Golden Tips for Freelancer to Stay Organized

In today’s economy, freelancing is one of the job categories which is on the rise. There are now more than 20 million freelance workers in U.S alone. The freelancing industry offers freedom and flexibility, but it also comes with the risk of ending up not having enough job. The job is especially challenging because you will have multiple projects, multiple bosses, different schedules to add up the complexity. Juggling multiple jobs at a time is not any easy job.

Here are some tips for all the freelancers to stay organized:

Don’t commit to jobs you can’t handle:

A successful freelancer schedules work week in advance, but allocates some wiggle room for other things. ‘Saying No” in appropriate places is really important for a freelancer. Focus on the opportunities and select the right jobs so that you will not end up doing less interesting jobs. Selecting jobs that suits your interest and which gives you a decent pay will make your work smooth.

Before committing to a job, determine how much time it would take for you to complete the project. Plan ahead and leave up a few weeks of your monthly schedule free. Most of the freelancers admit that there are times in a month when they are less busy or busier than usually they are. With proper management and planning you can complete your project with ease.

Reply to the employer’s mail immediately:

Email is easy to manage when you have a few clients to respond to, but keeping track of a number of clients and correspondences may not be easy as you think. To make it manageable, keep separate folders for different projects you are working on. The downside of the strategy, is you have to spend time on sorting the every email you get. No matter how you organize your emails, make sure that you reply to the clients as soon as possible.

Think more than spreadsheet when it comes to managing your finances:

Freelancers won’t have the luxury of an accounting team to manage finances. So it is important to find appropriate methods to manage your personal finances. Dedicating a specific time schedule every week for keeping your finances up-to-date. Using a spreadsheet to track your finances has been just enough when you have a handful of clients. But it can lead to unnecessary headaches if the number of clients are more than a spreadsheet can manage. There are many other services such as “Go daddy’s Book keeping services” which help you to keep track of your earnings and expenditure. Detailed tracking of your income would help you with not getting a bigger tax bill.

Keep a daily schedule:

Try to work in regular hours a day so that you can increase the productivity. As you are working in your comfort zone, there is chance that you may feel you lazy at times. Even if you are a night person, giving a proper structure and sticking to regular work hours will help you to define clear boundary between your professional and personal lives.

Try to keep steady clients:

Be strategic about whatever job you take. Prioritize long term jobs in such a way that you build relationships with the clients or bosses because it will increase your chance of getting another job soon. Try to keep a good relation with clients who are easy to work with.

Don’t forget to set aside some personal time:

You may need to work for extra hours to earn a steady income, but that doesn’t mean that you have to spare all your free time. By following a proper schedule will allow you to enjoy your personal time along with your profession. Scheduling a vacation in advance will help you to maintain your productivity and it ensures you not to fit into small last minute breaks.