Take a Swim, If You Feel Like It. You’re Self Employed!
Author of this post: Ilise Benun | About Blog Authors »Time management is a big challenge for most creative freelancers. You want to slow down and enjoy the season (or life in general) but you’re afraid that if you appear “unavailable” to clients, you’ll lose them or if you don’t take every one that comes along, you’ll never get another one. What to do?
Here’s one suggestion from Tracey Watt, owner of Rave! Design just outside Toronto, where Tracey lives on a farm and sometimes takes time during the day to ride her horse.
“It’s totally conceivable that you, or someone from a bigger firm, could be in a meeting and unavailable for two to three hours. Having said that, I think common sense should come in to play. If I have a job at the crucial stage and going to press to meet a deadline, I don’t take off for a few hours. But if I know that things are in general production mode and not in urgent stages, I’ve been known to do personal things for a few hours here and there.
I’ve found that if you develop solid relationships with your clients, they’re willing to wait for you. The stronger the relationship, the more reliant they become on you (i.e.: it would be more work for them to switch and re-educate a new design firm). And why would they, when they’re happy with your work? The key is to try to work with clients who appreciate you and aren’t the type of clients that want “instant everything.” Do you really want those types of clients anyway? I know I don’t.”
If time management is a challenge for you, come to the Creative Freelancer Conference, August 27-29 in Chicago. Lee Silber, author of several books for creatives, including “Time Management for Creative People,” will be speaking on “How to Find the Time to Build Your Freelance Business.” And the good news is: Early bird deadline has been extended to Thursday, July 31. That gives you two more weeks to save $60 on your registration!
And for more ideas about how to gain time, talk to clients, and set schedules – that is, how to manage working for yourself, read on here:
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