3 Tips On Organizing The Freelance Life
January 17, 2008 by Bridget Wright
Filed under Business
As a freelancer, chances are that you may have multiple projects going on all of the time. You may be juggling clients or customers or even systems like websites, blogs or ezines. Whatever you’re juggling, I’m sure you’d like to be more organized with it. I have found many systems over the years, both paper and web-based, that have helped me work more effectively and efficently. I’m going to share a few tips about managing multiple projects that could perhaps help you work better as well.:
1. Always make a to-do list of your committments and refer to them often. Stage them in sets like to-do’s for a day, a week or even a month. I like to engage the weekly system to manage my blogging activity. It helps me keep everything in perspective.
2. Work on one project at a time until it is completed. I know some people work better skipping around, or so they think. Try getting into the habit of working on one particular project until it is finished. You know that article you’re writing? Go ahead and finish it and you’ll see how great and relieved you’ll feel afterwards.
3. Return emails and phone calls all at one set time, and do them all immediatley. If something requires research or more information-gathering, simply put it on your to-do list and make it a “to-do” for the next day.
What tips do YOU have to share with us on how you can organize your business life?
Hi Bridget,
This is an interesting post! I definitely agree with points 1 and 3. On number 2, I usually have several projects going at once. However, I dedicate a portion of the day to each one. During that time I don’t work on anything but the assigned project. (So I am really only working on one project at a time.) Doing the other way doesn’t work very well for me, since I tend to get longer projects.
Yes, Laura, I too have several projects cooking at once. I guess what I’m talking about here is finishing one thought or track of thinking on the project before moving on. Like when I have several articles to write, instead of doing “part” of one article and then another “part” of another article on another project, I should just finish an entire article or a set of a series of articles before diverting my attention. See what I’m saying?
Hi Bridget,
I totally agree about using a to-do list. Though I think someone needs the right mindset to be a ‘list’ person. But I am surprised that you didn’t offer any suggestions on some tools that could be used to help. I only make that comment because of a web-based tool that my company makes. In short, it is an email help desk for multiple website emails (contact@, sales@, etc…) that puts the new messages into a “to-do” list style of working.
I use it daily and find that clearing the plate just plain feels good.