There was a point in my freelancer past where I didn't always take time to get organised and plan ahead. I was too busy to take time to write my diary for the week and up date my work log. After all it was unpaid time wasn't it. Well, unpaid time doesn't have to mean wasted time.
It took me a while to realise but organisation is they key to a solid and productive working week as a freelancer. the more organised you are the more productive you are and perhaps more importantly the less stressed you become.
Structure is so important to your week as a freelancer. I find that not having structure to the week and not having a clear action plan means you tend to flounder around working on a bit here, a bit there and never really getting anywhere. Maybe you finish a project or two maybe you don't, and maybe you even miss a deadline!
Monday morning is my planning time. I get in go through emails, try to empty my inbox (not always possible!) send off quotes to enquiries that have come in, then send of any invoices that I have still to send out. I then go through my work log ( an excel spreadsheet with list of all jobs in) write on a pad a 'To Do List'. I then transfer this list day by day into my diary to try to plan out what I will do each day to try to make sure all deadlines are met, I have enough time to work on projects to get a good result and clients are happy.
I try to organise any week with a view to both my income and my clients requirements. For example you may want to fill a day with those little projects that come in. The ones that may not be creatively exciting bit are quick to turn around and offer a decent financial reward. Perhaps you want to treat yourself to a whole day of working on something really interesting and creatively fulfilling. Overall I find that client deadlines will be at the presiding factor. After all those are the guys you want to keep sweet and who keep you in beer tokens.
Here is a little tip I've found useful... Always put the deadline in your diary as the day or two before the actual deadline. It may sound silly or even obvious to some but it really helps. Inevitably work gets pushed back as the week goes on so to have a bit of wiggle room is invaluable. No mater how clearly you plan your week you are dealing with clients, these people can really muck up your schedule. Things like delays in getting back with feedback, changes of briefs, movement of deadlines, general disorganisation on their part can really hamper your efforts at being organised. You know the classic examples, such as a client not getting back to you for a week then coming back with a list of changes and insisting they all get done right away! That sort of thing can quickly turn a well organised week into a stressful mess. Keeping a bit of room for flexibility really helps.
As the week progresses I will make amendments to my diary. Various factors will effect the schedule. For example a quick last minute project comes in for a client that you want to keep sweet or that could bring a nice quick boost to your income that week, or perhaps a project overruns, the client wants yet another change to their logo proof. Things like this happen all the time so you need to leave room in the diary for these events.
That neatly laid out week ahead in your diary soon turns into a scribbled out, rearranged mess by Wednesday! So it may be worth a little time to rearrange everything again later in the week. You never want to get to a stage where you have deadlines over running, and unhappy clients because ultimately this will make you stressed. Which is silly because being freelance designer is great.. 90% of the time
I enjoy Monday mornings, they really help me to get my head clear. I also try to do a little meditation as well, just to help clear the old brain box and focus.
The important thing here is to take an hour or three every week to mark the start of that week and treat it like a fresh beginning. Get all your 'ducks in a row' as my South African friend would say. The more busy you are the important it is to take time to get sorted and get you plan of attack laid out.
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