Juggling on a High Wire: The Art of Work-Life Balance When You're Self-Employed

by Laura Poole

“If I’m working ‘when I want to,’ how come it seems like I’m working all the time?!” If you’ve ever thought these words in your freelance or self-employment career, you’re not alone. Work-life balance can be difficult to create and maintain—especially when you’re the boss and the only one doing the work. In Juggling on a High Wire, author Laura Poole reveals the key ideas in defining and envisioning life balance, as well as easy-to-implement strategies for creating it. Forget about “having it all”—it’s time to focus on what you want and need in your life and how you want to live it! Inside you’ll learn:
The tools you need to develop a vision for the kind of life you’ve been dreaming about
Task-management tips and tricks for being amazingly effective with your time
Options and choices for managing non-work issues such as parenting, personal needs, and more
How to cope with those times when you’re overworked—and what to do when you hit a business lull
Whether you’re just starting out in self employment or have been at it for years, Juggling on a High Wire will help you gain the balance you’ve been looking for.

Genres: Nonfiction

85 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2015

About the author

Freelance book editor, avid reader, occasional author. Quilter, pasta lover, pluviophile.

Reviews

[Jennifer Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you self-employed and working out of your home? Freelancing can be wonderfully freeing but does come with a learning curve. Laura Poole's book helps you ask the right questions about your work habits (are you most productive in the morning? Are you a night owl?) and your business (are you overworked? What steps can you take to even out your work flow?). Other freelancers share vignettes with their tips for working while taking care of children or elderly parents and keeping a business running after an injury. If you are succeeding as a freelancer, you probably know most of these things about yourself. But sometimes you need to hear it from someone else. I'm going to pin this quote on my wall: Work-life balance is NOT saying yes to everything. But do say yes to reading this book.

[Starr Baumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for any self-employed person

As an independent editor, I found the advice in the book incredibly helpful, and I hope to put some of the tips into practice in my own life.

[Kimberly Laurel (Trusty Bookmark Editorial Services) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This provides a general, high-level look at really all the main elements/aspects of life as a freelancer. For each specific aspect/subject, it then drills down to provide concise, actionable steps—setting up the office; plans for times of feast and of famine; how to deal with the inevitable times you overschedule yourself and questions to ask yourself to prevent making the same (in-your-control) mistakes as often/again; and of course even more topics.

I took away a few to-dos from this, but I can tell this will be a book I’ll reread every 6 months or so and find another couple takeaways to implement each time.

[Meaghan Steeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful little book! I learned so many good tidbits to help in my day-to-day practices as a freelancer. I'm so grateful Poole wrote this book, and particularly appreciated that there was a bit about being a pet parent as well.

[Nick Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Every freelancer needs this book!

For a fuller review, see my blog: https://justwriteright.co.uk/2021/04/...

[Anne Nerison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of wonderful information for people who are self-employed. Even though my freelancing work is very part time right now (and I doubt it will ever be full time, as my current situation works well), my business is still really important to me. It can be hard to balance personal relationships with work, and find time to get things done. This is especially true since I started working full time outside of editing, so I appreciate all the tips in this book for finding that balance. Especially relevant, I think, is the question, "If I say 'yes' to this, what am I saying 'no' to?"

[Dawn Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura is the kind of busy, productive, encouraging freelancer that you want to take advice from. She keeps it real and fun—and doesn't waste your time. If you're struggling with work-life balance (or, better yet, before you struggle with work-life balance), spending the hour or so it will take to read this book will be well worth it.

You'll get advice on the fundamentals, on working with and around and sometimes in spite of others, and on how to correct the balance when it begins to tip. One of my favorite features is the "Words of Wisdom" sections.* These vignettes from other experienced freelancers add an unexpected richness and breadth to the book.

[* Disclosure: I contributed one of the "Words of Wisdom" vignettes.]