If you take a peek at my My Lovely Clients page, you’ll see fairly quickly that I don’t do niche. I work on many different projects for different clients at once- and I love it! The ability to have flexibility and variety in my work is one of the key reasons I am an employer of self, rather than an employee. That, and the dress code, or lack thereof, am I right?
Of course, the impact of this medley of projects constantly on the go is that there is a lot to keep on top of. Projects are sometimes complex, and overwhelm a real possibility. However, I’ve been doing this long enough to have a few handy tricks and strategies to balance my priorities and workload successfully which fall under two broad categories:
1- Realistic deadlines and goals
I have a client process that establishes boundaries and works to my control freak nature. At the commencement of each new project (or when I onboard a new client) my very first task is to clarify their expectations and ensure they are 100% clear on timelines across the entire project. For example in a copywriting project, we agree on when their client brief will be provided, when first drafts are due, and when revisions are expected.
2- I live and die by my schedule
As copywriting work comes in (or when deposit is paid, to be more specific) I allocate time in my schedule. For ongoing work (ie social media management, monthly copywriting) I block out time in my schedule to dedicate to individual projects. I have twice weekly (Monday and Friday) dates with my schedule where I evaluate my workload, client goals, deadlines and commitments and distribute my workload across the week evenly- this mama can’t do late nights!
In terms of practicalities, I use an electronic scheduler (my ical) as well as a whiteboard, a notebook, and weekly and monthly hard copy planners.
Basically, juggling multiple projects and deadlines comes down to simply being organised, which isn’t particularly glamorous. Or is it? It should be. I hereby propose a revolution, where those of us scribbling down their to do lists are the exalted among us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make this revolution official.
This is a post in my blog series about freelance life. Each month I share information, hacks and ideas about running a freelance business. If there’s something specific you’d like to know, please shoot me an email or give me a buzz, and I’ll do my best to help, or address it in an upcoming blog post or on my social media platforms- follow the links!