Solopreneurs & Freelancers: How Do YOU Prioritize Your Workflow?

Okay, so I’ve finally decided that it’s time to put together an ebook I’ve had on my mind for a while now, and I’d like to get some input from readers and friends. Expect a few questions like this in the coming weeks, and please take some time to think about your answers and share this post with others so my resources are widespread!

Solopreneurs & Freelancers

Solos and freelancers are a special breed of business person. Not only do they have to actually complete the paying work (yes, thank me, Captain Obvious) but they must promote themselves, share their experiences, network, attend conferences, continuously learn about their trade and much more. They’re the “all in one” package for a business model. If you couldn’t guess, a successful solopreneur really, REALLY has to be organized and pretty structured in order to have that success.

Mixing of Tasks and Work

Sometimes, solos take on freebie work. There are many reasons for this: publicity, experience, generosity or sheer boredom. Often times this freebie work is done in a different manner than paying work (though it shouldn’t be) and sometimes it gets overwhelming and stressful. Especially once the paying stuff kicks back up and they’re still stuck working on the unfinished or never ending projects they’re not getting paid for.

Prioritizing and Balance

You’re never going to hear me say that a solopreneur or freelancer should never take on unpaid work. I will say that they should balance it out, weigh the pros and cons, and limit themselves to only one or two freebies per year. Be picky, just as you’d be when taking on a new client. (If you’re not being picky with taking on new clients, that’s an entirely different issue we’ll discuss later.)

It’s easy to get overwhelmed, in any event. Especially when you’re trying to grow your business, pay your bills, donate your time and knowledge to others in need and deal with all the other aspects of everyday life, all while not losing your mind (ie. taking care of yourself).

So, here’s a scenario for you: You’ve spent a few years trying to build up your client base. You’ve got some A-List clients (those you consider top priority), a few B-Listers, and then you’ve got freebies and your own personal projects. Add to that networking, events, conferences and marketing yourself.

Work slows down and you take on some high-profile freebie stuff. It’s seemingly never ending, but you’re cleaning up loose ends and all of the sudden you find yourself slammed with requests from ALL your clients, all at the same time. They’re all in need. Yesterday.

Let me break this down in list format…

• Two “freebie” projects you started and have pretty much accomplished, that still need tweaking or revising. Small amounts of individual attention, but frequent ones.
• Two A-List clients whom you’ve devoted much time and work to in the past, that are the “meat” of your income. They’ve got ongoing, immediate requests.
• Two or three personal projects you’re dying to get off the ground.
• Ongoing social networking, self-promo, events and conferences to attend and plan for.

How would you prioritize what needs to be done?

Do you take care of the freebie’s immediate needs, and notify them that they must be put on hold while you take care of other stuff, or do you try to structure your work days so you can touch on everything, every day, until it’s finished?

Please share in the comments… especially if you’ve ever found yourself in this exact position or something similar. If you can’t pull from personal experience, that’s okay too – just imagine yourself in this kind of situation and tell us what you think you’d do.

Keep in mind two goals:

1. Keep everyone (including yourself) happy with the progress and timing.
2. You’re not allowed to work more than 10 hours per day, in the interest of personal sanity.

So let’s hear it! And don’t forget to share this with your friends and colleagues!

ZenHabits: Productivity 2.0

I’m a huge fan of Leo Babuta’s Zen Habits blog. I’ve mentioned it before (My quarterly office checkup), and will surely do it again. I just read an AMAZING post about productivity: Productivity 2.0: How the New Rules of Work Are Changing the Game, and I wanted desperately to not only put this stuff into action for myself, but to share it with my clients and colleagues.

The topic basically goes into “old school” versus “new school” philosophies on work and productivity, and it clears up a lot of misconceptions of what really works versus what doesn’t. They can apply to blogging, your 9-5, web design, or basically any job you can think of where you have a little bit of freedom to manage your time (which unfortunately isn’t always the case for certain professions). I’m sure with a little tweaking, you can apply these “new school” habits to your career, and I know I’m going to work hard trying to accomplish that for myself.

In brief, as quoted from the post:

Don’t crank out tasks — learn to work with a deeper focus. Don’t plan and hold meetings and form committees — just launch the software or product or service and keep improving it. Don’t spend time organizing — you’ve got more important things to worry about.

I’ve been really focusing on time management for myself, and it seems the more strict I try to get, the more frustrated I get, but still the less I accomplish than I wanted to. Rather than focusing on “Finish. Now.” I’m going to work harder at getting each task on each project done, one at a time. For ongoing stuff like copywriting or blogging projects, I’m still going to have to work on deadlines and such, but for other things, it’s just a matter of focus.

In a newsletter to clients about the change in the company (Re-branding your business.) I mentioned a new payment system I’m implementing for ongoing projects. I promised a maximum 48-hour turnaround on requests, for the sole purpose of helping me stay on top of my tasks in a more manageable way. I’m using technology (Outlook 2007) to help me with this. Rather than calendars and post-its, I check my to-do list via email requests that have come in when I check my email first thing in the morning.

Do you have any productivity challenges you’re trying to work on? What do you think of Leo’s concept of “old school” versus “new school” productivity?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Now Do This, and The Single- Tasking Philosophy
• Life Balance: 6 Questions to Organize the Week, with Peggy Duncan Looking Over My Shoulder
• Manage Outlook in a GTD-Friendly Sidebar with Trog Bar [Featured Windows Download]
• How Small Boxes Help You Succeed
• Death of the Clock: Reclaiming Your Time
• Stressed? Get Just One Important Thing Done Today [Life Hacks]

My quarterly office checkup.

It all started with spilled coffee.

A couple weeks ago, I ran into some issues with my computer. I’ve got a Dell PC that’s about 4 years old, and one morning what chatting on Skype with a client, I spilled my coffee all over my beautiful ergonomic split-key keyboard (and my desk). I quickly typed the situation out to him, but as I was finishing it up, my keyboard stopped working.

Next thing you know, I was getting “low memory” errors on the screen. Now I know that the two things had little to do with each other, but it forced me to restart the computer. When I did, the keyboard didn’t work at all. Fortunately I had a few others in reserve, but they’re not the ergonomic ones, and it’s been torture on my wrists to get used to using a traditional keyboard since.

After the restart, I couldn’t get things working properly, so I called up my computer guy and bribed him with an extra large Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to let me bring the machine in immediately. It worked.

So I get there, we backup everything I can think of, and wipe the machine clean. Great. I now had dozens of programs to reinstall, password lists that I had to write down beforehand, and a hope that I didn’t forget anything. I also added another memory card, and things have been beautiful since. I’m still getting that software up and running, though.

So this brings me to a new plan.

Every three months, I’ve decided that I need to do a major cleanup of my machine. Delete images that I’m not using anymore or have been stored on a website somewhere, make backups of files and folders to CDs, backup photos I’ve taken that I want to keep in their original forms, and so on. Computers get a little touchy when you overload them – this wasn’t my first time finding this out – and they need to be maintained and kept “clean”.

On top of that, when I came back from Blog World Expo, I walked into my office and wanted to literally turn around and walk out. I’m really organized with client info, but not with everything else. Mail winds up in piles, CDs in stacks, notes and papers floating around, even one too many coffee mugs (ack!) sitting on the desk.

I remember when I used to actually go to work in an office, and coworkers would remark at how clean my desk was. I would take 10 minutes at the end of the day to organize the stuff I’d need for the next day in a pile, and everything else went in a drawer. I’d leave with a neat, short little pile of folders and a notebook sitting on the desk and that was that. It made life SO beautiful! Since working at home, I got out of that habit, and I’m going to make a concerted effort to get back to it.

It’s amazing how we can often let things in life “pile up” and get out of control. I’m really into reading about simplicity in life, organization, that kind of thing – I just have a hard time implementing it. Leo Babuta’s Zen Habits | Simple Productivity blog is really great motivation for me.

Do you have a plan to keep things neat and organized at your desk? Have you tried, but failed? Share your stories of “paperwork attacks” or computer crashes!

Related articles

• Zen And the Art of Desk Maintenance
• Help! Home Office Paint Color?