Choosing to transition between a corporate editing or journalism job and independent freelance writing is not an easy decision, but many freelance writers are happy with the freedom that comes with self-employment. One of the most important skills that can make or break new freelancers, however, is poor time management. Here are five ways to ensure your time effectively so you can boost your income and have time for more projects.
1. Don’t Browse:
It’s tempting to surf the web when you don’t have a boss staring over your shoulder, but as a self-employed freelance writer, you are only hurting yourself if you let your eyes—or mouse—wander. As tempting as it may be to respond to friends’ emails, check the daily news, or play a quick game, try to think of yourself as “on the clock” to prevent you from wasting time. If you plan to work eight hours a day, for example, start working promptly at the same time every day. After a lunch break and eight hours of writing, then you can treat yourself with some quality web surfing.
2. Time yourself:
If you get paid by the article instead of by the hour, it’s in your best interest to work as efficiently as possible. Use a kitchen timer or a stopwatch to see how long it takes you to write an article with a certain word count. Keep track of your times, but don’t trade quality for quantity. Also include the time it takes you to proofread and edit the article. With this rough estimate, you can decide which topics or types of projects take you the longest, and then you can quote clients with an appropriate price.
3. Get serious about bookkeeping:
New freelance writers are often shocked at how much money they have to pay in taxes. If you are paying between 20% and 30% in federal taxes each year, that could be a big chunk of change out of your annual earnings. Don’t forget to cushion a minimum of 20% into your prices if you think tax day could be a problem for you. Also, keep a master list of your articles, clients, and deadlines. Budget time in your day to work on upcoming projects so you won’t rush the day before it is due. By working a little bit on several freelance assignments each day, you leave yourself time to edit and perfect your work.
4. Don’t drown in your own marketing:
While Twitter, Facebook, and other social marketing tools are invaluable for freelance writers, it’s easy to get caught up in marketing and forget about writing. To strike a balance between the two, allot yourself one to two hours each day to market yourself. This includes social media, queries, job leads, etc. After you get the business side of freelancing out of the way, you have the rest of the day to focus on writing.
5. Set goals:
If you’re someone who goes with the flow and doesn’t set goals for yourself, freelance writing may not be for you. Freelancers have to find new writing projects and develop relationships with clients and editors, and that means having a vision. If you don’t set any writing goals, you could get lost in the black hole of wannabe writers. Let’s say you want to be the next big travel writer.
Create a six month plan. Start by writing a destination guide for your city and submitting it to non-paying online travel magazines. Then work your way up to paying gigs and queries for major print travel magazines. You’re allowed to change your mind or take your time, but you’ll find that setting goals will help you become a more successful and focused freelance writer.
Sathishkumar Varatharajan is an Online Marketer and a Full time blogger from Salem, India and he is one who launched this blog on June 10, 2010. After working alone on this blog for almost 7 months, he finally found a partner by the name John Rampton, an experienced Affiliate Marketer who helps him to uncover the true potential of TechieMania.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
If you’re managing your time so its really essential to have clear goal for the day, like how many articles you’re going to write or rewrite like that. This will help you work efficiently instead wasting your time on something else.
It’s essential to take small breaks while you work, it helps you keep focused and reduce the chances of burnout.
Yes. Every one has 24 hour a day, what makes the difference is how to use it.
These are very true points. And it should be strictly maintained if we became full time freelancer.Thanks for the nice post.
Great tips dude . Managing time sometimes become very hard for the full time freelancers . These tips will certainly help them !
Time management is must if you want to earn success for your self and for your business.
Great advice Sathish. Every freelance-writer needs to possess strong time management skills. In addition to getting more done, I find that when I focus on time management the quality of my work improves.
Oh, not just for freelance writers. Anybody who works from home will be tempted to surf, tempted to keep marketing, tempted to just hang loose and avoid timing himself or handling the bookkeeping. My personal temptation is blog commenting…and…uh…oops, I guess I should be getting back to work.
Being a freelancer is one of the best ways for people to make money online and the best part about this is one gets to work from home. When one becomes a freelancer discipline is paramount for you to be able to deliver. Many of the times your employers do not keep on following you up so you need to have self discipline or else you will end up working badly.
Nice tips for freelancer like me.. these are very useful as well as beneficial..