NO BS STRATEGIES ON HOW I COMBINE FREELANCING WITH PHARMACY SCHOOL

I have been postponing writing this article for close to two weeks now. Not because I don’t want to but because I have been feeling choked up with pharmacy school.

Pharmacy school can be pretty tough in a way that makes you want to just log out from life for a while and catch your breath. The pandemic break heightened this feeling as everything seems to be happening so fast because the academic session is being rushed. It is like running after a fast-moving car and the constant feeling of not being able to catch up.

You might be wondering if I had always wanted to be a pharmacist. The answer is No.

Growing up I had always wanted to be many things. At age 10, I was pretty sure I was going to be a journalist or a newscaster, my parents were pretty sure of this too.

At 12, I was certain I would be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company (My dad had a lot of finance books, from the billionaire next door, the billion-dollar club etc., I had read them all and dreamt big).

At age 14, I wanted to be a scientist like Marie Curie and a Nobel prize laureate. At this point, my feminist journey had begun and I wanted to be so good I wouldn’t be ignored, so I started falling in love with women that shattered glass ceilings (I am digressing, but don’t worry I would get to the good part soon). Still, at 14, I developed a passion for physics and thought I would be a physicist (well, my teachers felt I was called to be an engineer, but well…) I think letting go of this idea was one of the longest.

At age 16, my life changed when I read about Gertrude Belle Elion. Before this, I had been obsessing about drug discovery and cancer. So when I read about her and her different achievements I knew I wanted to veer into research and drug discovery. I knew I needed to give something back to the world, especially with healthcare.

This brought me to a crossroad: studying medicine and being an oncologist, particularly a pediatric oncologist or pharmacy and being a research scientist that would discover and create new drugs especially on cancer or modify drugs to be more targeted towards the cancer cells-well that’s what I thought. (if you want to know if my whole 5 years of pharmacy school brought me closer to this dream, comment and I would do a post about it immediately after my exams in June).

Irrespective of these numerous changes in my life, two things have been Constant-Writing and reading.

I have always written for as long as I can remember-well I drew too sometimes, to produce book covers. I am laughing so hard as I picture my earlier stories, the book gotten from my exercise books-torn into smaller halves and a broom used as a binder. Then I would design and draw on my front cover.

It gave me a strange joy to write scenes the way I imagined them to be. I especially love rewriting movie scenes the way I wanted to, especially if I hated the way the scriptwriter wrote it.

Well, writing was always something I enjoyed doing, I did not think about it as a career path. Last week I had an interview with a client, who asked me if I wanted to go into writing full time. The answer is probably no, I don’t want it to feel like a job, especially one with lots of pressure. I like writing as an outlet and I still really want to be a research scientist.

Okay, let’s get back on track. So I was writing for many reasons. To escape. To feel in control. To deal with the hurt. To deal with being a teenager. To deal with being an adult. I never considered writing to deal with being constantly broke till late last year when I got registered on Upwork. Before that, I haven’t done much writing since I came into the university, except when I was hurt and did a series of excerpts to letters I would never send.

I thought I didn’t have the time anymore as pharmacy school was too busy, from the long classes, practical sessions and way too many materials to cover. I needed a high GPA to maybe qualify for masters and PHD scholarships after university so I cut down a lot of things- some of which I now regret.

When I got registered on Upwork in November, I got my first Job barely a month later. Earning my first dollar was so exhilarating. I felt like a boss. Went shopping and sent my siblings money. I felt liberated. I did not want to think about what would happen when school resumed in January.

January soon came, and it was announced we would start exams by march. I also had to deliver 15 articles every month, that is, 5 per week to this client. The fear of failing or getting a lower grade started. What if I can’t do both. Was I right to want to sacrifice my GPA goals for some dollars? I kept thinking about it and wearing myself out. Finally, I decided that since I needed a new laptop, I would have to continue freelancing to save up money, plus there were a lot of expenses for final year pharmacy students, I also wanted a good GPA. So I made a plan.

Did this plan work? Well kinda. After drafting my plans, I gave it some certain milestones to know if the plan was working. If it wasn’t then I would change it.

The first milestone was to meet all deadlines while clocking a $1000 before June. I somehow always managed to meet all deadlines and even got to the $1000 milestone by April. In Fact, my clients loved how I always delivered in time.

The second milestone was not to let my academics suffer. Which I also managed to do. I studied when I should. Created my summaries and made sure I was up to date academically.

After my first-semester therapeutics result came out last month, I got an A and still bought myself a new laptop. I realized I was doing something right.

How did I do this? I am not a genius. To be honest, I am one of the worst procrastinators that have ever lived. I think my saving grace has to be discipline. I call myself a disciplined procrastinator. I know it sounds contradictory but it is the truth.

Here are 5 things I did to get the best of both worlds. If you are trying to combine freelancing and school. I hope this helps.

1. BE SURE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT.

Now I don’t want to sound like a motivational speaker or one of those self-help Ted talk speaker’s but this is crucial.

I am a dreamer. Always have been. I know where I want to be in 5 years, hell, I even know what I want to do next month.

I never take any decision without being sure.

The decision of whether to combine freelancing and school is a big one and shouldn’t be taken without thinking it through.

If you just make hasty decisions, then different parts of your life would suffer. Your academics, your freelance career, your health, and even your relationships.

This is why it is important to decide what you want to do.

The first thing I do each year is to go through my goals for the year. Most times, I start writing these goals in the last week of December. Other times, it’s at the back of my mind and I just wait till the first day of January to write it down.

Writing my goals down helps me stay on track. Reminds me of what I want and where I am going.

This year, I had written that I wanted to graduate, the number of A’s I wanted, and the money I wanted to earn at the end of each quarter.

I was sure I wanted to win in the game of freelancing and Academics. I was also sure, I wouldn’t want my relationships to suffer, or my personal activities. This is because pharmacy school is more than the books in it. There are the people, the activities and discovering other things that spark your soul.

Once I was sure what I wanted. I knew I had to make it work.

2. SET CLEAR GOALS

This sounds like the previous tip but it isn’t. Being sure of what you want and setting clear goals are two different things.

You don’t just set goals. You make sure they are clear.

Now, the first thing I always do is to write down. What do I want to achieve this week? Whose client’s deadline do I have for that week? What quiz do I have for class? What do I want to do on Wednesday’s after my hospital rotation session? Do I want to have a girls ‘ time out with my friends this week? How many materials do I need to cover this week? All these questions and more run through my mind and I answer them by drafting a vision board.

Stating what I hope to achieve on a particular day of the month. I also have a weekly planner where I set the goals for the week. Academic goals, Freelancing goals, relationship goals.Doing this helps me de-clutter my mind of any other distraction and focus on the end results I want to achieve. If it’s not a goal, then I won’t get distracted by it.

3. PLAN, ORGANIZE, RE-STRATEGIZE

Setting clear goals is one thing, having a set protocol or guidelines for meeting them is another.

Now before making plans make sure they are flexible. No plan should be a do or die affair.

For example, the goal might be to complete 3 materials every week. Now Pharmaceutical Technology is so bulky. If I were to summarize and make notes, it might take me 2–3 days to complete just one of the materials. Now there are still a lot of goals to be met. I can’t give all my time to just summarizing and making notes. Some must be allocated to research. Some to write. Some to cool off.

What I do is place a time frame on what I do. Apportion time to every activity. Pharmaceutical technology might take 4 hours of study time per day. Clinical clerkship might be 16 hours per week, while supply chain management has 10 hours’ study time per week. My courses for this semester are just 3 so you might not have that much time to allocate to each. The key is to make sure your time is accounted for.

So back to me. I have 168hours every week and 56 have been allotted to study time. I have 1–2 hours walks every evening to detox, clear my mind and just forget everything for a while. This takes some time off the 112 hours left.

Okay, at this point you might be thinking I am a freak, not a procrastinator. Well, like I said I am a disciplined procrastinator. Why I used the time system rather than just sticking to my to-do list is because of procrastination. Having in mind I don’t have to do something when I said I would but I still have time to make up for it, helps me meet my target. For example, 10 hours of study time can be at any time of the week. I can even compress it to just 2 days and do something else with the other free time.

Do you get the drift?

I hope I am not speaking gibberish.

For example, I have 5 articles to deliver every week. I might procrastinate till 2 days before, but I still meet up because it’s not the day that counts but the hours I put in.

If a particular method fails me this week, I try something else. Or combine two methods to make up for the shortfalls. Like the to-do list and time allocation system.

4. ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL

This point closely follows the 3rd. On days when I have an article deadline holding my throat. I might give up reading or reduce study time drastically that day and pay attention to the articles.

It’s simply a matter of robbing Peter to pay Paul. My freelancing and Academic life might not always be balanced, but at some point, they get to equilibrium especially on days when I have met the deadlines and I have free time to spare.

The idea is if I give a whole day to writing articles. I would spend the next day studying to make up for lost time. Then the day after that, I spend some time with friends, write for fun, talk with family and then study more. The good thing is my deadlines always fall during the weekend, so by Monday. Everything goes back to normal or at least close to normal.

5. OUTSOURCE

Sometimes you can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. Some days, you just feel like you are being drowned by the pressure of the world. On days like you don’t have to try and do it all by yourself, you have to outsource that freelancing Job.

Last semester, for example, I couldn’t cope any longer. Exams were coming closer, there were lots of revision to have, flashcards to memorize, assignments to submit etc. I simply felt like I was sinking. I couldn’t disappoint my clients. I had to call a friend that was an equally good Writer and split the money with him. He did a great job. I kept my clients and gave my exams a 90%. Yes 10% was spent worrying but that’s fine, I have trust issues.

The point is, you can always outsource your work if you aren’t coping well, especially during exams. There are many places to find freelancers at an even cheaper rate than you were paid. I would advise you to find someone good at what they do, ask them to send samples, go through them and determine if they are what you want.

Finally, I would say that combining freelancing and Pharmacy school hasn’t been easy. I feel like I am lost most times, sometimes I feel like a wonder. Some weeks I manage to keep my head above the water and others I feel like I am sinking. However, I have learnt how to navigate both worlds with good results and you can do it too.

Does it get easier? Yes, it does.

When I first started. I would cry every night from exhaustion. But over time I learnt how to swim. I did this by trying out different techniques.

So my advice to you is to first know what you want. Draft out plans. Set goals and then break them if it doesn’t suit you anymore. Let yourself grow. Feeling frustrated sometimes is normal. Never forget your friends and family, find time to spend with them. Do more things that spark your soul, this will also boost your creativity.

You are a badass. Go kill that freelancing game and ace your courses at the same time.