Hi friends,
When I was a new freelancer I had just finished a stretch of two years where I worked and went to school full-time. I was emotionally and mentally drained—there were days when I opened the office at 7 am, worked for a few hours, went to school for 6-8 hours, then went back to the office and closed up at the end of the day.
When I started freelancing, I had some regular freelance work coming in, but I went from having every weekday very highly scheduled to being entirely in charge of all my time.
My days became free-for-alls. Work took hours longer than it needed to because I had the tv on in the background, I took frequent snack breaks, and I often multitasked between checking my email (or Facebook, although you may be too young to remember when Facebook was cool) and writing articles. I worked just enough to pay my bills, but I wasn’t finding any new clients.
It felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything I wanted to do, but that’s because I was filling my time with tasks that had nothing to do with my work.
As a freelancer, you’ll be in charge of many things in your day, including how you structure your time. There’s a lot of freedom in setting your schedule, but that also means there’s a lot of room for distraction.
The great thing about working for yourself from home is that you have the power to figure out what tasks are best suited to which time of day and plan your day around that, rather than having someone dictate what you should be working on and when.
You just have to be strategic about it.
There are typically a few types of activities you’ll be focused on in any given day:
Client work (requires a high level of concentration, focus, and brain power. Possibly also caffeine.)
Administrative work (scheduling meetings, invoicing clients, sending out quotes. Boring but necessary.)
Marketing yourself (you probably hate this part of freelancing, but you need to find new clients constantly.)
Professional development (ideally, you’ll have some time to learn about new technologies or a new service to offer, or just brush up on your writing/editing skills)
Your own creative pursuits (this can be done outside of your working hours but I include it here because I think having your own creative pursuits makes you a better writer/editor)
That’s a lot to do in a day that only has 8 hours (because I definitely don’t want you regularly working more than 8 hours except in rare cases or if you’re trying for a compressed workweek).
So how do you maximize that time without burning out?
Figure out when your brain power is at its most effective and schedule that time for client work. If you regularly jump out of bed highly focused and ready to write 5,000 words on the implications of ChatGPT on the financial markets, then use the first 4 hours of your day for client work. Me? My brain doesn’t really get going until around 10 or 11 am, so I typically schedule 11-3 for client work. This might take a bit of experimentation, but you’ll determine when client work feels the easiest for you.
Figure out when your brain power is at its lowest and use that for administrative tasks. My brain power is lowest in the late afternoon, so I typically set aside two hours (3-5 pm) for administrative tasks. Sometimes I’ll use this for professional development that doesn’t require heavy concentration.
The rest of the time for me (around 9-12, depending on the day) goes to professional development, marketing myself, and my creative pursuits. For me, this time before I do my client work is perfect for those activities because they have low stakes (no clients to please) and they get my brain warmed up for client activities. I’m awake, alert, and motivated.
Set aside small chunks of time during the day to check email and respond to queries. It’s tempting to check email first thing in the morning, but this is a productivity killer. You can easily find yourself sucked into the email vortex and lose an hour or two of your most productive time. Wait until you’ve got something important completed, then check your email.
Automate what you can, especially administrative tasks. I used to email back and forth with people to set up meetings, which honestly could take hours out of my week. Now I have a link to a scheduling system that I send people who request a meeting with me. They select a date and time that works for them. The system is linked to my Zoom account, so the meeting is set up as soon as they confirm the time. I get a notification about it and it goes on my calendar automatically. At one point I figured out that this saved me an average of an hour a day. That’s a lot of valuable time.
Turn off all notifications when you’re doing highly focused work. It’s hard on your brain to switch back and forth between client work and texting your best friend about her date the night before. Focus on one thing for a set chunk of time. When you’re done, check your messages, get a snack, or take a moment to stretch (you could use the Pomodoro Technique by setting a timer for 25 minutes and then taking a five-minute break, or set up any system that works for you). I find this system works especially well for projects I’m not super engaged with but that need to be done.
Eliminate distractions, or limit them as much as possible (yes, including the tv. Especially the tv).
Write your one big priority for the day, the thing that MUST get done. Then list two or three other things that should get done. Plan your time around getting those things crossed off your list. Avoid the temptation to put too many items on your list or you’ll always feel like you’re pressed for time to get everything done, which will start to feel too hectic for you.
Have a list of tasks you need to get done that take less than five minutes. Keep that list handy and if you find yourself with five minutes to spare (for example, someone at the last minute pushes your meeting back by 15 minutes, or you get your article completed before your focus time is over), pull out that list and cross one or two items off it. You’ll be surprised how often you have five extra minutes in your workday.
Set up your schedule in the way that works for you and enables your business to be sustainable.
My initial “schedule” when I started freelancing was very laid back and felt restful but it wasn’t sustainable because I was sending invoices out weeks after projects were finished and I wasn’t bringing in new clients. On the other hand, packing too much into your days will quickly lead to burnout. You want to feel a sense of accomplishment and that you’ve moved your business forward without feeling overwhelmed.
Generally speaking, there’s enough time in the day to get the important stuff done, you just have to stop the unimportant stuff from taking over.
Here’s to your freelance success,
Heidi