How to handle client support when you're a solo freelancer on vacation
Solo freelancers lack backup or employees to handle urgent client requests and maintenance during holidays, forcing them to either work on vacation or tell clients to hire an agency instead. This leaves independent operators unable to take time off without risking client relationships or turning away essential business.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Taking the laptop on vacation and handling quick fixes remotelyDid this help you?
- 2Billing clients extra if they contact you without a maintenance contractDid this help you?
- 3Partnering with an agency to handle coverage for a feeDid this help you?
- 4Offering to take calls only for genuinely urgent matters and deferring everything else until returnDid this help you?
- 5crosstraining team membersDid this help you?
- 6using an MSP firmDid this help you?
- 7making SOPs and proceduresDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Just feels like a situation where I can't seem to go on pto without getting text messages about something going wrong.”source ↗
“Not for the first time, a client has asked me what I can offer in terms of support when I am not working (holidays, out of hours).”source ↗
“I am a solo freelancer without any employees or on-going contractor relationships.”source ↗
“I don't know what I can offer in terms of providing backup when I am unavailable and that if its a must-have for them I recommend they look for an agency to work with instead of a freelancer.”source ↗
“I found your situation to be tough when I was a one man show, on vacation, and customers with change requests or issues.”source ↗
Where this came up
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