Many freelancers have bother discovering their subsequent shopper. Nevertheless, some freelancers face the precise reverse downside: how you can handle a number of tasks and cope with many consumers.

The excellent news is there are methods you may handle a number of tasks as a freelancer. All you want to do is method your work strategically. When you get the cling of it, you’ll discover ways to optimize your workflow and maximize your incomes potential.

Whether or not you’re a contract author, photographer, or full-stack developer, observe the following pointers for managing a number of, concurrent tasks successfully:

1. Maintain a Schedule

Because you’re dealing with a number of tasks, you must preserve a venture schedule for every shopper. Time administration is essential to profitable venture administration.

First, decide the venture deadline for every shopper you’re working for. Maintain these deadlines marked in your freelancing calendar. We’ll element the options of a freelancing calendar later on this article.

 

Subsequent, schedule your work so you may meet these deadlines and full all of the work you will have within the pipeline. Once more, you want to anticipate the time you want to full every venture in creating your schedule. The extra correct your estimated time to finish every venture, the higher you may guarantee a easy work course of.

Take into consideration scheduled conferences with venture groups, too. That’s simply accountable venture planning.

2. Handle Shopper Expectations

Correct communication is significant when dealing with a number of shoppers. While you relay to your shopper any hiccups you encounter when you work on a venture, your shoppers aren’t more likely to chew you out for any delays.

Inform shoppers when you can not abide by the preliminary venture plan or schedule. If a shopper modifications the venture scope on the final minute, be sincere about whether or not you’ll be capable of accommodate the extra work or not. If a shopper’s deadline impacts your potential to fulfill one other deadline, inform the shopper that you simply’ll have a minor setback.

UPDATE: Our new favourite freelancing device, Hectic is now utterly FREE. 🎉 Proposals, CRM, invoicing, calendar, shopper portal, and much extra. Be a part of for FREE with no catch or hidden charges.

It’s additionally useful to maintain venture sponsors up to date on the venture’s progress by means of weekly experiences. Allow them to know when you’ll be needing extra sources or when you’re updating your price primarily based on sudden venture dangers.

Business house owners value transparency, particularly since they themselves have venture stakeholders to report back to. Keep in mind that the achievement of their objectives depends on their workers’s potential to ship. So, be skilled. In case you can’t full their tasks on time, say so. That may allow the shopper to make any needed changes.

3. Monitor Purchasers’ Messages and Venture Progress

In case you’re dealing with two, three, or 5 tasks, it could be difficult to recall every shopper’s necessities for every venture and the standing of every venture.

That stated, retaining all of your communication on a single platform is finest. This platform ought to allow you to see all of your messages with every shopper at a look. You’ll solely waste an excessive amount of time when you’re continuously switching communication channels.

That doesn’t imply you’ll adamantly follow only one communication platform. In spite of everything, you continue to must defer to your shopper’s preferences. If some favor to message you on Slack, whereas others favor Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, or a devoted electronic mail tackle, then so be it. Simply ensure all of the messages of every shopper are present in one place.

A venture administration platform, akin to Trello and Hectic, can even provide help to see the standing of every of your shopper’s tasks at first look. We’ll element the features and options of a venture administration platform later on this information.

The purpose is that retaining all of the related info for every venture and shopper in a single place might help you make higher use of your time whereas managing a number of tasks.

4. Create a Web site for “Passive” Marketing

Prospect outreach might take up lots of your time. When managing a number of tasks, you need to spend as a lot time as potential engaged on these tasks. You need to meet these deadlines, in spite of everything.

The issue, although, is you may’t afford to not search for shoppers both. In spite of everything, while you’re freelancing, shoppers come and go. In case you don’t market your self, you would possibly find yourself with zero shoppers one day.

So, how do you market your self whereas concurrently dealing with a number of tasks as a freelancer?

One of the simplest ways to do that is to create a website. While you create a website, you don’t must actively carry out prospect outreach while you’re busy with a number of tasks. Be sure that, although, that your website meets the minimal necessities for it to be efficient.

In your freelancer website, specify your abilities. That may assist guarantee shoppers don’t offer you work past what you are able to do. Additionally, optimize your website for related key phrases so that you simply seem higher in Google SERPs. You can too create a Google My Business itemizing and a Fb web page to extend your attain.

Simply to make it simpler for potential shoppers to contact you, embrace an appointment-booking CTA in your website.

All this isn’t to say you must not carry out shopper outreach. In case you’re not busy, take the time to achieve out to corporations actively. You’ll be able to search a particular LLC in on-line databases or look them up by means of LinkedIn to get their electronic mail addresses. Typically, a fast Google search will do. When you get their electronic mail addresses, ship them your chilly electronic mail.

5. Alternate Between Duties and Prioritize

Working lengthy hours on a single venture could be draining. The result’s that the freelancer can get caught engaged on a single factor. Once they’re caught, there could also be no progress within the venture.

One of the simplest ways to nonetheless guarantee productiveness even when getting stumped on a venture is to alternate between separate tasks. So, even when you’re not progressing in a single, you’re progressing in one other. You’ll be able to resume engaged on that different venture you bought caught with while you’re all refreshed.

Be aware that there’s a distinction between multitasking and alternate-tasking.

Multi-tasking means concurrently performing completely different actions — which doesn’t at all times pan out, as you’re not giving anybody activity the eye it deserves.

With alternate-tasking, you can provide a number of duties your undivided focus.

You’ll discover ways to handle a number of tasks if you know the way to prioritize tasks. Use a venture managing device and tag tasks by urgency. We recommend using these tags on your workflow:

• “Pending Shopper Motion” – This implies a venture can’t progress with out an motion merchandise from the shopper’s facet. These embrace ready for a file from the shopper or approval. You might set tasks with these tags apart for some time, till you hear again and might proceed.
• “Precedence” – These are duties that, for no matter motive, want your consideration first. It could possibly be a higher-paying shopper, an indignant shopper, or tasks nearing a deadline.

You can too set push notifications or electronic mail reminders when a deadline is approaching. This function is customary in venture managing instruments, which we’ll talk about later.

6. Develop Wholesome Habits

If you wish to discover ways to handle a number of tasks, develop wholesome habits. These will provide help to turn into laser-focused, a crucial ability for freelancers in these conditions.

There are a lot of wholesome habits you must undertake. Listed below are a few of them:

• Chorus from utilizing social media whereas working: Maintain your self free from distractions throughout your work hours.
• Have a delegated workspace: You’ll discover a productiveness enhance while you work anyplace else that isn’t your mattress. In case you work in a delegated workplace usually sufficient, you may prepare your thoughts to routinely get within the zone while you’re there.
• Dwell a more healthy way of life: Eat extra greens, train, and drink eight glasses of water a day. A bodily match physique can be one which performs at its finest mentally. For a freelancer, this implies higher focus, problem-solving talents, and a extra constructive temper. You’ll additionally scale back your journeys to medical services, which can have an effect on your turnaround time.

With these wholesome habits, you may prepare your physique and thoughts to deal with a number of tasks. You enhance productiveness and high quality total.

7. Take Breaks

Positive, you need to meet these shoppers’ deadlines. However that doesn’t imply you must work continuous. You can be confused and unproductive when you don’t take breaks. Consequently, your high quality of labor will solely take a success.

Be sure to take important breaks. Get eight hours of sleep a day, as something much less can alter your mind features to not carry out as nicely.

Your meal breaks are simply as necessary, too. Keep in mind, your physique and your mind want the right vitamins to operate appropriately. Have that high quality me-time. There’s a motive common workers have trip leaves.

You must deal with your self like an worker and schedule holidays as nicely. Go on a one-week trip to the countryside and breathe some contemporary air, or go exterior the nation — wherever you select, you’ll really feel refreshed after your private break.

There are different breaks you may have whereas working, too. Throughout your work hours, you may apply the Pomodoro method. So, for each 25 minutes you’re working continuous, you may take a 5-minute break. You might watch a YouTube video or play a sport throughout these 5 minutes.

As soon as the 5 minutes are up, you’re employed one other 25 minutes. That manner, you earn one other 5 minutes of break time.

Every set of these 25 minutes you’re working and people 5 minutes you’re not working is one “Pomodoro.” After 4 Pomodoros, you are taking longer breaks. These longer breaks are normally 15-Half-hour.

With this methodology, you may assist scale back stress ranges and enhance total output.

Automate Your Course of

Duties akin to producing experiences, invoicing, and so on., are important. However when you spend an excessive amount of time on them, you gained’t be capable of work in your venture to fulfill the deadline. You’ll be able to spend much less time on these administrative duties by automating them.

You might use an app to ship invoices to your shoppers. We’ll element the options of an invoicing app in a later part. Venture managing apps can even offer you an in depth report on what you’ve completed. These are experiences you can provide your shoppers to maintain them up to date.

You may additionally automate facets of your venture, too. For instance, software program builders might repurpose traces of code for brand new tasks as a substitute of ranging from scratch. Web site builders can use templates and themes to create new web sites shortly. Freelance writers might use AI instruments to assist them paraphrase a passage.

When you automate your course of, you make your workflow extra simple and faster. That’s important when dealing with a number of tasks.

8. Don’t Tackle Too Many Tasks

Know your capability and limits. As a freelancer, you in all probability have a set restrict on the hours you’re prepared to work in a day. You must know and follow your working capability as a person.

Suppose you’re a contract graphic designer. If you realize you may produce between three and 5 deliverables a day, then work inside that capability. Don’t signal one other settlement contract that may convey your whole required deliverables to seven per day.

Venture managers normally give an in depth description of the venture anyway. That features the venture scope, venture objectives, and anticipated turnaround time. Assess the venture nicely and see when you can accommodate it.

You may make a correct evaluation by your beforehand accomplished work just like the brand new venture. Take a look at how lengthy it took so that you can full that earlier venture. That’s in all probability how lengthy it’ll take to finish this new one.

Keep in mind, you gained’t be maximizing your incomes potential while you preserve accepting shoppers. You’ll turn into confused and pissed off while you chew off greater than you may chew. The standard of your output will likely be affected, too, and even worse — chances are you’ll be left with unhappy shoppers who gained’t work with you once more.

9. Learn to handle a number of tasks with these instruments

Relying on the character of your freelance companies, chances are you’ll want completely different instruments to handle a number of tasks. There are some instruments, nonetheless, that may provide help to no matter the kind of service you supply. These instruments additionally provide help to turn into extra productive and improve effectivity.

Invoicing App

As I discussed earlier, an invoicing app automates the creation of invoices so that you don’t must make them from scratch.

Some invoicing apps, akin to QuickBooks have integrations with particular financial institution accounts. The function permits for extra streamlined transactions together with your shoppers.

Time-Tracker App

In case you invoice by the hour, you need to use a time tracker to observe the hours you’ve labored. Time trackers like Toggl Monitor routinely detect idle time and take away it out of your billable hours. That’s additionally a superb factor for shoppers since they are often assured you invoice them just for the hours you’ve labored.

Some time trackers even have built-in bill mills. Which means the device can generate an bill primarily based on the time you labored with only a few clicks.

Venture Administration Software

I discussed some examples of venture administration software program in a earlier part. A venture supervisor platform akin to Trello and Hectic allows you to preserve monitor of the tasks you’re dealing with. That’s all of the extra important when you’re dealing with a number of tasks.

A venture administration software program resolution helps you collate all of your duties into one activity checklist.

It additionally allows you to arrange your tasks by progress, urgency, and different metrics necessary to you.

With Trello, chances are you’ll add necessary notes from shoppers onto venture playing cards. This function might help you retain monitor of crucial suggestions from shoppers you want to tackle.

Venture managers akin to Hectic present you your progress in a single easy-to-see dashboard. At a look, you may decide what duties to prioritize.

Pomodoro Timer

You will get a timer to make sure efficient implementation of the Pomodoro method. This timer is out there as an app. You can too manually arrange a timer together with your telephone’s built-in alert system.

Don’t anticipate to be continuously conscious of the time while you’re within the zone. These instruments might help you identify when to take a break or resume work.

Calendar App

A calendar app like Google Calendar lets you schedule necessary occasions akin to deadlines, conferences, and appointments.

A calendar can even remind you of any upcoming occasions. That makes priorities and duties simpler to trace. Moreover, website guests can ebook a free appointment with you thru Google Calendar.

Grasp the artwork of engaged on a number of tasks

Managing a number of tasks is important know-how for freelancers. When you know the way to handle a number of tasks, you may in the end improve your income as a freelancer.

Studying how you can handle a number of tasks isn’t as troublesome because it appears — simply don’t settle for extra tasks than you may deal with. Handle your shopper’s expectations, too. Be sure to at all times observe a piece schedule. Maintain monitor of your shoppers so you may tackle any suggestions they could have in your work.

To make sure you don’t spend an excessive amount of time on shopper outreach while you’re busy, create a website showcasing your abilities. Automate duties akin to invoicing so you may concentrate on these tasks, too. Lastly, spend money on the suitable instruments for this automation.

Comply with the following pointers, and also you’ll discover ways to handle a number of tasks with ease. You gained’t simply find yourself proud of the rise in income — your shoppers will likely be proud of the standard of labor you ship on time, too.

Maintain the dialog going…

Over 10,000 of us are having each day conversations over in our free Fb group and we would like to see you there. Be a part of us!

Jon is the founding father of two profitable e-commerce and SaaS companies. He is captivated with sharing what he has discovered from working with enterprise house owners by means of Enterprise Smarter.
Learn extra from Jon.