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Tips for top rewards when YOU are your boss
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Happy National Boss Day!
You should celebrate, because as a freelancer, you are your own boss. It takes internal drive, self-motivation, that little boss in your head to make you sit down and work even when no one else is looking over your shoulder. (That Catholic guilt I grew up with helps, too.)
As a boss, carrying the burden of business development, management, budgets, product quality and more, you deserve a few perks, some reward on this special day. The best part about being your own boss on National Boss Day? You know you'll love your gift!
1. Knock off early.
I break midafternoon to go to the gym. It's that or sleep/eat at 3 p.m. I always come back, however, after dinner, usually logging another four hours or so late into the evening writing, checking email and reading sites. Tonight, I am going to sign off altogether and play cards with my daughter! ... OK, I'll have to drop in and be sure nothing is on fire in my in-box, but that's it. Pinky swear.
2. Send a query to your dream publication.
This sounds like work. But really, it's fulfilling a promise to yourself that you probably have put off for a long time. You're always too busy, aren't you? As existing work piles up and new work rolls in, it's easy to relegate a dream gig to someday. But make today the day you craft a query letter with samples and a stellar pitch. It might not go anywhere, and that's fine. You can try again on Someday. But it might, and it acknowledges your growing skills, your confidence, your career progress and your dream.
3. Meet up with friends.
Even though I talk to 100 people a day via email and chats, even though I'm in another part of the city once or twice a week interviewing someone for a story, even though I sometimes go overseas for a week for a story, the bulk of my time is spent in silence in front of a screen. Make time for real interaction. Take your laptop to a coffeehouse or have lunch with a cube-dwelling friend. It will refresh you.
4. There's always chocolate.
Here's the trick, though, to a chocolate gift to yourself. You cannot eat it at your desk. You have to sit and look out the window while you savor it. This eliminates sticky keys and lets you turn off your head so your tongue can register the fruits of your celebration.
5. Read your old work.
Scroll through that list of clips you send along on queries and read your very best. Surprise yourself with just how great this story or that project turned out. Pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for the money, honey. Be proud of what you've accomplished. Then, tell yourself to get back to work. Bosses are not slackers!
Best wishes to all my friends in "management" today!
