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I'm sort of obsessed with work-life balance. Why? Because creative burnout comes for even the best creators. See:

Katelyn Bourgoin 🧠 @KateBour I’ve struggled to create content for the last long while. Mentally, I feel foggy and drained. I hoped taking a vacation would help, but I ended up sick with a pneumonia and came back to work feeling lower than ever. I don’t know how I’ll get my creative mojo back yet. But I… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1822616803538780337 1:51 PM • Aug 11, 2024 7 Retweets 268 Likes Read 88 replies

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Creative jobs are IMPOSSIBLE to sustain for 8 hours a day and 5 days a week.

Our brains are muscles, and they need rest and recovery to work properly, just like those big, bulging biceps on your arms.

Maybe I'm biased (I probably am), but I think this is especially true for writers.

Not only are you reaching into the creative crevices of your mind. But you also have to use analytical skills to convert those creative messages into insights that make sense/surprise/persuade/sell/etc.

It's cognitively demanding. To say the least!

I say if you're going to survive in this industry, you have to give yourself breaks:

• Take vacations
• Consume other art
• Do things that help you relax
• Don't overpack your work schedule
• Build in walks, exercise, and any other type of helpful downtime

If you're not feeling the creative juices flow, it might be because your brain has no more juice left in its battery. Give it time to re-juice(?!?!), and then come back fresh and ready to rock!

With love from England today,

Ashley

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Expert Interview | Elise Dopson

1. Tell me more about you and how you got started with your career?

I started freelance writing back in January 2017. I was working a full-time agency job at the time and planned to go to university later that year. My boss recommended that I freelance on the side so when I got to university, I’d have money coming in. I scrapped my plan of going to university after three months when I was earning more on the side than I was in my full-time job. Never regretted it. Probably the best decision I’ve ever made.

2. What is the power of joining a community?

Community is EVERYTHING. I went from being in an office of 10+ people to home alone…and I felt it. I remember my boyfriend would get home from his office job and want to relax, but I’d be itching to get out of the house. We compromised on driving somewhere to get the car washed.

I never found a freelance community I could get involved with back then (hence why I created Peak Freelance.) Instead, I tried so hard to connect with people mostly via virtual coffee chats. Some of the folks I chatted with back in 2017 have gone on to do amazing things. In some cases, they’ve become clients of mine.

My issue, however, is that I’m not a people-person. Being on calls all day long exhausts me. So when I decided to make a freelance community, I wanted somewhere you could network on your own terms. There’s the option to join Zoom training live if you want, or watch the replay and chat about it in Slack if you’re not up to it.

As for success stories, one really stands out to me. We did an IRL in London and one of our early members pulled me to the side and mentioned how Peak Freelance’s resources have helped them scale their freelance business enough to spend more time with their parent. It warmed my heart knowing that online connections have such a huge impact in our day-to-day lives… and that what we do is important.

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