How To Get Work Done When You Can’t Work

I was ill for the past few days and I was just wondering what you must do to ensure that work gets done in spite of you not being able to work for some reason. You see, as entrepreneurs or self-employed professionals, we just don’t have the privilege of sick leaves; work has to be done. If you don’t, you not only lose the money but you also lose respect, trust and create a black mark for yourself. Here are ways you can see to it that work gets done:

1. Use technology: If it’s about blogging on wordpress, I don’t think I need to tell you about the wonderful feature called “Future Post” where you could just change the day and date you would like to see the post go live anytime into the future. One of the blogging best practices is to write posts such that you are always covered for at least 2-3 days. That means, starting from today, your next three posting cycles have been taken care of. So whatever you write today, you could future post it for days beyond the days you are covered for. In case you don’t use wordpress, but wanted a similar solution, you could use postlater.com — a tool that could help you achieve just what it says it does.
2. Ask for help: It’s strange that people just forgot to ask for help now-a-days. I know the world has no time for you and all that jazz but you will be surprised to note that there are many folks who would gladly help you. If you have a robust network, you could just try to ring someone up, mail in or communicate in some manner and ask for help. Have them cover for you for just  that time you wouldn’t be available for work.
3. Delegate for Pay: This is even easier than Point 2 above. You could just find someone off elance.com, guru.com or odesk.com and have them work for you just the time that you might not be available. For such a short term project, the costs might not really be in your favor unless you get really good help for peanuts. However, this is an incredible way to get work done quickly and efficiently without affecting your work loads and reputation.

It’s a sick feeling that we entrepreneurs don’t get sick leaves; but that leaves us with no choice because this is a path we have chosen for ourselves. I can let go of a few days of sick leave or work even when I am sick to the otherwise brutal reality of corporate life.

At least, I am my own boss. What do you think?