A day in the life: Our schedules + how we juggle heavy workloads
In this episode, we discuss what a day looks like in our businesses today, as well as our journey to recognizing what we need to be successful. We also cover strategies on how to deal with clients who want you to be “always on.”
How do you make the most out of your time as a freelance writer?
Short answer: Trial and error.
Finding a daily routine that works for us took a lot of experimenting. When you’re first starting, there are lots of variables in every day’s work, so it’s hard to get into the swing of things.
Freelance writers have the ability to control our days, but only if we create a structure for guarding our time.
Identifying what works best for you
Many freelancers struggle with how to create the structure they need to be most productive.
Sometimes the easiest way to start is by working backwards and understanding what you don’t like about your current schedule. Ask yourself: “What doesn’t work best for me?”
Then from there, picture what your ideal day looks like.
Are you working in the afternoons?
Do you have 9 am calls or meeting-free Mondays?
What time do you want to walk your dog?
Write everything down and then figure out a way to reverse engineer your schedule from there. If mornings are your most productive time, plan childcare around when you needs to focus on deep work. We both keep meeting-free Mondays and Fridays so we can do deep work and focus on our businesses.
Understanding what works best for you helps you work more effectively.
“Once you know these things about yourself, you can design your day around them.”
Taking control of your day
The best thing about being a freelance writer is getting to decide how and when you work. But to do that, you need to protect your time. Because taking control of your time is taking control of your business.
“That’s what creating a daily schedule is really about. If you’re not willing to take control over it, you’re not going to be successful.”
Working with your email tab open is a good way to be on the defensive all day long. It’s hard to get any deep work done when you’re constantly fielding questions or getting distracted. You have to be deliberate about how you juggle your workload and manage your time, otherwise you’re more of an employee than a business owner.
It’s a constant work in progress. Between notifications, social media, and dishes in the sink, there are a lot of ways freelance writers find themselves getting distracted and losing control of their time.
Block off time throughout the week to do deep work. Try to limit how often you’re checking email throughout the day; even if it means clients have to wait a little longer to get a response from you. Controlling your schedule isn’t as much about you as it is making sure you’re serving your clients when you’re at your best.
“Taking over your schedule helps you provide as much value as possible for your clients.”
Setting client expectations
Without boundaries, you’re putting yourself in the position of being an employee. How do you protect your time? By setting clear expectations with your clients.
“If clients have the expectation you’ll get back to them in five minutes, then you’re always running late.”
Set the stage as soon as you start talking to new clients. Both of us set boundaries with our clients right away. That way there’s no uncertainty about how things are going to go. Before you begin working together, clients should have an idea of how quickly they can expect email responses, whether you work evenings and weekends or not, and how often you’re going to be communicating with each other.
“We need to own our time.”
Finding the confidence to say NO
Saying no is hard. You want to impress your clients and provide them an experience that keeps them coming back. But saying yes to everything isn’t sustainable either. Guarding your time helps you provide a consistent level of value for your clients.
The word ‘no’ will take you far.
No, I’m not taking meetings on this day.
No, these are the hours I work.
No, I can’t hop on a call right now.
Being comfortable with the word “no” is how you take control of your business.
Unless you start getting comfortable with saying no, you’re not going to be able to create the ideal day you imagined. Draw a line between what you can and can’t accommodate for your clients. Setting expectations makes you look more professional.
Roll with the changes, but maintain boundaries
A year from now, your daily schedule might not look the same as it does today (and that’s okay!) It’ll never be stagnant, but it’ll keep evolving.
Freelancing gives you the autonomy and flexibility to design your schedule. Experiment with what works for you and set your schedule in a way that helps you give your clients your best work.