How to Manage Your Time as a Freelance Writer
Buddy, are you struggling to stay on top of all your client projects, administrative tasks, and marketing strategy? I got you! Today I am sharing how I manage my time as a freelance writer. Hopefully my strategy will give you some ideas for how to manage your own time!
Honestly, I think that learning to manage your time is the second biggest obstacle for new freelance writers (right after finding your first freelance writing client!). But it’s so important.
As a freelance writer, you’re essentially trading your time for money. So learning to manage your time effectively helps you to get the most out of your time (and earn as much money as you can!).
Now, I’ll be transparent: this is something that I am still working on years into my freelance writing career. In my opinion, I still don’t have the optimal time management system in place. I am constantly tweaking my system to make it better. However, I can tell you that I am lightyears ahead of where I used to be when I was first starting out.
Try to institute one or more of these time management strategies and see what works best for you!
PS: This post was inspired by a question from Ginika Ebenebe of The Quintessential Corner. If you ever have questions or topics that you want me to cover on this blog, just shoot me a DM on my Instagram!
MY STRATEGY FOR MANAGING MY TIME AS A FREELANCE WRITER
1. I Use a Spreadsheet to Track My Projects & Income
My time management system begins with a spreadsheet. A very large spreadsheet. Why is it so big? Because it tracks a lot of information, including:
When my projects are due
When I will do the project (“do date” vs. “due date”)
How long the projects will take to complete
How much money I’m making for the project
Invoice information (like the due date and invoice number)
How much time I’m devoting to client work each week, month, and year
How much money I’m making each week, month, and year
I told you it was a lot!
So here’s what I do with it. When I receive a new project from a client, I plug it into the spreadsheet on its due date. I include how much I will make from the project, and how long I think it will take me to complete it. If I think that the project will take more than 3 hours to complete, I split it into smaller tasks.
And then I color code everything! Scheduled projects are white. Once I’ve completed the project, I turn the line for the project orange. After I’ve invoiced the client, I add the invoice information and then turn the line yellow. Once the client has paid me for the invoice, I turn the line green and I move on with my life, becauase that project is finally done!
So, why do I do this? There are a few reasons:
To keep track of when projects are due so I never miss a deadline
To track the lifecycle of each task and project: scheduled, completed, invoiced, and paid
To help me meet my weekly income goal, which is the minimum amount of money I need to make each week to run my business
To make sure I don’t overbook myself (I won’t accept for than 10 hours of client work per week)
To set aside time for vacation days
If you learn nothing else from this blog post, I recommend that you set up a similar spreadsheet for your own freelance writing business. This will give you a high level of everything you’ve completed and what you still need to do.
Hint: If you enroll in my freelance business course, you can download the exact same spreadsheet that I use to manage my business!
Your time is your most valuable resource as a freelance writer.
2. I Create Workflows in Asana
Using a spreadsheet is a great way to get a high-level view of your business, but you might find that you need more detail in order to complete your projects.
That’s where workflows come in. Workflows list out specific tasks for each project so that you can keep track of all the little itty bitty details.
You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper to track your workflows, but I like to track mine on a digital platform. Why? Because many projects are essentially exactly the same. For projects like blog posts, where I do the same thing every single time, I just copy the task, relabel it with the new blog post topic, and change the due dates. It’s so easy!
There are many digital platforms that can help you with this, but I personally like to use Asana. Why? Well, because it’s free and I love how versatile it is.
Now here’s where it gets a little confusing. Asana uses different terminology that I typically use to describe the business of freelance writing, so it’s a little tricky for me to explain how I use it. All the words in quotes (like “teams”) are Asana terminology. But remember: if you have any questions, you can always DM me on Instagram!
I have several “teams” on Asana for the different aspects of my business and my personal life. For example, I have one team to keep track of my travels and another to track my home improvement projects (being a homeowner is no joke, people!).
But for you, I recommend setting up two teams: one for client work, and one for administrative stuff.
The Asana “Project view of one of my clients.
Within your client “team”, you’ll add each of your regular clients as a “project”. To your client “project”, you’ll add all the projects you have scheduled for that particular client as “tasks”. Then you can click into each “task” and add “subtasks”. These subtasks are your workflows.
When I click on a task, I can view my workflow for that task as subtasks. I can also see any notes that I’ve left for myself about how to complete the task.
Once you’ve got all your client work added to Asana, it’s time to add your administrative tasks. What behind-the-scene tasks do you need to complete each day, week, and month to keep your business running smoothly?
For example, I have a monthly task to remind myself to reach out to my clients about blog posts for the next month. I have another one that reminds me to check up on outstanding invoices.
Get all those extra tasks defined and scheduled, and you’ll be in a much better place in your business.
The best part about Asana is that, if you add due dates to each of your tasks and subtasks, they’ll automatically feed into a to-do list called “My Tasks”. That way, you never have that feeling where you don’t know what the hell you’re doing when you sit down to work! You always have your tasks laid out for you.
3. I Work a Set Schedule
As a freelance writer, you have the flexibility to work whenever you want, wherever you want! If you want to stay up late and work from the comfort of your bed, you can! Want to wake up at 5am and work out of your RV? Go for it!
However, I find that I work best when I have a set schedule. Having a set schedule means that during particular times on particular days of the week, I’m usually working. Outside of those working hours, I am as far from my laptop as I possibly can be!
I do this for three reasons:
Following a set schedule helps my brain to focus. It’s 11am on Tuesday? It’s time to write, bitch.
A set schedule also helps me to create boundaries with my work. If a client wants me to schedule a phone call at 8:00 pm but I don’t work after 5:00 pm, then I politely decline. Contrary to popular belief, being a small, service-based business owner does not mean that you’re on call all the time. For the sake of your mental health and productivity, you must have down time.
Having a set schedule allows me to plan out my time more thoughtfully (more on that in the next section).
Right now, I’m working between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm each day with a 1-hour break for lunch and a stroll around the neighborhood. I used to begin my day at 10:00 am. However, I just couldn’t get to work on time, so I pushed my start time back by a full hour.
I usually plan to work Monday through Friday, but I often take Friday off so I can hang out with my mom (she works weekends). I also always take off the first two days of my period, because I ain’t trying to talk to clients when I’m having cramps, ja feel?
So, what should your set schedule be? That is entirely up to you, buddy. Run some experiments and figure out what works best for you!
4. I Use Google Calendar to Plan Out My Day
So, now we have all our projects and tasks defined, when will we actually DO all the work? That’s where Google Calendar comes in.
I like to use Google Calendar to block out my various projects and tasks throughout the day. I also mark out when I plan to eat lunch, various appointments, and anything else that needs to be done at a particular time.
To me, planning out my day in Google Calendar has three main benefits:
I can see how much time I have open and make plans accordingly.
I can sleep easier at night knowing that I have enough time to get it all done.
My Google Calendar feeds into Calendly, which is a service that I use to schedule meetings with clients and freelance writing coaching students. This saves SO MUCH TIME. Goodbye, back and forth scheduling emails! All I do is send my clients and students the link, and then they can schedule their call when I have availability.
Here’s how I plan my time in Google Calendar:
I adjust the “do date” column on my project tracking spreadsheet so that I have enough projects to meet my income goal for the week.
Using the estimated time to complete each project, I plug those projects into Google Calendar.
I look at Asana to see what other major projects or tasks I need to complete, and I plug those into the calendar as well. I define “major” projects and tasks as anything that will take longer than 15 minutes to complete.
I either leave time open in the calendar to do little task-y things (like check email, interact on Instagram, etc.) or I block out the calendar with a project labeled “Tasks & Shit”.
I love this system because it really allows me to get a visual handle on what I’m doing each day!
Yes, once again, you could use a pen and paper for this. But the thing is, shit happens. I mean, look at me. Look at the example I included. I’m already writing this post when I was supposed to be eating lunch (I was hungry and I couldn’t wait!).
I like using Google Calendar because at the end of each day, I can readjust my week so I know I’m still on track to get everything done.
Planning your day with Google Calendar helps you get a handle on each day and gives you structured time to focus on each task.
5. I Work Ahead
Listen, buddy, this is key! As I said before, I will move up the “do date” on my projects so that I can meet my income goal for every week.
If you don’t have anything due, that doesn’t mean that it’s time to park yourself on the couch and watch TV. Work ahead! Your clients will be thrilled that you turned in their work early, and it will also open up time for you to take on new projects in the future.
Working ahead also helps you to manifest new work, since it signals to the Universe that you have availability for new client work. Woo!
I have been doing this for years – even when I was a newbie – and I have never run out of client work. New work has always magically appeared.
If you do run out of all your client work, it’s not time to take a vacation. When you have free time, move full steam ahead on your cold pitching strategy. Follow your regular working schedule and spend the entire time cold pitching and applying for writing jobs if you have to!
Remember: this is just the system that I use to manage my time as a freelance writer. The great thing about being self-empoyed is that you get to come up with systems that work for YOU. So if you try this one and you hate it, keep playing with it and making adjustments that suit your own working style!
If you want to know more about how to manage your time as a freelance writer and get a step-by-step walkthrough of how to recreate these systems, check out my freelance business course! I have an entire module about how to stay productive and get all your work done. In my opinion, this is one of the most valuable modules of the course because it’s the stuff that no one tells you!