7 Simple Steps to Manage Your Freelance Work

Truelancer is an interactive platform for freelancers to find work and also manage their work streams. Therefore, we are always trying to help freelancers with issues regarding work management and productivity. The most common question which we face from these aspiring careerists is how they can manage their workload.

This is because many a times some common issues are seen among freelancers irrespective of their high quality of work and punctuality. Most of these issues relate to management like:

• Haphazard time management: A very common problem seen in freelance work. You will see that many freelancers (top notch even) work at weird time intervals and often discuss that they do not want to. But they cannot help it due to work requirements and deadlines. Therefore to ensure delivery, they work even when they should not.
• No time for other activities: This may be a problem for many out there. Once freelancers start getting work, they find it difficult to say no to any client and any sort of work. The motive of securing oneself with regular work is understandable but jeopardizing your life and health is not.
• Work Life Imbalance: The above two factors alone result in a strong imbalance between work and life with work being favoured unintentionally. This results in further problems of frustration, stress, pressure and prolonged monotony. In the long term, the problem can get serious.

 

See in this video how Brian Tracy inculcates some brilliant tips for managing work

 

Therefore, we consistently realise the importance of a universal freelance management system which can help both freelancers and clients to manage all this contractual work better in the virtual environment of the internet. But, that is not all, freelancers do need to realise that Freelance work may be about freedom from corporate shackles and dependency but that does not mean that you need to fall head over hills into unprofessionalism. That will only result in losses for you in the long term.

You may be able to manage it all at first but as soon as the operations scale up and you start getting more traction things will become difficult. If you don’t change your methods then the resulting problems can be loss of work, credibility and reputation.

The good point is that you can easily manage all the freelance work by following some simple daily practices and allow yourself to enjoy your independence at the same time.

Here are 7 Simple Steps to manage your Freelance Work

Make a daily action plan

Sorting out your work is the first step to start with. As an employee your company does that for you but here as you are self-employed, you have to do it yourself here. Every night before you sleep take out a notepad or make an action spread-sheet on your PC.

This sheet includes all the work that you have lined up for the next day. Be sure to mention the work specifics, the time it needs to be completed, the client’s name you have to deliver it to and the deadline which needs to be met.

This will give you a rough idea about work the next day and you can plan your entire day better.

Action plans are a great way to create a structure in your daily routine without taking any fun out of it. With the plan in hand you know how much time you need to devote to work the next day and make room for leisure and other related activities.

 

Prioritize your work

The next day just before you start work, be sure to prioritize it. This means that further sort the work in the basis of importance. For instance, you may like doing the easy stuff before and the tough one later or VICE-VERSA. This can be an order of filtering.

On the other hand, you can also sort the work on the basis of deadlines or client expectations. This is a better classification as it allows you to form better networks with your clientele as you form more robust work delivery channels.

Prioritizing helps you get in the professional frame of mind. You exactly know when and what you have to do and by what time you have to finish it. This plunges the mind into an automated state of focus and clarity which allows you to be more efficient and productive.

 

Do rough research every time

We suggest this to every freelancer. Do not just start doing work without working on its details. This will create confusion in various stages of work. What you need to do is:

• Take up a project
• Understand the requirements thoroughly
• Form a flowchart from the beginning of that work to the end mentioning all that you need to do in the middle. Be professional here. Use actual flow diagrams. It will improve your clarity.
• Add details to every step like any research which needs to be done or any image or video which needs to be seen and learned from etc.
• Start work and follow up on each step

The steps are simple but the benefits are great. You have an immediate clarity about every step of the project. This makes you productive and you will take less time to complete the same work which took hours earlier. This is the kind of detailed planning you need base your work. With practice you will get better at it by leaps and bounds and will never have to worry about work management any more.

 

Maintain a Record

Maintaining a record of work and transactions is great way to judge your own calibre and depth. Create multiple-spread-sheets based on work done, work pending, amount received, amount due, incoming work, outgoing work etc.

This will give you an idea about your entire portfolio and what needs to be done to make it better. You will able to track your finance better and this will also help you in your tax calculations as you have all the data regarding work stored and organized.

 

Form a Schedule

People often think that if scheduling was so important then what is the difference in living when working for a corporate or as a freelancer?

Please realize that by this point we do not mean to tell you that you should wake up at 6 am and start work by 9. The bottom line is that the schedule is based on your comfort zones.

If you are late riser then start your workday at 1 pm or 4 pm but don not get fussy if it ends at 2 in the night. When you are not fussy about that then, you have scheduled your work successfully.

The difference here is that you get to pick when you have to work and when you have to enjoy life and not any boss. Be honest to this privilege and reap the benefits.

 

Take Breaks

Taking breaks is a great way to improve your efficiency. Schedule a 10 minute break after every 2 hours or a half an hour break after every project. This will relax your mind and allow you to regain focus and strength for the next project.

 

Organize your work environments

Bed is for sleeping. But if you like working from home then you can get a cool office pad made. This will indirectly bring professionalism into your routine which trust us is a credible attribute whether self-employed or not.

This will give you impetus to manage and organize your freelance work and land your dreams in a better manner than before.

 

 

Managing freelance work is no easy task sometimes simple procedures which we can induce in our daily lives helps us in gaining the traction we need to maximize our potential. Do not waste the freelance independence. Use it to make a better life and keep doing what you love.

 

Read more on freelance and related stuff.

How do you manage your freelance work? Let’s discuss in the comments