There's a time and a place for client work. Rushing out the door on a Saturday morning isn't one of them.

Over the weekend I made mistake in some code I had changed for a client. After pushing the quick change to Github and then to the test environment for the client, I then realised the mistake I had made. With no time to correct the change, I decided to leave it until Monday morning. After seeing my mistake in all it's glory this morning, I admitted my mistake to my client and then proceeded to fix the code correctly.

There's no excuse for the mistake that I made but making the change on a Saturday morning when I was due to leave the house probably wasn't the best time to do it. Also I didn't read the message fully from my client that prompted the change. In my haste I missed the last sentence which would have changed the way I updated the code. A hard lesson learned.

Freelancing is definitely a learning experience and with each mistake you make you see the correct process you should be following. In this case it's client work. It should be reserved exclusively for your typical working day. In my case it's during the week at my normal office hours and only when I have at least 30 minutes to carry out the work and review it accordingly. The only exception should be for emergencies and when carrying out that work it should receive your complete focus.

It can be tempting to be the ever accommodating freelancer and provide help on your client's every request and wish, but going down that path will only degrade the quality of your work. Your clients will come to expect fully working changes when they demand them regardless of the hour of the day. Responding in this way isn't in the best interests for you or your client. Instead, defer fixes for client work for first thing the next morning or even before your main day begins if you have the time.

There's a time and a place for client work. It's during the agreed times that you already have with your client. Keep it that way to ensure your clients get the complete attention and focus they paid you for.