Time management for freelancers is crucial. An old Chinese saying goes 'do not be afraid of growing slowly, but of standing still." It's because for freelancers and businessmen, time is money, and wasting time can cost them a lot of money. Working as a freelancer may seem like a lavish way of living but, to be honest, it's not like that.
When you are a freelancer it's quite usual that you lose track of time, as you are your boss. As a result, you can't keep up with the deadlines of your project. This article will discuss some strategies to cope with time management issues. Of course, we are living in the 21st century, and thanks to technology we have tons of tools at our disposal.
Why time management for freelancers is an important milestone to achieve?
The thing is that we all make plans and strategies, but we are unable to live up to those sweet dreams. It's because we just act like professionals but we miss the part where we have to be realistic. Actually, we overestimate ourselves. We have to set our plans and strategies keeping in view your abilities and soft points.
So, if we want to make money out of our time, we have to be realistic. As a freelancer, I will share some strategies and tips that, I hope, will help you.
How to manage time as a freelancer-Become a successful freelancer today
Now the question is how to achieve this milestone? By milestone, we mean the time management issues for freelancers. I have been freelancing for over a year and I have been through a lot but the one thing that caused so many problems on my way through my carrier is improper management of time, since then I have been experimenting and using so many different strategies and tools that finally I feel like coming on some conclusions and know I want to share these tips and strategies and time management for freelancers.
There are a ton of tools and apps on the web but not all of them are worth using except for a few. Tools like "Asana", "Google calendar", "Clockify", "Todoist", "Notion", are the best tools that most freelancers swear by. Using these tools can be helpful, these tools help to organize your projects and tasks and you can also set deadlines for these tasks because it is really important to know how much time you have to spend on a specific task.
For example, one will have to give more time to a task, the deadline of which lies near, than a task, the deadline of which is a week away, therefore to be a successful freelancer, it's mandatory to know how much time should you spend on a project. Time as it turns out can be a friend with hands full of money or the worst enemy which can put a full stop to your freelancing carrier.
Tools that can end your suffering by helping you out with time management issues.
We are living in the 21st century and of course, we have technology that we can use to our benefit. Tools like "Asana", "Google calendar", "Clockify", "Todoist", "Notion", are the best tools among tons of other tools available on the web. Organizing your time with the help of these tools can prove to be the first step of a successful carrier.
Asana, along with Google calendar, can help with project management and setting a time for each task. Asana can be helpful if you are a graphic designer, it has easy tools which store resources for your clients such as mood boards, fronts, and hex codes which you can provide to your client when demanded. It also has added in notes which can also prove to be helpful. It has a free version which you can use. Google calendar is also free to use and it is the best tool for work at home.
Tools like "Todoist" and "Notion" can help with making a to-do list, project management, which can prove to be helpful at managing time for freelancers. So that's all about the tools that you should go for to manage time.
Now coming toward the strategies which can help you in managing your time and make money out of your time.
10 Best Strategies that you should go for to manage your time as a freelancer
Before coming towards the tips and strategies, let's be clear about one thing that all of these strategies are just like sweet candies which we see in our dreams but we can't taste them in our real life if we don't live up to them. As we say that consistency is the key to success, we have to be consistent so that we can manage our time and complete our tasks in due time as promised by the client.
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Here are some strategies;
1: Discover when you are active and most creative:
One of the perks of being a freelancer is that you are your boss you don't have to work at a specific time or you aren't bound to discover your most active and creative hour for example I work at night, cause at night I am more active and efficient so you have to know if you are a day lover or a night owl. You have to be creative because in this field of work your survival and fame depend upon your creativity. We can simply say that money is directly proportional to creativity to if you want to earn money you have to be creative.
2: Track your time:
Once again, we came to the same point from where we started as there's a famous saying, "the beginning is the end". Because once you have a track of your time you know exactly how much time a project needs and which project needs to be completed first to make your reputation out there.
Rina Miele, a creative director, and designer freelancing from New York states that time management for a freelancer is especially tricky, as the process doesn't always have a straightforward path as we expect.
3: Avoid distractions:
Being a freelancer has its benefits but on the other side, it also has its disadvantages. As the temptations are really hard to fight off, like when you're working your bed might be calling your name, or you might want to go and eat something at your favorite restaurant and waste a couple of hours or hang out with your gang. All of these factors can be fatal to your freelancing carrier so again consistency is the key.
4: Don't forget about your mental and physical health:
First thing's first you should never compromise on your health avoiding distractions doesn't mean you have to work constantly for 24 hours, it means that you should avoid them during work, as soon as you catch up with your projects you can have some quality "Me time".
So, you have to be health-conscious
5: Take small brakes:
Another thing about humans is that they cannot concentrate on something for longer if you try to be superhuman you lose your concentration and hence the interest in your task so you cannot complete your task on time and end up having a bad reputation of late work. so just take small gapes like they take in offices to blow some steam off your brain and suddenly your brainstorm with creative ideas.
6: Learn to say "NO":
Beginners forget to be realistic and accept every project that they can lay their hands on and at the end of the day are incapable of completing the tasks and hence are called the "Fallen freelancers", as they end their carrier before starting it.so I recommend acquiring the habit to say no if you don't want to be a Fallen freelancer.
7: Take some help if you need it:
If you have been a freelancer for some time and you have a huge load of projects and there is no word as "NO" in your dictionary then I suggest that you should hire some experienced persons and distribute the extra projects and give them a share of the money you earn from those projects, hence you can earn more and ease yourself.
8: Work in small fragments; Divide and rule formula:
Another technique to work efficiently in due time is to divide your projects and set suitable time durations for them so you can easily complete your projects even before due time if you use a little bit of the matter present inside your skull which is called the brain.
9: Pomodoro method – A beneficial method to manage time for freelancers:
The Pomodoro method is really useful not only for freelancers but for everyone, especially for students. In this technique, you set your clock for 25 minutes and you work continuously for 25 minutes, and then take a 5-minute break. This helps, I have applied this method myself.
10: Have some break on weekends if you can afford to:
If you complete your projects on time and show punctuality only then you can afford to spend some time on your weekends at your favorite restaurant or do something that makes you feel better because if you work continuously your mind becomes so messed up that you just don't want to go back to work.
Conclusion:
In the end, I will like to say that freelancing is meant to be the work that you enjoy not like offices where the manager knows exactly how to pull your strings. Although it's not that easy to be a freelancer with effort and passion you can achieve almost everything.
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