Time management is essential for freelancers. Why?
Right now my project list for the next 2 weeks includes redesigning a 16-page magalog, writing and designing 3 direct mail packages, creating 2 full-page inserts, rewriting 3 Web pages, designing a lead generation direct mailer, finishing copy for a quarterly newsletter, and starting work on an array of marketing tools.
And this doesn’t count doing work for political candidates in Ohio, writing numerous articles, dealing with business and family obligations, tending my garden, or cycling 3 times a week.
It’s not about working fast. It’s about working smart. Here are 7 tips for doing just that.
1. Say no. Nothing will boost your productivity more. Say no to projects you can’t handle, unnecessary meetings, chatty lunches, and all time-wasting activities during your working hours.
2. Make two lists. One is your project list with all confirmed projects. The other is your to-do list for the day. Make your lists. Work your lists.
3. Prioritize. It’s natural to do what you like rather than what you should. But it’s more efficient to do work in order of priority. Consider the size of the project, the proximity of the deadline, the importance of the client, the price tag, and other factors. Then order your project list accordingly.
4. Create a project portfolio. If you have all big projects or all small projects, you’ll have scheduling problems. You’ll be more efficient if you mix a few big projects with a variety of smaller projects sprinkled between them.
5. Screen calls. Set up voice mail and caller I.D. When the phone rings, glance at your caller I.D. and only answer when you must. Choose a block of time to listen to messages and return calls.
6. Filter and file e-mail. Set up a filter to catch spam. Create folders in your e-mail program into which you can automatically divert certain types of messages: clients, inquiries, friends, newsletters, etc. You’ll be surprised how much faster you can scan, delete, file, and answer e-mail.
7. Finish. Don’t “work on” projects, finish them. Do good work, but get it done. Every project requires a certain amount of time, but beyond that more work is wasted effort. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
——
Dean Rieck is a leading direct marketing copywriter, designer, and consultant who has worked with more than 200 clients in the U.S. and abroad. For more copywriting, selling, and freelance success tips, sign up for Dean’s FREE direct response newsletter or visit the Direct Creative Blog.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I especially like Dean’s tip #2. This year, after reading the book The Four Hour Work Week, I became rigid with my phone policy. I adopted these two new policies: 1) I no longer answer the phone when it rings and 2) I check voice mail only twice per day – once at noon and once at 4pm. Both of these new behaviours were simple changes, but they boosted my productivity tremendously. Freelancers, your time is valuable… don’t be afraid to guard it! Thanks Dean.
I’m a big believer in screening calls and plotting out to-do lists. I like to make monthly lists, weekly lists and daily lists, breaking things into discrete chunks. It makes things much more manageable, plus you get the fulfillment of checking off things on the list. Big X’s are fun
Great advice! If there’s one thing I’ve really learned to do since I was a university student, it was time management, and a major element of that was prioritizing.
Great post, Dean! I finally “got” prioritizing when I saw a video of Stephen Covey trying to fit in big rocks in a fish bowl full of sand and pebbles. Didn’t work. So he tried putting the big rocks in there FIRST…then pouring in the pebbles and the sand. Guess what? Everything fit in the bowl when he did it that way.
Same with our daily tasks. We need to learn to put in the big rocks first and work the other medium- to lower-priority items around them. Only then will we be truly productive.
All great tips! Certainly relevant and true in most situations, not just freelancing. I personally have a tremendous problem with saying ‘NO’. By saying ‘no’, so much work just disappears…poof!
Hi Cameron,
It’s true… it can be tough to say ‘NO’ but I look at it slightly differently, when I say ‘No’ to a project it’s for a reason… usually because I simply don’t fancy it. And with each ‘no’ I have a stronger and clearer understanding of the kind of work I really want to do. Plus… there’re nothing like a lack of work to get you motivated to go out and find more — more of the kind of work you WANT that is. Thanks for the comment!
Cameron: I told someone “no” recently, and here’s why: The person who contacted me was a lawyer who works across town. He wanted a lot of work for a very small budget. He had no idea what he was doing. The project was not going to lead to more work. And he insisted that I meet with him without paying for it even though it meant about half a day away from my office.
No lawyer would throw away time like that. So he was telling me he didn’t respect me. He couldn’t pay me. And the project would certainly be a pain in the rear. Why would I want to work with him? Where’s the benefit?
Saying “no” to things like this isn’t about losing work, it’s about optimizing your time so you can do more work.
Working from home (a minor palace in Sheffield, UK), I’ve never given my landline number to any clients and so can confidently ignore any rings I hear. Great for getting stuff done.
Excellent advice on time management. Ta!