Do you work on weekends?? I love it

To many freelancers, a weekend is a normal working day.

In traditional employment or what most people call corporate employment or formal employment, most people work from 9:00AM to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday.

However, freelancers rarely work like that. Many of us work in the wee hours of the morning, others work on weekends and others still work in the formal working hours – 9:00AM to 5:00PM Monday to Friday. The choice is upon the freelancer to decide what time is appropriate.

Personally, I am really a night owl and an early bird. I will stay late at night either coding or sculping – online Forex Trading, or at times just watching a movie. 

Ever since I started freelancing, I really don’t mind what day of the week it is. I can work a whole weekend and have no worries or feel cheated. I can decide to go pick up a friend form the airport on a Tuesday morning or have a business meeting for my personal projects on a Thursday afternoon. No permission needed, no explanations necessary, I just take the opportunities as they come. For example I can decide to chill my work and go check out all the land available for sale on a Wednesday knowing that I will catch up on my work come the weekend.

I know many people will say that I live a very unbalanced life. Maybe I do. But why should I wait for the weekend to relax. I have never gotten it. I don’t know what other freelancers do but I by the virtue that I love my work, I check my email wherever I go, I can login and update a site any time of the night and any part of the day. I can write code from anywhere. While waiting for the bus, while backing up client’s data, while waiting for my girlfriend to finish making up, while waiting for a meeting to start – even when I am bored, I just logon and do some work.

You must wonder if I ever tell my clients’ that I am ever willing to work on weekends. I never tell them. But definitely they know. I send out emails at 3:00 AM in the morning, respond to queries on a Sunday afternoon and even backup on Friday evening – from 5:00PM to about 10:00 PM when everyone is rushing out of office to go for a date or catch up with the boys of just go home to the kids.

But as mentioned earlier, I can afford to meet and spend time with those that matter to me any time of the week, any time of the day. I don’t need the  weekend to go visiting or wait for Friday  to go happening (I never happen in fact so that is out) but all in all, I just find it awesome to be able to do whatever I  want to do.

True I may have no weekends, no public holidays, no leave days, but again, I take all opportunities as they come. I may tell you that I am engaged on a Tuesday morning and you think I will be doing work yet the truth will be that I will be having dance class lessons then.

None wants meetings on weekends and few ever pick their phones for work related issues. I thus spend the weekends working. I have few emails that drop in on weekends hence I am able to enjoy long hours of bliss as I work. Even calls are limited. Basically I love working and it does not matter whether it’s a weekend or not. Just that weekends allow me the bliss to concentrate on that piece of code that needs lots of logic to implement.

Many freelancers may find it weird to be seated on their laptops while others are having fun on the beach (especially in this hot weather here in Uganda). I really don’t know. I find it normal considering that I don’t have to wait for the weekend to go to the beach. But again, that’s me. I would like to know how other freelancers are finding it.

I recall those days when I was in formal employment, I used to love Fridays, that’s when I would dress down – jeans and T-shirts, open shoes, no neck ties and no long sleeved shirts. I used to look forward to Fridays. I would be happy all day.

Now, I look forward to each day – whether Monday or Sunday, I love all days and I am productive on all including weekends. I take opportunities as they come – and I have never been any happier.

So do you guys work on weekends? I would like to hear from you. I do work on weekends and I love it.