As a freelance writer, having time management skills is very important. If you are able to manage your time you will find yourself achieving more success than those who struggle in this area. Simply put, time management skills are a must for every freelance writer that wants to succeed in the long run. This is something that you may not have a firm grasp on early in your career. Fortunately, this can and hopefully will change over time.
The way you manage your schedule is very important. If you are disorganized you will find that you are not getting your work done, and feeling that your career is out of control. On the other side, a freelance writer with great time management skills will move from one task to the next without thinking twice. At the end of the day these writers look back and can see just how much work they completed.
Are time management skills something I can develop? Most definitely. As mentioned above, you may not be the best at managing your time early in your freelance writing career; this is to be expected. You are new to this career, and are unsure of what you are going to encounter, what needs to be done, your priorities, etc. But soon enough you will have a hold on how to manage your time more efficiently.
Don’t take this lightly. Many people will read this post and think that time management is overrated. There are only so many working hours in a day. You have to make the most of every minute that you are sitting at your computer. If you learn to successfully manage your time you will have a better chance at reaching both your short and long term goals.Â
Being a freelance writer means that you set your own schedule. You can work anytime of the day that you please. I know freelance writers who work a normal nine to five schedule, as well as some who like to stay up in the middle of the night. It really doesn’t matter what hours you work as long as you are completing projects and servicing your clients. With that in mind, you may be contemplating extending your work hours. There are many benefits of doing so. But at the same time you may realize some drawbacks.
The main benefit of working more hours is that you can get more done. This holds true when working on client projects, marketing, and other tasks that you must complete as a freelance writer. If you feel that you never have enough time for all the work that goes along with your career, working additional hours may be the answer.
How many hours are you working right now? This is the main question to answer before you do anything else. For instance, if you are only working six hour days there is plenty of time to extend your schedule. But if you are putting in 12 hour days already, you may not have as much leeway to add onto this.
As you work more you are putting more strain on your mind and body. Even though you can benefit from extending your hours, you have to make sure that you are not harming yourself along the way.
If you are interested in extending the amount of time you spend in your office, give it a try in the near future. You may find that this works out nicely. If not, you can always go back to your old schedule.
There is no denying that freelance writing is a cheap career to start and sustain. This is not one of those jobs that will cost you a lot of money day after day. But remember, there are some freelance writing expenses that you are bound to encounter. Are you going to avoid them? Or will you spend money when you have to so that you can continue to move your career in the right direction? I never shy away from freelance writing expenses. This is not to say that I waste money, though. Instead, if something comes up I consider my options and then make the best decision for me at the time.
What types of freelance writing expenses are out there? Every month I spend money on my business phone line and internet connection. These are two expenses that are sure to come about month after month. Fortunately, I am used to paying them and they do not really effect me that much.
There are other small freelance writing expenses as well. These are things such as ink cartridges, printer paper, pens, sticky notes, etc. As you know, these are cheaper items and if you buy in bulk you will not have to worry about doing so again for many months.
Even though it can be difficult to part with money, as a freelance writer you should realize that this is a necessity from time to time. If you begin to feel bad about how much you are spending, think about all the other careers and businesses that cost much more to sustain.Â
