Every day that I’ve been freelancing has been a day for me to learn something new. I’m learning that I’m having to serve as my own sales team, marketing team, business ops team, accounting team, HR department, etc.
In addition to all of that, I’m having to learn how to control the spigot of work. How much is too much, and how do I avoid taking on too much and dropping some of the many balls I’ve got going in the air?
The most important thing that I've learned so far is to keep detailed track of how much time every task takes me. How long do different types of copyediting jobs take? How long does it take to track down invoices and create paperwork? How long does it take to research and get to know a client? Here are just a few of the things that I’ve learned to keep myself on task and on track as I learn the ropes of being my own boss:
Keep track of everything. Keep track of every task you undertake when working on a project. That includes the time it takes to review and scope how long that project will take. Also keep track of communications and revisions. Those tasks also take up time.
Be conservative with your turnaround times. Be very generous with the time you give for a turnaround time. Things pop up, meetings with new clients, emails to write, unexpectedly tricky passages in your project, power outages, all kinds of things. Pad your time and aim to submit your project earlier than your deadline. Never overpromise and underdeliver.
Don’t take on every single project all at once. I am very quickly learning how to deal with the feast and famine nature of freelancing. When you don’t have a current project to work on, it is so tempting to take on everything at once when projects roll in. This is a recipe for disaster. See point number 2. Be conservative with your time estimates and make sure to build in time for rest and for refreshing and building up your skills.
Point number three has been quite a learning experience for me. Because I’m my own boss and because I really enjoy editing and writing, I’ve found myself working late nights and over the weekend. Don’t give in to this temptation -- you will very quickly learn that the exhaustion starts to creep up on you incrementally.
As I said, this is all new and a learning process for me. What have you learned in your own freelance journey? What are your tips and tricks?
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