I am fairly new to freelancing and am a people pleaser. My client is a sustainable energy startup.
I get 20 hours a month to run Linkedin, write press releases, re-design posters and slide decks, and put out a monthly newsletter along with many other bits here and there.
I am a very quick worker so I can actually get great value within the 20 hours a month.
Every month I do three Linkedin posts a week, responding to all emails, one team meeting, and one newsletter, and one other thing e.g. a press release, as a minimum.
The problem I have is that my client is obsessed with Linkedin and is constantly sending me stuff to put out there. My client doesn't seem to appreciate how much time things take and expects me to be posting multiple times a day on Linkedin. I mentioned I aim to post three times a week once, and he was very disappointed that this wasn't very much. He is since delighted at my work with LinkedIn but hasn't seemed to noticed I still only post three times a week. With many exceptions where I post four or five.
I have already used all of Septembers hours and shecudled all the social media posts for the month, but I think he has realized that things aren't being posted 'ASAP' so he has started to dictate when he wants them put out.
On Thursday he send me an announcement to 'be put out on linkedin ASAP'. This is very nomal so I move posts around, take some time from October and move other posts to October. I received the same message all about different posts for the last five days but telling me 'put out tomorrow'. I have ran out of posts I can move to October. The only way his posts are going out is if I create them in my own time. He doesn't seem to understand scheduling and that I have planned posts.
I am not allowed more hours as they just don't have the budget but don't know how to address with my client why I can't put out multiple posts a day. He seems to think it takes max 10m a post, when in reality, I have to do a bit of research which can sometimes take a while, search online for the right companies to tag, search for them on Linkedin, write up all the copy which is often not short, create an appropriate graphic etc, and engage with comments. I also spend time designing campaigns, doing keyword research, researching hashtags and reading up about what this industry is discussing etc.
If I bought up the three posts a week again he will think i'm taking the piss.
Basically I need him to stop telling me when certain things need to go out by, unless there is a specific reason.