Marketing Mondays & 6 Other Days of Fun
There’s a telling scene in the TV show Scrubs where deranged Janitor shares his business cards—a ridiculous stew of ridiculous occupations he claims to do outside his real job.
Freelancers can relate. Despite all efforts and a scary attachment to color coding, your to-do list is eating your life. When the day’s actual make-money work is finished, your other 50 jobs await: internet marketer, bookkeeper, invoice-chaser, SEO, R&D, publicist, researcher…all-out superman?
It’s a frenetic, demanding lifestyle. Where our real work fills normal (normal-ish) working hours, running our businesses can become a panicked, haphazard afterthought at the end of a long day.
At first, the constant cap-switching exhausted me. I grew to loathe the Gods of Freelance Best Practices, ever present in my ear: “Never let up on selling, you don’t know where your next job is coming from!” “Network constantly!” “Add a page per week to your site and nurture your blog!” “Read everything you can find!” “Grow your business!”
We know, we know, we know. Yet, it’s hard to stifle a wide-eyed “ohhhhmigod”. It’s a crazy premise: how much can one person really do in a day?
For a while I kept a messy to-do list, exclamation points and furious underlines designating task priority. Epiphany? If underwear can be labeled by days of the week, so can my job list. Welcome to Marketing Mondays and 6 Other Days of Fun.
The basic premise? You can complete your client work and run your business without losing your mind. It just needs the proverbial well-oiled machine. Stick to this 2-3 hours a day, every day, and sigh sweet relief. Take back control.
Just 3 rules I stick to:
- Monday mornings, until noon, are marketing time.
- I finish by 4 on Fridays. Got to beat the suits to the bar.
- No work email on weekends.
Marketing Mondays
“Hello world, nice to see you!”
I do the most frenetic work—marketing my little baby—on Monday mornings before lunch. Clean desk, blank notebook, lots of ideas. There’s a “1, 2, 3, go!” excitement to it. I plan out my blog posts, consider good links, work a little on my newsletter, develop new downloads and viral goodies. In your world you might dream up new contests, new ads—whatever it is that you do to market you. Monthly tasks are easily scheduled, too. By noon I’m ready to tackle the week and have set some clear goals.
Tuesday: Taking Care of Business
Admin. The boring details and the money stuff. I send invoices, file receipts, pay bills. Things read or learned during the week will inspire an idea, so I do a once-over of all my business ‘bits and pieces’—templates, sales letters, proposal forms—and see what I can improve. Taxes and other horrible things happen on Tuesdays. Balance the boring and pay yourself at the end of your efforts.
Wednesday: Websites and SEO
This might take new meaning if you’re a web designer but, for me, Wednesday means new content, links and an OCD tweak. You might add a new testimonial or change your news page. I play a hearty round of David & Goliath with Google, tackling my ongoing SEO efforts. Saving the best for last, I check any metrics worth knowing. With Christmas-morning-anticipation I look at the week’s analytics, subscriber stats and other geek statistics.
Thursday: Selling and Networking
Thursday? Time to make some new friends. Whether your sales plan includes cold calls or emails, they’re best done in a batch. I use this time to send any correspondence, including follow-ups and love letters.
Friday: Learning Day
For personal preference, Friday afternoons mean laptop + patio + gin + tonic. I keep a folder on my desktop: “to read”. During the week, I put any useful ebooks, downloads or guides in there. If I stopped to read them when I found them, I’d never get back on track. The same goes for websites with interesting tutorials or new services I could use. They go in a designated bookmark folder or are tagged in my Google Reader. On Friday I can take the time to read them properly, take notes and really learn the material. The ideas that follow can germinate over the weekend.
Saturday & Sunday: Enjoying Life
Our work-on-weekends policies surely fluctuate; such is the nature of the freelance beast. All being well, my weekends are for big plans and big ideas. Future planning and creative coups. Empire building and long library visits. It’s not work – it’s scheming. If the work is fun and conducive to spending time with my lovelies, then it’s okay. Hatching plans with a blank notebook in the coffee shop or at the park sort of thing.
Rinse and repeat. Come Monday morning, I know exactly what to tackle. I’m in charge. Every day of the week something important will get done. So give it a whirl and let me know what you think.
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I like the whole “Saturday & Sunday: Enjoying Life” thing… I’m working on this!
I’d definitely willing to consider trying out something like this, where my week is more structured. Thanks for the tips!
I think its also helpful to have an hour or so each morning to check the RSS feeds, emails, etc. I like to do this from 7:30-9am or so- before the day starts and the client emails come rolling in
Great Article! I find it’s easy to plan but very difficult to implement and become habit… I’ve tried all my life not to become habitual and now it is necessary.
I try to limit my self to one work weekend a month. Usually the last one of the month cause every thing seems to be due the last or first week of the month for some reason.
Tuesdays are my get away day… I go work in someone else’s space. That is when I work on my own marketing efforts and scheme with other creative types. There are usually about 3-5 of us. it’s great for moral boosting and scheming!
Like Marie, I spend 1/2 hr to 45 minutes each morning looking over e-mails, feeds and prioritizing my day.
I thought this was good, shared it with a listserv, and we all wondered, where in this schedule is time for actual client work? It looks like the whole week is taken with business and marketing, but nothing for client work. Are we missing something?
I’m wondering the same thing. When is client work, and how much time do you spend on it?
Excellent advice. I have a full time paying job and write as much as I can on my own time. I recently switched modes from “do everything I can on Saturday morning” to a daily schedule of writing on particular topics for particular forums each day of the week. I now enjoy my Saturdays and Sundays much more – and I still write as much as I did before.
Interesting post I like it. Your schedule seems pretty well balanced and consistent. I try to do the daily client, marketing stuff every morning too and it does help out alot. Only difference I need to make myself not check work related emails on the weekend but for some reason it’s hard to resist.
I begin my work week with Financial Monday Morning.
That’s when I pay the taxes and the bills, review budgets and financial statements, reconcile my bank accounts, and handle all the other “fun” stuff having to to with numbers and dollar signs.
My rationale: If I usually start the work week in a bad mood, why not do it right?
Really great read….
Enjoyed the tips and eager to follow them or make my own schedule to follow.
Yes, thank you. I’ve been meaning to set up a system and appreciate the “template”. I have a colleague who offers Mondays up to Admin…and is religious about it. She says it really helps her to get the boring but necessary stuff done right up front for the week.
New plan, here I come!
This article may very well save my life. Organization was never my strong point, and this makes so much sense!
Thanks!
Thanks everyone!
@Martha — taxes on a Monday? I’d be on suicide watch….
I really like the “to read” folder idea. I think I’ll have to try this.
Awesome article!
So, uhh, do you ever take time to do client work?
Missing a big chunk there…
@Chris and Steve: I believe this schedule is in addition to a normal work day, so client work does get completed.
I’m going to develop a similar plan for my week right away. Thanks for the great article!
You seem to spend more time pursuing additional roles than you do actually working on Client stuff.
I do like this premise though, I think my business would benefit a lot if I set up some once a week schedules for marketing and learning especially. I will certainly be looking into how I can implement some of these things next week.
@Steve & Jason – Yes, the ‘real’ work does – and must – come first. While that takes the bulk of a work day, I have to get the list above finished one way or another.
Like I said, this routine helps me to know exactly what I’ve got to finish in & around my client commitments. 2-3 hours further, tops.
Thanks!
Great tips, I especially like learning Friday: I’m guilty of interrupting my workflow far too often…. Thanks for the advice.
Great article. Personally I will work a weekend every fortnight, but not the whole weekend. I feel Monday is an “admin” day, because I hate Mondays as it is…
I’ve always thought of organizing my activities during the week in this manner but just never got around to it. I should have “get around to it Tuesdays.”
Anyways, great post and this will definitely give me a blueprint the start from.
@Dave Yankowiak – I know exactly what you mean! I’ve been thinking about ding something like this, talking about it, and just never gotten around to it.
I love learning Friday – for some reason, Friday is already my least productive day. At least this way, I’d have a reason for it.
I’m definitely going to use this as a blueprint for my schedule.
Could we take a survey?
How much time do these types of tasks occupy in your plan, and how do you fit them in? Is this in addition to an 8-hour day doing client work? Is this instead (perhaps your website IS your work)? or is this part (say 2 hours a day)?
Glad you included a “clean desk” on that schedule. Man, do I EVER need that. I have tried making lists, but my mind is swimming with ideas. Good ones. So I stop and immediately start researching them. Then comes the bad part…I get sidetracked. What starts out as marketing research turns into finding toy weed wackers for my grandson. I’m my own worst enemy. If I do it by day like you suggest, I think I might have more success in actually getting something accomplished. Very nice post.
Every child needs a toy weed wacker! Top priority for sure.
This is the optimal work style for a full-time freelancer.
Unfortunately, as a part-timer I wrestle all to often with time that seems to escape me with every second that goes by.
Weekends seem to be the only time I can really “dig-in” and concentrate; but with only 18 hours (really) in the day, that time still seems to slip away.
I find it most helpful to manage things as they come: time-tracking WHILE I work; recording expenses as they occur, etc. This way, at least the little (but important) things don’t fall by the waste side.
RMH
thanks for sharing your schedule! curious though, how many hours do you spend on each and do you do them first thing in the morning before client work or later?
Very useful indeed. This may be one of the most helpful articles I’ve read on here, and is a great precursor to starting next week off in the right direction.
@Sandy & BlogJunkie — usually I fit the day’s list in wherever I feel like it — either before, during or after proper work…
Pending deadlines & client work load – I’ll usually add another 2 hours on top of those commitments.
All very flexible & no hard fast rules!
Thanks everyone for the encouraging feedback — glad to hear it will be of use.
Hi Lauren, amazing post!
I will start to use it right now! Sometimes I find myself running in circles jumping from a project to another without finishing anything. As a wedding photographer, I do have a lot of time at office, so time manager is crucial for me!
Regards,
Valdecir
will start to use it right now! Sometimes I find myself running in circles jumping from a project to another without finishing anything. As a wedding photographer, I do have a lot of time at office, so time manager is crucial for me!
Great article Lauren! Schedules can really help when you’re working for yourself and/or from home. I really like the system you’ve got going.
I recently have been trying to make Fridays my new blog / side project day. I go down to the local coffee shop and spend an hour writing a new blog post, then work on my side project – http://www.shirts4runners.com – for a few hours. Its something to look forward to all week and lets me be as creative as I want.
I’ll really have to try this! I’m just starting out in my freelance career, but good habits should start early. Thanks for the great schedule idea!
The Scrubs business card example reminds me of something I read about a Yakuza figure who handed out cards stating his name, and only a single line of text below:
“Trouble of all kinds”
Amen!
A tempting option for the next batch of cards ordered…. haha!
This is exactly what I want to do!
Nice to have it all laid out and I can make sure I cover all my bases!
Thanks!
Love this post. It gives me a possible structure for my working week, which is what I’m desperately lacking at the moment.
It’s getting printed out… …to read on a Friday!