24 hours!” or “Ok, we can go to the park to play today again.”

Now, THAT’s a GREAT feeling folks J