How to Increase Freelance Writing Productivity
It only makes sense that the more productive you are, the more you will get done. To go along with this, increased productivity usually leads to increased profits as well. With that being said, do you know how to increase productivity within your freelance writing career? As a new writer, you may not be concerned with this. After all, you will simply be trying to establish yourself. But as you become more comfortable with your career, you will surely be interested in increasing your productivity.
Here are five tips that I use to stay productive day in and day out:
1. Work during the time of the day when you are most productive. For most, this time is between the hours of 8am and 5pm. Of course, this all depends on your personal life, as well as the schedule that you are used to. Believe it or not, some freelance writers find that they are most productive when they work the graveyard shift; albeit a small percentage.
2. For each project, make sure you brainstorm before you start. I never begin a new freelance writing project until I put together an outline. This helps me to not only get started, but to also have something that I can fall back on during the project. Yes, it takes time to brainstorm, but in the long run it saves you much more.
3. I prefer to work when I can do so in an uninterrupted manner. Personally, there are not too many things more annoying than being interrupted in the midst of an important project. When this happens, I lose my concentration, etc. Of course, this is part of the business. If I am working on a project and another client calls, I do not have a choice but to answer the phone. The best way to combat this problem is to make sure that you set aside large blocks of time to work each day. Again, for most, this is eight or so hours between the time of 8am and 5pm. But remember, one of the biggest benefits of being a freelance writer is that you can set your own schedule. If the only uninterrupted time that you can find is at night, so be it.
4. If you run into writer’s block, there is nothing wrong with stepping away from the computer or working on another project. Since you are trying to stay as productive as possible, it is not going to do you any good to stare at your monitor. Instead, do something that will help you move forward.
5. One of the best ways to kill your productivity is to forget to save your work. A couple weeks ago I was in the middle of a project when the power blew in my office. Even though my work automatically saves every so often, I lost about a page of copy. Was this a big deal? Not really, but it was bothersome. Not only did I have to redo the work that was deleted, but I also lost about 30 to 60 minutes of valuable time.
With these five tips, you will be able to increase your freelance writing productivity.
