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Wow just four more days till Christmas and then Steve and I are actually taking a short holiday. Ok so it's only three days but we're going to be away from the office and away from the house and that's about the best we can hope for in this business.

There are no paid holidays when you're working for yourself. Of course you can go on making money even when you're not actually working because you're sites and galleries can be generating an income for you but if you take too much time off those sales can begin to dry up.

I wonder if you ever thought of that when you began thinking that selling porn online was going to be an easy way to make money.

I know a lot of people who never even stopped to consider the fact that there are no paid vacations when you're working for yourself and if you're not working then you're not generating an income. They get so excited by the thought of being able to just be their own boss that some of the less pleasant aspects of being self-employed tend to get overlooked.

Eventually all that euphoria that seems to go with becoming self-employed begins to evaporate and that's when the harsher realities set it and they begin to see life as it really is.

Oh don't get me wrong ... I love being self-employed and Steve does too but sometimes I look at some of our friends who are working for wages and can afford to take a month's vacation and I think that would be nice to be able to do that too.

So if you're thinking of coming into this industry full-time then be sure to think about what it will be like to have to work a whole lot harder than you've ever worked before.

In this industry it can be a long time before you can take even one day off a week. There is just so much to do and there never seems to be enough hours in the day to achieve everything that you have to achieve.

That's where a many newcomers to this industry seem to have a lot of trouble. They simply can't get everything done each day no matter how much time they spend in front of their computers. No matter how hard they work they never seem to be able to keep up with the demands that this industry places on those who want to succeed.

Surprisingly the answer to their time management problems can often be found back in the business where they last worked. If you're someone who is having trouble fitting everything you must do into each day perhaps you need to look at the way the work flowed in the industry you came from.

Now I don't mean that you need to look at your old job in fine detail ... instead sit back and have a look at it in broad terms and see the work flowed through the business. Look at the way the work flow was organized and the rhythm that the business go into to cop with the work flow and right there is the key to helping you achieve better results with your day.

Just as there was organization and rhythm back in the business you came from ... there also needs to be the same level of organization and rhythm in your daily life.

To start to achieve that organization and rhythm all you need to do is to step away from your computer and find a notepad and a pen. Then make a list of everything that you must do each day and put down the amount of time it will take you to do each of those jobs. If any of them are time-sensitive make a note of that too.

Time-sensitive tasks are those that have to be done by a certain time each day. Is there a deadline for your daily gallery building and submission? Do you need to get your free sites built and submitted by a certain time each day? Is there something that you do that has to be completed and submitted by a certain time or you waste money or miss an important deadline?

Once you have that list you'll begin to be able to see which daily jobs need to be done first and which ones can be left till later in the day. For example on the days I write this column I try to get it done before 9am and I also aim to get a couple of blog entries done before that time too because the column needs to be sent off to the editor and blog entries need to be up online for times when they're likely to be read.

Other important jobs may not be quite so time-sensitive so I leave them for later in the day and I also factor in some time to deal with urgent requests from clients that may pop up quite unexpectedly.

Once you can see what's important for you then you'll be able to set up a schedule for each day you work and once you begin working to that schedule you will begin to achieve results.

Sadly working to a set schedule each day may be a lot like your work life was back when you were working for the man but now you're working for yourself it's even more important to achieve results because there's no other way you'll make money when you're self-employed.