One of the first rules of owning your own business is to create work time and off time and never the twain shall meet, but because my work is of a creative nature I have a hard time thinking of it as work. One of the pluses is that I can create a work week that suits me. I've pretty much established mine as Tuesday through Saturday. Still, because I spent over 25 years in the Cubicle Jungle, I still can't establish strict working hours. As a result, I tend to put in 12+ hour days.
I work on the system of billable hours and keep a detailed and honest time sheet for each of my clients. On it I record the date, hours to-and-from, and a detailed description of the work I do. That way, there are no surprises and everything is transparent. I work, I get paid. I don't work, I don't get paid, rounded up or down to the nearest half-hour.
Today, I'm watching The West Wing on Bravo while working on a photo gallery for a client. But first, I need some lunch, then I'll clock in.
