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How Do I Manage Myself as a Freelancer?
How do you manage “work from home”? Are you a freelancer and you are finding it difficult to cope with work and domestic affairs? Are you finding it hard to effectively manage your time? Does work often interfer with home affairs and vice versa? Issues like this are common in freelancing, freelancing involves working from home, and most times freelancers find it difficult to separate home from work. The difference between home and work is quite blurred, a lot of freelancers do not know how to differentiate and separate work from home, and this has become a challenge. In a physical office job, the difference between home and work is quite clear as you would have to leave your home to work, thereby reducing distractions and work more effectively to improve productivity. As a freelancer there are some ways and strategies you can use to properly manage your time. Freelance has a lot of advantages, you get more money since you are working for multiple clients, you get to work from the comfort of your home, it gives you time to develop yourself, you work at your own pace, and it gives you a lot of personal time. However there is a key aspect of freelancing that needs to be talked about, this is how to successfully manage work and domestic affairs.
Freelancing embraces a wide range of people, some persons who may find it difficult to get employed or work conveniently in a physical office environment can become freelancers and work to earn money. Nursing mothers who may find it difficult to work in an office can become freelancers, they can work online and earn money, and with proper time management tips, they would be able to properly manage both home and work effectively. Domestic affairs and work are important, managing them properly is what makes you a healthy freelancer. So how do you properly manage yourself as a freelancer?
1. Prioritize
One major way to manage your time well is to prioritize. Make a list of what you want to achieve for the day, from the most important to the least important. Ensure you work according to the list. Be proactive and try to envisage challenges. If you are a nursing mother or you have small children, ensure you prepare well for them before you commence work to minimize distractions and interruptions. Ensure you are honest when making your list of priorities as this would help you follow through.
2. Set Out The Goals And Objectives For The Day
You should map out how many projects you intend to work on per day. And how many domestic commitments you hope to carry out per day, this would serve as a guide to help you manage your time well. Be realistic about it, and don’t set unrealistic goals and objectives for yourself. While setting the goals think of how you are going to achieve it. If for example, you intend to complete three projects in a day, you should also figure out how you would be able to complete the project, you should find out easy ways that would facilitate your project completion.
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3. Have a Workspace
You should set up a workspace, this is most important for those who have families. When you have family members in the house, you need to separate your work area from the rest of the house. When you are in your workspace, it sends a message to other family members that you are working and they should respect that. If you have a family especially small children ensure you explain to them the importance of the work you are doing, and encourage them to give you time to work.
4. Schedule Your Time
Map out time for various activities in your day. Allocate time to activities you want to do, this would help you manage your time well. Just like a regular office job, give yourself work hours. There should be specific hours meant for work. If you are living with a family it is important to make them aware of your work hours so they would respect it. Keep in mind that other areas of you equally need your attention, for example, you need to keep up with your social life which is also very important.
5. Project Management
Don’t overbook yourself, and resist the temptation to take more jobs than you can do. Don’t set unrealistic deadlines. If you have a family keep in mind that you need to create time for them and yourself. You would need to find time to care for yourself to remain healthy, you will need time to exercise, hang out with friends and family, etc. If you accept too much work you are most likely going to have to put on hold other important domestic affairs, and this would hurt you in the long run. Another reason you should not overbook yourself is so that you would not get a negative review. In this business, are very important, reviews are feedbacks you get from clients, and these feedbacks can be seen by potential clients. If you get negative reviews it might prevent clients from hiring you. You should always aim to get positive feedback from your clients as this would help you grow.
6. Do Not Procrastinate
Procrastinating can hurt you if you are a freelancer. In freelancing you work for yourself, there is no boss to order you to do things or carry out tasks, and hence one might be tempted to procrastinate, and that would not be helpful to you at the long run.
7. Create Time For Leisure
You need to give yourself time to rest, when you are well rested you would work more efficiently and effectively, and you would remain healthy. Always remind yourself that there are other aspects of yourself that you need to give attention to. You have to take care of your total well-being. Don’t drown yourself in work or domestic affairs that you forget to take care of yourself. Freelancing doesn’t deprive you of vacation time, choose a time to stay off work and go for a vacation. Also, create time to rest in between work as this would help you work optimally.
You must make a deliberate effort to effectively manage yourself and your time well, and for this to happen you must plan and make conscious effort. I hope you found this article helpful, if you are looking for a freelance website that would facilitate the growth of your freelance career, sign up at upmychain.com.
Easy Answers:
1. Prioritize
2. Set out goals and objectives for the day
3. Have a workspace
4. Schedule your time
5. Project management
6. Do not procrastinate.
7. Create time for leisure
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