6 Most Valuable Productivity Tips for Freelancers
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Sireesha Narumanchi, Blogger at Crowdworknews
Did you know that freelancing is one of the most favored ways for many job seekers to side hustle?
Last year, Upwork and Freelancers union conducted a study according to which the majority of the workforce in the US are going to be freelancers by 2027.
Right now, over 53 million Americans are freelancing, and this number is steadily growing. The biggest take away from this study is to understand how people are increasingly choosing different freelancing careers to earn money online.
But it’s not as easy as it sounds to juggle a freelancing career. Whether you do it along with a job or go full-time as a freelancer, you need to ‘master’ some tips to become better at this.
Here are some little hacks to catapult your productivity levels as a freelancing hero.
Being Organized
You might have heard this a million times, but I am going to say it again.
Be organized and win the game. If you are planning to take up multiple projects as a freelancer, then your first step is to be extremely organized. Planning your work ahead gives you a chance to achieve the goals easily.
The biggest challenge for any freelancer is to meet target deadlines for clients every day or every week because they are hired on an hourly basis most of the time. You cannot afford to squander your time in this setup.
Having a perfectly tailored to-do list, dedicated tasks for every part of your day and working with minimal distractions can help a lot when you are working from home as a freelancer.
Work in Time Blocks
I believe working in time blocks or time chunks works the best when you are not in a 9-5 job. This is especially true for freelancers. Day to day distractions are a common challenge for freelancers and working when they are most productive and focusing on a single task can get a lot of work done in less time.
When you work in time blocks, you have complete focus, and your productivity levels are high.
This strategy is a gold nugget for freelancers who are parents with kids at home. I know how hard it is to get anything done with kids around. Working when kids are sleeping, like early mornings or late nights and focusing on the most critical tasks during that time, is the answer to achieving your daily goals.
Prioritize
There is a saying ‘Don’t work hard, work smart.’ Working smart means a lot of things, but mainly it’s prioritizing your work. Freelancers are a smart bunch who handle a lot of tasks at the same time. In this process, it can become hard to focus on the critical projects.
Making it a point to sift through your work goals for the week and prioritizing the impending tasks first is vital for any freelancer. This tip can clear up a lot of workload off your plate and give you more time to focus on other things. Tackle and challenging task first with a fresh mind, and there is a chance you can accomplish them much sooner.
Set Goals
Whether it is side hustling as a freelancer or working a full-time job, there is always a need to set goals for what you want to achieve.
Working as a freelancer from home means no peer environment and no ‘outside motivation’ to work. This is why you need to set goals for yourself.
Goal setting can give you the motivation to work and attain targets. Making weekly goals and working on those goals is something that can give you maximum productivity.
Remember to be realistic when jotting down your goals, if you want to make it work, then work on things that are practically achievable in that time frame.
Take Time Off
I wouldn’t be wrong if I say, most of the freelancers are workaholics. Maybe, that’s how it works. But to give your best to your work, you need to take time off and rejuvenate.
I work from home in a remote job and constantly take little breaks to give my best to my work because this is what fuels my creativity.
Many of the rising freelancing careers are in the creative fields like writing, designing, illustration, etc. For these niches, if you work without any break or time off, you will be stuck in a creative rut.
Like you plan your work, schedule your breaks. It could just be a little walk or playtime with your kids or be having a cup of coffee, just a short getaway from work and let your mind re-energize.
You will be truly surprised at the renewed energy and focus you will have after your little break.
Automate Tasks
Working on repetitive tasks is probably one of the common things freelancers do. There is a simple solution to the problem – automation.
Automating things which are repetitive can free up a lot of your time and give you a chance to work on other vital tasks. It does not mean that you don’t attend to critical tasks; it simply means that you automate tasks which are redundant and which do not require your 100% focus. Whether it is social media scheduling or virtual assisting or lead generation or administrative tasks, you can always use an extremely resourceful tool out there to automate.
As a freelancer, your primary focus should always be to work entirely on the tasks at hand. But sometimes these tasks need a little automation to give the best results. Equipping yourself with such automation tools and becoming an expert at using them can save you loads of time.
Freelancing means being your own boss, having control of your work and working whenever you want, as long as you achieve your targets. You can work for long hours and meet your target, or you can work smarter for fewer hours and reach the same goal.
It all depends on how you manage your time and use your skills to get more done in less time.
Always work smart for a better life balance.
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Sireesha is a career blogger and founder of Crowdworknews. She is an avid side hustler helping people to find remote jobs,unique side hustles and work-life balance. She has been featured on websites like MyCorporation, Fairygodboss, Moneyish and Timingapp. When she is not hustling as a blogger, she is with her camera clicking away landscapes and hiking.