Have you ever spent an hour in your email program and still had a full inbox? Have you ever sat in a meeting and left without knowing exactly what was accomplished?

I think most of us can answer in the affirmative. Much of our time is often spent in ways that can be charitably categorized as “unproductive”.

However, one simple change can turn unproductive time into very productive time: put all your focus on actions.

The problem is that we read stuff, and we talk to people, but then no actions come out as a result of that. By ruthlessly focusing on actions, you can do more without wasting time.

Here’s how. (Note: credit is due to David Allen’s Getting Things Done for inspiration for the following.) Continue Reading

Something you hear as common advice for new freelancers is “Don’t work for free.”

That’s true, for the most part, but there’s an exception. And it’s a big one. Give away your advice for free, and you can grow your business and make much more money in the long run.

I don’t recommend that you take on jobs for no money – that’s just devaluing your services and your profession. Your work is worth money, and you need to be sure to get paid. Giving away services is a bad idea in general.

But if you can give away your advice … which is really a service … and not charge a dime, that’s a great strategy. If your advice is good, giving it away can result in amazing growth and lots of new business.

Take myself, for example. I have a blog (Zen Habits) where I give away advice for free. Now, when I first started the blog, I was not considered an expert at anything. But the advice I give away on my blog has been very well received by readers, and my readership has grown phenomenally over the last 10 months.

Take a look at what giving away my advice for free has done for me, professionally: Continue Reading

One of the keys to freelance happiness is working with great clients — people you can trust, who you enjoy working with, who are encouraging and motivating and brilliant. Excellence inspires excellence.

On the other hand, having horrible clients is a sure way to make you miserable. They’ll lower your job satisfaction, lower the quality of your work, and in general do very little to improve your career (and more likely, will actually hurt it). None of that is good news for a freelancer.

Our problem, however, is that we tend to stick with a client if we’ve been working with them for awhile, simply because it’s safer, and it’s more difficult (not to mention a little scary) to find new clients. So we stay with bad clients for longer than we should.

Break out of that rut. If you’re staying with clients just because they’re long-time clients, take a look at the following list and consider whether it’s time to look for new pastures. Quick note: I’d recommend that you look for new clients before dropping the old ones, just so that you’ll have enough income coming in.

1. Too critical. While honest feedback can be very valuable, some clients go beyond honesty and just complain too much. They’re never happy, and they make you feel bad about your work. You don’t need that. Working for positive clients is much more satisfying and motivating.

2. Slow payers. Does it take a month or more for a client to pay after you send them your invoice? In this electronic age, payment is as simple as a few clicks in PayPal. It shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks to make a payment, at any rate.
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A year ago, I wrote exclusively for print publications. I suspect that many freelance writers (and photographers and designers) are in the same boat — print is where the money is, and it’s what we’re used to doing.

However, today, I write exclusively for online publications. I’ve completely transitioned from print, and I couldn’t be happier.

Why did I make the transition? A number of reasons, actually:

1. Writing for blogs and websites is less work per article. Doing research for a magazine article can take a week or two. Even a freelance newspaper feature takes a day or two of tracking down sources, getting interviews, etc. But writing a blog post? I mainly write from my own experiences — you can say that’s 17 years of freelancing research, but all of that’s already done. And if I do additional research, it’s online or through email — not a difficult proposition.
2. It’s much more flexible. With print publications, you’ve got a set number of words (or inches). If you go over that amount, there’ll most likely be some cutting. In print, if you’re out of room, you’re out of room. There are also much stricter publishing deadlines in print. But on the web, if you go a few paragraphs over or under, no one cares. You generally have to stay within a certain range of course — they’re not going to pay you for one paragraph, and no one wants to read a novel-length article. But if you don’t hit extremes, you’re fine. And while blogs generally like to stick to certain publishing schedules, they don’t fold if they miss a post. So although I don’t recommend that you bust deadlines, if you have a good working relationship with an editor, there’s more wiggle room.

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If you’re a freelancer, chances are you need to track your time in order to bill your clients. And that can be a major hassle.

You might also be a mobile freelancer, like me, who uses multiple computers and wants to be able to work from anywhere. In that case, a web-based time tracker might be the way to go. You want something easy to use, cheap, with a nice interface. Preferably even fun to use.

Whatever your needs, here are 6 of the coolest tools for tracking your time. Most of them aren’t free, but then the best tools often aren’t.

1. Toggl. Nice interface, simple to use, and there’s both a web version and now a downloadable version (Windows only). And it’s free. Nuff said.

2. Tick. Very slick interface. A simple web-based interface, easy to use (after configuration), and fast. Pretty much all you’re looking for.

3. Harvest. One of the nicest interfaces around, Harvest is definitely a professional package. It works well for teams, it has project estimates, some great reports, and as a web app it’s available from anywhere. Like most of these apps, it has a pricing plan from free to premium.

4. Cashboard. The interface isn’t as slick as the first three on this list, but it does have some very useful and detailed features that go beyond tracking time, including producing and tracking invoices, keeping track of accounts and clients, producing estimates, and more.

5. FreshBooks. A slightly older-looking interface, when compared to the first few items on this list, but it’s a basic product that definitely gets the job done. If integrates with invoicing software which is useful when you’re billing by the hour.

6. yaTimer. The only app on this list that’s not available for the web, yaTimer is a downloadable desktop app. It’s also probably the simplest of the apps on this list, doing simple time tracking and not much else. For those with basic needs, it’s perfect.

You may think you’re pretty good at what you do. And you may be right.

But you’re not the best you can be, by a long shot. None of us are, and we might never be. It’s important for your career as a freelancer and for you personally to take what skills you have and improve them, continually, and add new skills.

Why is it important? Professionally, it will take you to the top of your game, and keep you there. It will get you better assignments and clients, better rates, a better reputation. Sharpening your skills can bring nothing but good things for your freelance career.

Personally, improvement is important. Not because you aren’t valuable and worthy and a good person already. You are. But because improvement keeps you alive, keeps you challenged and interested and passionate for what you do. Once you have no further challenges in your work, things become static and boring and tedious. But if you continually look to improve what you do, there’s never a dull moment.

So how do you continually improve your skills? Here are some suggestions:
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What do you do if you have one main client and for some reason the work from that client dries up? Perhaps the client goes out of business or goes in a different direction or just has a lull in business?

Your main source of income is then gone. Which is why it’s crucial for anyone who relies on their freelance revenues to have multiple streams of income.

That’s easier said than done, of course, as many freelancers have two or three main clients and are happy to focus on those alone. But as many experienced freelancers will tell you, that’s a mistake.

Today we’ll look at a few different ways to set up multiple streams of income to make your freelancing business more stable and ensure that you’re living the freelancing good life for years to come. Please note that the following are just different options you can choose — I’m not recommending you do all of them.

1. Have multiple clients. If you rely on one main client, slowly start branching out to new clients. That doesn’t mean to add a bunch of new clients willy-nilly, but to gradually add good clients, one at a time. You need to ensure that these clients fit with you, that you work well with them, that they don’t give you too many headaches. If the client fits those criteria, keep them. If not, dump them (professionally and nicely) and move on. But aim to have a wider variety of clients as well, as you don’t want a single unfortunate event (say the collapse of an industry) to wipe you out too.
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By Leo Babauta

There are the super-organized among us — those who schedule every minute and stick to the plan to the letter — and then there’s the rest of us. We schedule a lot of plans, but our days don’t usually resemble the plan very much.

That’s because things change, of course, and we have to be able to go with the flow. Time management, especially for the more fluid work arrangements of many freelancers, doesn’t have to be a rigid or time-consuming process.

For those who are overwhelmed by a schedule, and would like to take a more open approach, I suggest minimalist time management. Instead of allowing your life to be ruled by your calendar, let your life be ruled by the moment.

Here’s how:

1. Don’t schedule appointments. This will be a radical departure for many people, but it’s not a new idea and it’s worked for others. If someone requests an appointment, tell them that you don’t schedule appointments. Instead, ask them to call you a little before they’d like to meet to see if you can make it. If you’re free, take the meeting. I suggest keeping your meetings to a bare minimum if you want to get a lot of work done.

Now, there will be some things you’ll want to note on a calendar (I use Google Calendar, accessible from anywhere). These are events that you’d like to have on your calendar, but you don’t necessarily have to go to them. The calendar, then, serves as a way for you to see what your options are, but not as a tool to rule your life. I suggest not keeping too much on the calendar, though.

2. Know what you want to accomplish today. Have a short list of three things you’d really like to accomplish today. Your three most important things. You can have a short list of other small tasks you’d like to do in a batch (save them for later in the day), but the focus of your day should be the list of three important things. Let this list, and not your schedule, be the ruler of your day.
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By Leo Babauta

A freelancer’s life is often everything but simple. Multiple projects being juggled, often along with a day job, emails and phone calls and IM, invoices and payments, time tracking and more.

It doesn’t have to be that complicated.

A simplified freelance life would be one with projects or assignments you love to do, but not so much that you are overloaded. You use simple tools, you work without distraction, you are lean and mean and have time for other things in life that you love.

It might sound like a fantasy, but it’s an ideal that can be achieved. In my life, I’ve reduced my amount of work while increasing my pay … reduced the amount of time I spend working, and the work that I still do is work that I really enjoy. I haven’t achieved perfect simplicity yet — it’s really a process, not a destination — but my life is greatly simplified now compared to only a year or two ago.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Identify complicators. What’s complicating your life? Or is it a who? Think about what stresses you out, what makes you overworked, what wastes your time. You might give this a few days, taking notes and making a list. Once you have a good list of complicators, you have a list of things you need to eliminate or simplify. That’ll take a bit longer, but in most cases it’s possible.

2. Identify the essential. What are the essential things in your life? The essential clients and projects? What do you love doing? Make a short list, as these are the things you want to keep as you get rid of the other stuff. Read this article for more.

3. Scale down your work. This will sound impossible, but you really can scale back. You just have to set limits, and stick to them. Let’s say that you’re currently doing 50 hours of freelance work a week (as an example — your number may be wildly different). And let’s say you only want to work 30 hours a week. Well, set a 6-hour-a-day schedule for 5 days, and stick to it. You’ll have less time to do the same amount of work, but that’ll actually force you to focus on the essential tasks, cut out the less important tasks, and stop wasting time. You’ll end up doing less work, but the work you do is the work that counts, and the work that pays well (see Item #10).
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By Leo Babauta

Freelancers, more than regular employees, must be effective in order to survive. Whether you are freelancing on the side of a normal job, or working completely for yourself, you don’t have the luxury of taking on wasted jobs or doing the unnecessary.

You can’t afford it.

To increase your effectiveness, you need to take everything you do — from projects and assignments to everyday tasks to emails and IMs — and identify the most essential. And then put your focus on those things, to the exclusion of almost everything else.

If you can do that, you will not only free up more of your time, you will be able to make more money and advance your freelance career. Let’s look at how to do it.

1. Projects and assignments. If you’re lucky, you’ve got more assignments than you can handle. That’s better than not having enough to pay the bills, of course, but it also creates the problem of not having enough time to do everything. And if you commit to more projects than you can possibly complete on time, you are decreasing your effectiveness, stressing yourself out, and hurting yourself in the long run. Clients will realize that you are overworked, and that either your quality is suffering or you’re missing deadlines.

Instead, focus only on the essential projects. That’ll be hard to do at first, especially if you’re overcommitted, but the key is to make it a habit to identify which projects are essential, and renegotiate the rest.

What’s essential? That will vary depending on your situation, of course, but the key question is: which project has the most long-term benefit for me? If you get more money writing an article for a small publication, but get more publicity though less money for writing for the New York Times (for example), I’d take the Times article. A little less money now is overshadowed by the huge boost in visibility and reputation that a higher-profile article will get you.

Focusing on essential projects will allow you to get the most benefit for the time you spend. It will eventually get you more money for each project, and reduce the number of projects you have to do. By focusing on essential projects, and not on the less important ones, you’ll also cut a lot of headaches and wasted time.

2. Routine tasks. The same concept applies to all the tasks you do. What other tasks do you do each day? Make a list, and put an asterisk next to the most essential tasks. Eliminate the rest if possible.
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By Leo Babauta

If you’re looking to be a freelance writer, your bread and butter will likely be submitting articles to magazines. And while the big names in the business usually have no problems in selling their articles, the less experienced writers have to work harder at it.

Working harder doesn’t necessarily equal success, however. It takes a smart approach to sell an article to a magazine editor. Smarts, along with a great article idea and persistence.

Follow these essential steps, and don’t give up, no matter how many times you’re rejected.

Choose the right magazine. You probably want to submit to magazines about topics you’re very familiar with — stuff you’ve written about or worked with before. If you go with topics you don’t know much about, you’ll be doing much more research, and your article will probably seem a little more amateurish. You’ll also want to choose magazines that match your tone and style, although if you’re just starting out you may not have that luxury — you might have to match your tone and style with whatever publication will accept you.

Trade magazines. If you aren’t that experienced, you might try and fail to get into a consumer magazine (the ones you see on news stands) … instead, you might want to start with trade magazines. Instead of a general computer magazine, for example, try for the computer trade mags. They’re generally a bit easier to get into as the competition isn’t as fierce.

Know the magazine and its market. If you try to submit an article to a magazine blindly, without knowing much about the magazine, you’re wasting your time. Your proposal should be tailored specifically for that magazine. And in order to do that, you need to do a little research. Start by reading back issues of the magazine — that will give you a decent idea of what the magazine’s about, and who their audience is. Find back issues in your local library or online. Look out to see if most of their articles are written by staff or freelance writers — if it’s mostly freelance, you have a decent shot. Also look for tone and style, how many quotes they use, and whether the articles are informal or filled with facts and stats.
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By Leo Babauta

To make it as a freelancer, you need to be able to sell your work. That’s why making a great pitch to a prospective client is one of the key skills you can develop to be more successful.

However, many freelancers screw up the pitch in a number of common ways, from talking too much about yourself and what you want, from not knowing what the client wants, to rambling on, to not saying who you are and why you’re perfect.

Don’t make these mistakes. Follow the steps below to make the perfect pitch.

1. Know the client. If you know the client well, you’re in a great position to make a great pitch. If not, you need to take the time to do a little research. Get to know their product, company, or publication. Google them, find out more via LinkedIn, contact others in your network who know the client. The more you know, the better your pitch.

2. Know their goals. Specifically, you want to know what the client hopes to achieve. Sure, they hope to sell a product or service. But how? What message are they trying to sell to the public? Who are they reaching out to? This is key. Talk to others, read their website, learn their message from promotions and marketing and advertising.
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