For the first time ever, I tracked EVERYTHING I did for a week. Client work, admin, emails, late-night portfolio updates, the baby naps that dictate my schedule. Here's what actually happened.
Monday: Email addiction starts at 7:30am
Woke up and grabbed my phone before my eyes were fully open. Checked email. Read one that stressed me out before I even had coffee. Why do I keep doing this?
Client wants rush delivery in 7 days but won't pay the deposit. Without payment, we can't start through the studio. That's the rule I won't ever break.
New inquiry from Dribbble came in. Spent the morning responding to emails, adding leads to my database, doing LinkedIn engagement. Felt busy. Wasn't actually productive.
The day:
Client work: 1.5 hours
Admin/emails/LinkedIn: 4+ hours
Course training: 1.5 hours
Times checked email: stopped counting at 20
→ What this cost me: Starting my day with email checking sets the tone for reactive work instead of focused work. My entire morning disappeared into other people's urgency instead of my own priorities.
Tuesday: Two sales and a budget reality check
First thing: phone, email, same pattern I can't seem to break.
Saw my first two sales of the guides I offer with coaching (yay!). Small win that felt good.
Had a call with a potential client. Their budget was significantly lower than what I'd work for – about 10 times lower, actually. Offered alternatives anyway, but knew it probably wouldn't go anywhere.
Spent the day on actual work: contract coordination, social assets for a client, outreach to old leads, building the landing page for my course on illustrated maps.
About the course – I haven't announced this anywhere yet, so you're hearing it here first 🎉 I'm working on a course that teaches how to create stylized illustrated maps from start to finish. If you want to be on the waitlist and get updates before the official announcement, you can sign up here! Otherwise, I'll share more details when it's ready.
The day:
Client work: 2 hours
Outreach to old clients: 1.5 hours
Course landing page: 3 hours
New sales: 2
→ What happened: The sales felt good – validation that people want the resources I'm creating. The outreach to old clients hasn't brought results yet, but it's work that needs doing even when it doesn't pay off immediately.
Wednesday: The client who can't pay but needs it urgently
Followed up with the client who's been saying they need to start urgently but won't pay the deposit after two weeks. If it was actually urgent, the payment would be there.
Mixed day – LinkedIn assets for a client, ad creatives for family business, updating subscriber emails. Finished at 1:30pm with the baby, then back at it at 7pm.
The day:
Client work: 1 hour
Family business: 1.5 hours
Subscriber emails: 2 hours
Hours between work sessions: 5.5 (baby care)
→ What this means: Urgency from their side doesn't equal emergency on mine. No deposit means no project, regardless of how urgent they claim it is.
Thursday: Course homework while running the business
Spent an hour doing ICP research for a course I'm taking about running my business better. The irony of doing homework about business while actively running the business and barely having time for either.
Client call, board game project work, updating portfolio testimonials at 9:30pm because that's when I finally had time.
The day:
Client work: 2 hours
Course homework: 1 hour
Portfolio updates: 1.5 hours (started at 9:30pm)
Planning tomorrow: 11pm
→ What flexible schedule actually means: Work fits around life, not that you work less. I worked at 9pm and 11pm not because I wanted to, but because morning and afternoon weren't mine to use.
Friday: Contractor coordination and content planning
Wrote a brief for a contractor, did revisions for a client, sent payments and logged all business expenses immediately. Doing this right when it happens instead of once a year saves my sanity at tax time.
Spent 1.5 hours planning content for the next few weeks instead of winging it every Monday morning.
The day:
Client work: 1.5 hours
Contractor coordination: 1 hour
Content planning: 1.5 hours
Course landing page: 2 hours (7:40-9:30pm)
→ The invisible hours: Briefs, contractor payments, expense tracking, content planning – none of this is billable, but all of it is necessary. These hours add up fast.
Weekend: Minimal work, maximum guilt
Saturday: checked email (can't help myself), scheduled family business emails, actually rested.
Sunday: checked email again, scheduled Monday's post, fixed portfolio things, drew illustrations for course landing page, planned next week, started working on a new portfolio guide.
Weekend hours: Around 4 hours scattered across two days
→ The line that doesn't exist: Even on "rest days" I'm thinking about work, checking email, doing small tasks. When you work from home, work and life blend whether you want them to or not.
The numbers
Total "working" time: 30–35 hours (fractured across early mornings, nap times, late nights)
Actual billable client work: 10–12 hours
Admin, emails, LinkedIn, content: 15+ hours
My own projects (course, guides, portfolio): 8–10 hours
Business development (outreach, calls): 3–4 hours
Family business: 3–4 hours
Client calls: 2
New inquiries: 2
Invoices sent: 2
Sales: 2
Times worked past 9pm: 3
Email checks per day: too many to count
The good, the bad, the WTF
The Good:
First sales of guides (have them as coaching bonuses!)
Actually planned content instead of scrambling
Finished and invoiced client work
Made progress on course landing page (waitlist is open if you're interested!)
The Bad:
More time on admin than actual creation
Worked late multiple nights to catch up
Budget conversations that went nowhere
Checked email compulsively all week
The WTF:
Client claims urgency but won't pay deposit after 2 weeks
My inability to not check email first thing in the morning
"Flexible schedule" means working at 11pm sometimes
Some challenges with family business that took up mental energy
What this week actually shows
If you looked at my week from the outside, you'd see someone who "worked from home" with a "flexible schedule."
The reality looks different. I worked 30+ hours split across early mornings, baby nap windows, and late nights. Only a third of that was actual paid client work. The rest was business development, admin, content, learning, coordinating contractors, running a second business.
This is the freelance math nobody talks about. You're not just doing client work – you're running the entire business. Every role, every function, all at once.
The email checking addiction costs me focus every single day. Starting my morning reactive instead of intentional sets the tone for everything after.
Clients who claim urgency but won't pay deposits aren't serious. Learning to spot that pattern and not let their urgency become my emergency took years.
The flexible schedule everyone envies means I can take a walk at 3pm when the sun is out. It also means I'm working at 9pm when everyone else is relaxing because my morning belonged to someone else.
If your week looked anything like this – the fractured time, the context switching, the late-night work sessions, the constant email checking, the realization that most of your "work" isn't billable – you're not alone.
This is what freelance actually looks like.
I'd love to hear what your week looked like. What takes up most of your time? Where do your hours actually go? Comments are open – share your stories!
Thank you for reading,
