Category Archives: Productivity & Organization

How Freelance Writers Can Be Productive With Finances

By on March 25th, 2013

Writing is actually one of the easier parts of freelancing writing. Maybe it’s like that with all craft-turned-businesses. The tougher parts of being a professional freelance writer can be things like finding clients, having a steady stream of ideas, and managing the finances. Because I’m no fan of mulling over finances for hours, there are some things I do to make this area of freelancing more productive. Set a day and time for doing financial tasks Even if it’s a few minutes everyday, schedule time for finances on your calendar just as you would for any other business-related task. You …

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Posted in Finance, Productivity & Organization |

Weekend Reading: Spring Cleaning

By on March 22nd, 2013

Happy Spring! Let’s get right into the season by talking about spring cleaning for freelancers. How might it apply to us as freelance writers? It can help us improve our productivity and get more organized. You might need to re-organize your files. You might need to clean and organize your home office so you can minimize distractions. Maybe you’ll want to revamp your bookkeeping system or overhaul your standard client contracts. Maybe your professional website needs some freshening up. Or maybe it’s your client roster that needs some spring cleaning. If you need more ideas on spring cleaning for freelancers …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |

How Word Count Trackers Can Make You More Productive

By on March 20th, 2013

I’m a big fan of any tool that can help me get more work finished in less time. One tool freelance writers might not think to use is a word count tracker. (By the way, we offer two free word count trackers here for our readers.) But word count trackers are more for authors, right? Sure. They’re great for tracking your progress on a book. But there are also plenty of ways you can use them with typical freelance projects. For example, you might use a word count tracker to: Work toward blogging word count goals for the week or …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |

Weekend Reading: Productivity

By on March 15th, 2013

Each week we look at a specific issue facing freelance writers. This week let’s look at productivity — how you can improve yours, get more work done each day, have more time for yourself, and make more money in the process. I make it no secret that productivity plays a big role in my own freelance writing business. Focusing on a “work smarter” strategy to productive work days is what lets me run a full-time business working part-time hours. It’s why I get to take off every Friday. It’s why I get more done than ever before, even while working …

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5 Tips for Becoming a Happier and More Productive Freelance Writer

By on March 13th, 2013

It’s one thing to enjoy the freedom freelance writing offers. But sometimes we still get overwhelmed. Deadlines loom, payments might seem to take forever, and our to-do lists could occupy a mile-long scroll. Fortunately there are some things you can do to make yourself more productive than ever, and even happier in your freelance writing work. Here are five tips to help you become a happier and more productive freelance writer: 1. Make a plan. If you don’t already have a business plan and marketing plan, create one. If you have one but you created it a while back, update …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Business, Productivity & Organization |

Get Productive and Increase Your Writing Income

By on March 12th, 2013

By : Angela Booth – © 2013 The freelance life is complicated. You can get to the end of what seemed like a productive day, and realize that you achieved nothing of major importance. Deadlines are looming, you’re not making as much money as you feel you should be making, and you wonder what you’re doing wrong. Professional writing used to be much simpler. You got clients, completed projects, and collected the money. When the mail arrived, on a good day you received several checks. On a bad day, the mailbox was jammed with rejected manuscripts. All these years later, email …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |

Weekend Reading: Time Management

By on March 8th, 2013

Let’s close out this week looking at one of the most important issues to face freelance writers — time management. There’s a reason you have to be fairly well disciplined to succeed at working for yourself. There are countless things that need to be done, and there never seems to be enough time to do it all. The time management tips and advice in these articles around the Web could give you some new ideas. Have a read! Time Management for Freelance Writers… You Thought It’s Going to be Easy? — By Karol K at YoungPrePro.com 8 Time Management Tips for …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |

Gamification: Make Freelance Writing More Fun

By on February 26th, 2013

In the comments on our recent post about loving your work, Anne Wayman mentioned that she might try to turn some of her marketing into a game. That’s something I try to do with my daily work as much as possible too. So I thought it might be fun to look at gamification and how you can gamify your freelance writing work. Gamification doesn’t have to mean literally turning something into a game. But you use game principles in your process — like racing a clock or incentivizing certain goals or actions. I find it makes work not only more …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |

5 Time Management Tools for Freelance Writers

By on December 8th, 2012

As a freelance writer do you ever feel like you aren’t working to your full potential — that you could get more work done if you could just eliminate some distractions and improve your productivity a bit? Fortunately there are plenty of time management tools that can help you do that. Today I’d like to share some of my favorite types of time management tools and some examples you might want to try. Here are five simple time management tools for freelance writers. Enjoy! E.ggtimer.com – This is probably my all-time favorite time management tool. I use it to time working …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization, Writers Resources |

How to Handle Overbooking Freelance Writing Work

By on October 16th, 2012

By: Megan Harris I previously talked about why it’s a good idea to pursue too many freelance writing jobs. However, what should you do if you overbook yourself as a result of your marketing, pitching and prospecting? You’re at a point other freelance writers would envy, so congratulations! The work is coming in and your marketing efforts are paying off. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not still difficult to manage when you have numerous projects on your plate. Here are some ideas you can implement today to prepare for the days you can’t juggle it all. While these three suggestions …

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Posted in Productivity & Organization |