"When it Rains, it Pours" and probably some other cliches

My mother always said: "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
As freelancers starting out we crave work. Some of us will take anything, work for free, or what about all those "Elancers" out there who are bidding to write 30 articles for five bucks? I certainly don't have that much time for WAY less than minimum wage. There comes a time when you find you have TOO much work and what do you do? Turn it down? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Feast or Famine...when it rains it pours and so on. At times like this though, if you want to keep your clients and continue to gain new ones you may want to consider alternatives when you are bombarded by work. It's not good for so many reasons: possible burn-out, stress, less focus on each project, etc. It can end up hurting you more than helping you.

There was a recent post on Avid Writer's blog in which she talks about outsourcing your writing when you just have too much to do. Some people have quite a few freelancers they work with and pass work out to. This could be a great option for you, especially if you are finding you are not getting in enough time for marketing, accounting and other administrative tasks.

Here's another option: outsource your administrative tasks. In his book Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, Robert W. Bly talks about how he outsources all of his Fed Ex/mailing, his accounting, research, etc. I think this is a great idea, it allows you to retain your actual freelance writing work and your clients while someone else takes care of the tasks you don't have time for or don't want to do. Get a college student who perhaps wants to learn the business (I think I've been watching too much Sopranos because that somehow sounded "mafioso-ish" to me) or maybe you even get one who is working toward a marketing degree to help you out with some marketing. Get them to help you out a few hours a week, just enough for beer money and Waffle House. Call it an internship of sorts.

Point is, you always have options instead of overloading yourself to the point of mental collapse. That's probably one of the worst things you can do as a freelance writer. Just wanted to reiterate the point and make a few other suggestions after reading Avid Writer's blog post awhile ago since I think it's very important for all of us to keep a level head!