The 4-Day Work Week for Freelancers: Why I'm Never Going Back to Fridays

There’s a reason you started freelancing right?

I’m sure one of them was having more flexibility in your life.

I know for a fact it was high on my list when I quit my agency job!

Thankfully, most weeks these days, I’m on a 4-day work schedule.

As a matter of fact, I wrote this blog post on a Tuesday and scheduled it to be published this morning!

I’m offline today, enjoying a father’s day road trip with my dad in the western part of France 🇫🇷

Here is me eating fresh oysters last night directly from a local producer:

As a matter of fact, I’ve been the king of 4-day work weeks since college. I never used to schedule Friday classes.

It was the best decision ever. Every weekend felt longer, every Thursday felt like freedom, and I never once regretted missing those 2pm Friday lectures on the 4Ps of marketing.

(Has anyone actually used the 4Ps in real life? 🤔)

Fast forward to 2025, and I'm doing the exact same thing with my freelance business, except now I'm making multi six-figures while working four days a week.

So you’re probably thinking, is this guy even working?

Here's the thing: everyone's talking about the 4-day work week as if it's some revolutionary concept that only cool startups can implement. But as freelancers, we've had this superpower all along; we just haven't been using it.

And that doesn’t mean I work 20% less than the next freelancer. It means I’m 20% more efficient with my time, and sometimes make up for those laid back Fridays by working harder Monday through Thursday.

But it doesn’t matter how you put it, it just comes down to productivity, and getting the job done. I like having most of my Fridays off, so I put in the work elsewhere when I need to.

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‍Benefits of a 4-Day Work Week

Let’s start with the obvious win: the 4-day week gives you your life back without nuking your income.

And no, it’s not “more time for self-care” in a vague Pinterest quote kind of way. I’m talking about very real benefits that show up fast when you work 4 days a week​ on purpose.

First: you stop bleeding time. That random Friday call that could’ve been an email? Gone. That weird “admin day” where you drift between tabs and pretend it’s productive? Eliminated.

Second: your focus gets sharper. When you know you’ve got four days to deliver, you naturally cut anything that takes too much time. You prioritize the work that actually moves projects forward (and gets you paid).

Third: you become way harder to burn out. I’ve watched freelancers grind themselves into dust doing the “always available” thing. A built-in long weekend is like a pressure valve. It keeps you sustainable.

And fourth: you get a weekly reminder of why you chose freelancing in the first place. This is the whole freelance to freedom deal. It’s just owning your time.

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Disadvantages of a 4-Day Work Week

Now for the part no one likes to post anywhere.

Work 4 days a week​ has downsides (especially at the beginning) because you’re changing the operating system of your business.

If you’re coming from agency life, you’ll feel guilty. Like you’re getting away with something. That’s not laziness. That’s conditioning.

The second is logistical. If you’re not careful, you’ll just shove Friday’s work into Monday… and suddenly Monday feels like a car crash. The point isn’t to create a 4-day week that feels like a 5-day week wearing a fake mustache.

Then, there’s client perception (if you handle it wrong). If you announce, “Hey guys! I don’t work Fridays now!” some clients will hear: “Cool, so you’re less available.” That’s why I keep this quiet and manage access instead of making an announcement.

It forces you to get serious about systems. If your business relies on you being online all the time, the 4-day work week will expose that fast. Which is annoying… but also kind of the point.

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Why Most Freelancers Are Doing The 4-Day Work Week Wrong

Before you start fantasizing about your three-day weekends, let me be clear: this isn't about working fewer hours; it's about working smarter hours.

In other words: clients value results over hours.

The biggest mistake I see freelancers make is believing that a 4-day work week means cramming 40 hours into four days. That's not freedom; that's a recipe for burnout.

Instead, it's about leveraging what I call the "College Friday Principle": when you know you have limited time, you naturally become more efficient with it.

Here's what actually works:

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The Freelancer's 4-Day Work Week Framework

Step 1: Audit Your Time Drains

Track your daily work routine for a week. I mean everything: replying to emails, social media scrolling, "quick" client check-ins, that 30-minute rabbit hole of researching your competitor's pricing.

Use a time-tracking tool like Toggl and audit your time. Don't change your behavior; just observe. On a daily basis, how much of your time is spent doing busy work vs impactful work?

Step 2: Leverage 2025's AI Arsenal

This is where most freelancers are leaving money on the table. AI isn't just for generating blog posts anymore; it's your secret weapon for reclaiming hours. Now that you’ve audited your work day in the step above, use AI to knock down as much of the busy work as possible, or help you be more productive with your impactful work.

What I'm using right now:

• Poppy AI: Amazing for Facebook ad creative research, scriptwriting and execution.
• Supermetrics: For client reports that update themselves directly from the ad platforms.
• Gmail: For filters and auto-responses.
• Calendly: To automate my calendar scheduling
• ChatGPT: For everything else 🤷‍♂️

Step 3: Keep your schedule closed

Here's where most freelancers mess up: they announce their 4-day schedule to their clients and make it a big deal. Your clients don’t need to know you’re on a 4-day work week, it just won’t look good to them, no matter how you put it.

Instead, just make sure your client doesn’t schedule calls with you on Fridays, and if they insist, let them know you use Fridays for deep work and avoid client calls.

Your Calendly should have Fridays blocked off, it’s usually a pretty good indication that you don’t take calls on Fridays, and clients rarely question it.

Step 4: Design Your Deep Work Days

The magic happens when you batch similar tasks and eliminate context switching.

My current schedule:

• Monday: Email catch up + deep work. (As few calls as possible).
• Tuesday: Client calls + deep work
• Wednesday: Client calls + deep work
• Thursday: Client calls + deep work
• Friday: No calls. (Usually outside running errands or traveling, but keeping an eye on slack and emails on my phone a couple of times in case of emergency).

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The Client Push Back Conversation

"But what if clients push back?"

In 6 years of doing this, exactly one client had an issue with my Friday boundary. Want to know what happened? They weren't a good fit anyway.

Quality clients respect boundaries. Nightmare clients don't. The 4-day work week is actually a fantastic client filter.

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Your 4-Day Transition Plan

Don't go cold turkey. Here's how to make the switch without losing clients or income:

• Step 1: Track your current time usage.
• Step 2: Implement AI tools and automations at scale.
• Step 3 Start batching tasks by day.
• Step 4: Enforce Friday boundaries religiously.

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How to Work a 4-Day Week: Your Transition Plan

The fastest way to mess this up is to wake up on Monday, decide you’re “a 4-day-week freelancer now,” and then panic on Thursday night because you’re behind.

The goal is to work 4 days a week without losing clients, dropping quality, or turning Monday to Thursday into a stress marathon.

Here’s how to make the switch the smart way:

Step 1: Track your current time usage (for real).

Not “I think I spend about 2 hours on email.” Actually track it. Because your brain lies to you.

Step 2: Choose your Friday “rule.”

Are you fully offline? Are you “no calls, light async only”? Are you using Fridays for deep work? Pick one and don’t overcomplicate it.

Step 3: Implement AI tools and automations at scale.

This is what makes the 4-day week possible without you working 12-hour days. Automate reporting. Use templates. Use filters. Kill manual tasks like it’s your job (because it is).

Step 4: Start batching tasks by day.

Calls on two days. Deep work on two days. Admin in one block. The biggest productivity killer is switching contexts 38 times a day.

Step 5: Enforce Friday boundaries religiously (quietly).

You don’t need a big announcement. Just close access. Block Fridays in Calendly. Stop offering Friday availability. And if a client asks? “I keep Fridays for deep work and avoid calls.” Done.

Step 6: Review after 2 weeks and adjust like a business owner.

If you’re consistently cramming work into Thursday night, the problem isn’t the 4-day week. It’s your scope, your systems, or your priorities. Fix that.

This is also why freelancing is different from a job. If you’re freelancing full time, you’re designing the machine that produces the results.

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The Real Secret Nobody Talks About

Here's what the productivity gurus won't tell you: the 4-day work week isn't really about productivity; it's about sustainability.

Freelancing is a marathon, not a sprint. The freelancers who burn out are the ones trying to work 60-hour weeks indefinitely. The ones who thrive understand that rest isn't lazy—it's strategic.

That extra day off isn't just for Netflix and Doordash (though there's nothing wrong with that). When I’m not traveling or running errands, I use my quiet Fridays for:

• Learning new skills that make me more valuable
• Start new projects
• Networking happy hours
• Actually enjoying the freedom I started freelancing for

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Why This Works Even Better for Freelancers

Corporate employees need buy-in from management, HR policies, and company-wide changes to make a 4-day week happen.

We just need to decide.

That's the beauty of freelancing—you’re already the CEO, the HR department, and the policymaker. You don't need permission to work smarter.

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The Bottom Line

I'm never going back to Friday work calls. Just as I never regretted skipping those Friday college classes.

The 4-day work week isn't about working less; it's about working intentionally. It's about designing a business that serves your life, not the other way around.

And in 2025, with AI handling the busy work and clients valuing results over hours, there's never been a better time to make this shift.

Your Action Step: Block next Friday on your Calendly right now. Mark it as "unavailable." Don't let clients or prospects schedule anything. See how it feels to have that boundary in place.

You might just discover what I did: sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is to step away from it.

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