Tag Archive: Productivity


Have you ever thought that by simply rearranging your daily tasks you could increase your productivity, get more done and enjoy yourself more? The biggest asset of freelancers worldwide is that they usually do what they love, and love what they do. But, what happens when you get stressed with deadlines, long working hours and lots of clients and you don’t have any more time for yourself, your family or your personal projects?

Most of you are probably organized to some extent. Most of you probably have a to-do list where you add tasks that need to be done and tick them off once they’re completed. However, have you ever thought that by simply rearranging that to-do list you can rediscover that working is fun, pleasant and enjoyable? By simply rearranging to-dos you can give yourself daily boosts.

How? You may ask. In this post, I’ll answer that question and show you how to get more from your work and more time for yourself.

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

When you’re a freelancer, you often find yourself doing several jobs. You may design, develop, write, manage, bill, consult and answer the phone. Unfortunately, while we’re busy taking care of all these roles in the day-to-day management of our business, we forget to step back and take a look at the long term.

Working on the business may not seem important when you’ve got ten active clients and six projects due this week, however it’s an important task you need to take care of, if you ever plan on growing your business (whether you plan to stay a single person business or not).

What exactly is working on your business versus working in it? Working in your business means taking care of the daily things, the clients, the billing, and the actual work. Working on your business, however, deals with stepping back and seeing how your business can improve, where you want your business to go, and so on. You should aim to try and work on your business, at least for a few hours every month.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can work on your business.

Read the Rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

One of the most deceptive hidden expenses a freelancer can do battle with is the time spent communicating with clients, potential clients, and others in the day-to-day routine.

Communication is obviously a necessity, but without a strategy for managing the emails, phone calls and other time-suckers, they can quickly drain your profits and even potentially drive your business into the ground. Unlike those who get paid hourly for communicating, freelancers typically sacrifice the time spent because paying work is delayed when the phone rings or an urgent email announces its presence in the inbox. So how can communication be managed to the point that it is not only no longer detrimental, but actually beneficial to your income as a freelancer?

I honestly cannot say that I have discovered some magic secret to solve this problem. I have had past experiences where clients have made the ridiculous assumption that hiring a freelancer automatically entitles them to 24/7 availability and immediate response times. I have also–thankfully–worked with clients who appreciate my priorities of family and life outside of work and have bent over backwards to accommodate my schedule. Of course, most situations fall somewhere in between these extremes and therefore are much more difficult to identify and manage in a productive and mutually beneficial way. Here are some steps I can suggest based on my own experiences.

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

Productivity is a big deal for freelancers. That’s because the amount of work we’re able to accomplish is directly proportional to the income we make.

If we’re able to do more in less time, we can take on more work. We’ll also have more time to spend with our loved ones and to pursue our personal interests.

Being a highly productive freelancer also means you’ll be able to keep marketing your services, even while you’re serving current clients.

It also gives you more time to keep learning, keep sharpening your skills, or develop new ones.

I’ve been a student of productivity even before I began freelancing. I guess it stems from being a Mom of three who has many interests and passions.

In this post, I share my top ten ways to work more quickly and accomplish more.

Read the rest of this post of FreelanceFolder.com

What’s your greatest freelancing asset?

Many would argue that a freelancer’s biggest asset is their time, and to some extent I would agree. It’s very important for a freelancer to use their time wisely.

But, I would argue that an even more important freelancing asset is actually your health. The truth is, you can have a lot of time on your hands, but if you’re too sick to work then all of that free time is not going to help your freelance business.

Worst of all, freelancers don’t have paid sick days. So, for a freelancer being sick usually means a loss of income.

What can a freelancer do to safeguard his or her health? In this post, we’ll share a few tips that you can protect your health.

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

Everyone, including freelancers, needs regular breaks. Vacations are important for our productivity. Taking frequent breaks keeps the mind “sharp” and protects us from the dreaded burnout. Health considerations also require us to make room for more physical activity and adequate rest.

But, freelancers typically use one of these excuses–or both–to work without interruptions, until either illness or a nervous breakdown forces us to stop:

“I’m too busy”

“I can’t afford it”

Even if your project schedule and personal life are both full, and even if your income is barely enough to cover your basic necessities, you can and should take a vacation.

With this post, I’d like to convince you that you CAN afford to take time off. In fact, you can’t afford not to.

Read the rest of this informative post on FreelanceFolder.com

There’s no doubt about it. Freelancing can be stressful.

If you’re busy, then there are deadlines and demanding clients to deal with. If you’re not busy, then there could be financial worries and the stress of finding your next paying project.

Add the administration tasks of your business to all of that, and you can see why most freelancers face a good deal of stress. Of course, most freelancers have a personal life too and sometimes that can be a source of even more additional stress.

While some freelancing stress is probably inevitable, fortunately there are some steps that you can take in your freelancing business to reduce the amount of freelancing stress that you must face.

Read the rest of this post of FreelanceFolder.com

The problem with freelancing is that we don’t have paid sick days! When we get sick, we risk missing deadlines, having unhappy clients or even losing income altogether.

As a number of us joked on Twitter, we freelance writers have to keep writing, even from our graves.

We’re only human… which means illness and death are inevitable.

What’s a freelancer to do?

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

Distractions are a big problem for the self-employed, self-managing freelancer. Because of distractions, we waste our precious time. Our productivity is diminished. Rushing to meet deadlines means we enjoy life less. Ultimately, distractions reduce our profitability.

We don’t like that. Freelancers want to squeeze the most work from every minute that we’re working.

Therefore, the sooner we can become the bosses of our distractions, the better for us.

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

There comes a time in every freelancer’s business that they realize the sad truth–that we spend more time answering emails, talking on the phone, sending estimates and invoices and doing generally everything but what we actually went into business for.

I hate, absolutely hate, the management part of projects and of business in general. If I had my way, projects would beam down from the sky on to my desk with perfect budgets and perfectly detailed specs. I would never again have to answer 100 emails about why you can’t do a full site in Flash or why it’s not OK to hand me 100 mockups when they paid for three.

Unfortunately though, that will never happen. So I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reading up on different practices to decrease the amount of time I spend doing something other than development. I’ve found that you can actually apply the basic principles of Zen living to your office to reduce up your management time.

Read the rest of this post on FreelanceFolder.com

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.