Freelancing Tips - Don't Do It All Yourself

Today's tip is through inspiration by Suzanne James, one of my mentors. Suz talks about doing everything yourself. This advice is very worthwhile. Even if you're a jack of all trades, that doesn't mean you're a master of all of those trades. Sometimes you need to make an investment in a particular area and get someone to do it for you.

As a writer running your own professional business, you should definitely learn a bit about every aspect of running a business but that doesn't mean you shouldn't delegate or outsource some things you're not awesome at. Take the time to hone your skills on specialties but don't be afraid to ask for help with various aspects of running your business such as SEO, bookeeping or accounting, graphic design or web design.

I firmly believe in learning as much as I can about every aspect of my business but I'd much rather pay $99 for a kick butt logo or pay to get my book cover designed by a pro than toil for days to make it myself and get a result that is just so-so.

Suz's post:
http://writer-writer.com/2008/05/19/the-diy-trap/

Freelancing Tips: Organizing Workload

How do I organize my workload so that my writing assignments aren't all done at the eleventh hour? I spread them out. Some clients give me a few weeks to get work done. Unless the project has a really short turnaround time, I make a schedule to get it done in plenty of time. This way, I can plan my time in advance. For instance, my schedule today looks like:
3 x client X articles
check status of team project # xxx
2 x client Y articles

I allow myself time to spread the work out because it can help me significantly. Some projects work best if I dedicate a day to them where others might work better if I spread out the research time, the writing time and the editing time. Wherever possible, I always buffer in a few days in case I'm delayed or another project takes longer than anticipated which often reduces last minute midnight oil burning nights (although some of those are inevitably part of this writer's life) and helps me sometimes deliver early to the delight of my clients.

If you have several clients, spread the work around. It's also good to set flexible deadlines for other things like:
-self promotion
-your own blogs
-working on that novel
-reading up on news in your niche

Setting a schedule can be a big help, especially if you have a labour intensive or long project to do. By doing a bit each day or each week it lessens the stress and if you have several projects on the go, it can be helpful to break up your day and keep your mind fresh by only dedicating shorter bursts of time to a particular subject.

Freelancing Tips: An Admin Day

Sunday is my admin day. It's the day of the week I schedule a lighter load (usually) so I can have somewhat of a day of rest. Usually I spend the day tying up loose ends, dealing with paperwork and invoices and editing. It also gives me an opportunity to catch up on lower priority things from that week plus plan my schedule and team work for the next week.

Because freelance writing is often a 7 day a week job, it can feel like one day isn't much different from the next. You can set up specific days of the week for particular tasks. For example, if one client likes a weekly invoice, designating a day helps you remember and plan your week accordingly. If you try to keep on top of your own bookkeeping and other tasks, setting aside a day to organize everything once a week could do three or more things for you.

1. It helps you keep your workload manageable because you can stay organized.
2. A day with a bit less stress is nice as your workload is lighter that day.
3. Decluttering your desk and your e-mail inbox can do a lot for your productivity.

Freelancing Tips: Follow Up With Old Clients

Don't forget to follow up with old clients once in a while. Several times in the last few months I've had old clients return for more help. In two cases, I thought perhaps the clients weren't happy with the work or moved on with other writers but in both cases they simply didn't need my help for a bit. The fact that I touched base after their last order just to check in and not pressure them probably helped. If I had been given a clear "No" instead of a "Not right now." I definitely would have backed off. Reminding them of my existence probably helped keep my name in their minds to a degree.

As a freelance writer, I own my own little business and am responsible for producing the product for sale but I'm also responsible for selling it, for customer service, for everything to do with my little biz. It's important as a business owner that I try to nurture existing client relationships while going after new relationships.

This week I plan to share some daily tips with you instead of longer blog posts to give you some ideas or food for thought for your writing career.

Keeping The Ideas Flowing

I am regularly thinking about writing assignments and drafting blog posts in my mind before they get started. Sometimes I think about them when I'm doing something else and before great thoughts and unique ideas escape my mind, I like to write them down.

A great way to organize my thoughts and ideas is my 'WIP' folder. My 'Work in Progress' folder lives on my desktop and is often filled with ideas.

I have many blogs including health blogs, cooking blogs, a WAHM's life blog called Momphabet Soup and some sites I've built around other topics as well and I try to make the rounds regularly to keep fresh content everywhere. A great way to do that is to refer to my list of ideas and continually add to it. It really reduces the pressure when I realize blogs haven't been updated in a few days and I have time to sit and get new posts in. Nothing is an imagination killer more than setting a deadline unless you have titles and ideas or half written posts or articles or outlines already done.

Here's how I organize it:

In my folder, I have individual word documents for each site I run and I refer to them as my scratch pads. If I want to tuck an idea away for later, this is where it goes. That way, when I'm ready to post something new on a health blog or my cooking site, I don't have to chew my lip and rack my brain for ideas because I have a list of ideas waiting to be explored. On my health scratch pad I currently have about 7 different blog posts either started or at least given titles which can jog my memory later on and spark some creativity.

When I come up with ideas for a client project that's on the go, I jot it down in a notebook that I keep by my computer but instead of fighting to find pieces of paper later on for projects I don't have to do right now (that might have all kinds of scribbles and doodles on them, Yes, I'm a serial doodler.), my WIP folder is a great way to organize my thoughts. When I've written the post, I pull it from the scratch pad and post it to the site. This accomplishes two things.

1) It saves me from losing posts because I've stopped writing posts directly in blog posts for the most part. Except this time with this post right now so I'm praying that nothing goes wrong here. Most of us have made the mistake of writing a blog post directly in the blog and then losing it. Come to think of it, let me cut and paste this into a notepad window before typing another word.

There.
Where was I?
Oh yes,

2) It also shortens my idea list so I remove the blog post from the scratch pad after I know it's safely posted. Sometimes I write a full idea and sometimes I write a snippet. It makes it much easier and I often find inspiration for various blog posts throughout my day.

This reminds me...time to replace the little notebook for my purse. Sometimes I find inspiration for articles or ideas for my novel in public as well and hate when I've forgotten the idea by the time I get home. I have jumped out of the bath sopping wet to write down writing ideas as well. Something about soaking in hot bubbles releases the muse. I really should think about installing a whiteboard in the bathroom and using soap chalk. Hmmm.