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!

A Very Special Announcement…

… but not just yet.

Times, they are a changin’ and for Ginkgo Consulting that means quite a few things.

1. We’re in the process of re-structuring. There are some amazing new projects in the works that I’m going to be heavily involved in, and therefore need to come up with some really cool ways to keep Ginkgo running but with less of my individual time. This means I’ll be needing some more really cool people to help me do that.

2. I’ll still be doing the consulting work. Be it on the phone or in person – I’m the one you’ll be speaking with when you have questions, be they about work we’ve done, work you need done, or simply training you may need.

3. Tying up some loose ends. Right now I’ve got two “charity” projects going on, and a few client projects still on the table. While I’ll always spend available time on a project I believe in for charity, at this time I’m not sure we’ll be able to take on any further clients. At least not until I get the restructuring done. If you don’t have an immediate deadline, you can always call and we’ll see what we can do. Worst case scenario, I can refer you to one of several colleagues who I’m confident can help.

4. I’d like to make it clear that I’ll still be blogging here, as well as at my other sites. I’m not going anywhere, that’s for damn sure. You’re actually more likely to see me than ever before, but that’s all part of the “Very Special Announcement” I just can’t make right now. I promise, you’ll be the firsts to know once I can! Your best bet to keep tabs on me? My hub, Lara Kulpa. It’s not finished yet, or designed yet, but it’s there.

So there you have it! Thanks for staying tuned in, and don’t go anywhere! It’s going to be an interesting Q4, and an amazing 2010!

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?

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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!

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7 Steps to take when gearing up for a conference

I really tried to get way too much accomplished prior to attending the Blog World Expo 2008 conference in Las Vegas last week. I was in the process of upgrading the business, changing the name, offering more to potential clients, and get the new company website up. It was a LOT to take on in a very short period of time.

Looking back, I keep wondering if I should have kept the old business site up to date, handed out the old cards, and gone on from there. I met so many people that I directed to this site prior to it’s completion that I wonder if they’re out there thinking, “What the hell is this chick about?”

No matter what your industry, it’s quite likely that you won’t be the only person you know at a conference. At BWE there were probably close to two dozen associates, clients, and “coworkers” of mine I was going to meet up with there, and then of course they were going to introduce me to others I’ve yet to meet. That’s when the business cards came out. I twitched with every one because this site wasn’t finished, and I tried to explain that while this is a new brand for me, I’m not new to the industry at all. (I’ve got over 7 active years in the field and like most, over 12 years of “hobby” in it.)

So here’s a guideline of what I did in preparation of the trip, but learn from me, and start on this list as soon as you know you’re attending (rather than a week before the event)!

• Make a list of tasks and prioritize them. Despite feeling like I was taking on too much in my situation, making the list really helped a lot. I crossed things off when I completed them and left still feeling somewhat accomplished. It was a really good feeling to leave with 90% of my list completed.
• Refill your business card holder. Okay, so you’re going to be bringing a lot more cards with you than your holder can carry, but make sure you have a good solid stack of them to take along. I had mine tucked into every pocket, my bag, and even some in my badge holder. I didn’t have time to order mine ahead, but I made a batch of about 150 of them to take with me. The rest are on order from VistaPrint right now. (You can get some really great deals there, including free cards if you’re a new customer!)
• Make sure your website or blog is up to date. This one might take a little more finesse if you’ve got a static website that hasn’t been updated or re-designed in a while. I’ve had clients come to me for a “freshening up” with a fairly tight deadline, so it can be done. If you’re blogging, get some stuff up about the upcoming event, and if you haven’t blogged for a while, get a good backlog of posts up there. (This is one of the items on my list that didn’t quite make it, and I regret it.)
• Do some research on the city you’re going to. Obviously in Vegas there was TONS to do during off-conference hours. I’d never been before, so everything I did was exciting, and was often planned by others in my social circle. But even if it’s a city you’ve been to before, there may be some new stuff or other events going on since you were there last, so check it out and see if you can make some tentative plans. I wound up going to see a show and watching the fountains at the Bellagio over drinks with a client one night… way cool!
• Queue up your inner salesperson. No, I don’t mean you should have some rehearsed, repetitive “line”, but make sure you put your best foot forward and wear a smile, know what you’re looking to explain about your business to new contacts, and make the most of that 15 seconds you’re going to have to introduce yourself.
• Pack your bags and leave lots of room. Checking up on the city will help you decide the type of clothing to pack, but keep your load light. You’re going to come home with “stuff” and you’ll need the room in your bags. Be it conference materials, schwag (coffee mugs, stickers, binders, etc. all labeled with exhibitor logos), or gifts for the kids, you’re going to bring stuff home with you, guaranteed.
• Be early for your flight, take off, and have fun! All pretty self-explanatory, but it boils down to triple checking your travel arrangements, making sure you have all your financial stuff organized and in order, your documents and receipts for things like airfare and hotel rooms, and so on. Nothing can ruin the fun of an opportunity like this more than losing your identification or spilling coffee on your boarding pass!

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