Best Time-Management Hacks & Bookkeeping for Freelancers

Welcome to Day 4 of How to Be a Digital Nomad and Travel: 5 Steps to Freedom in 2020. Today we will discuss some of the best time-management hacks & bookkeeping for freelancers! Now that we’ve found your freelancing niche for success and have began connecting with like-minded people, it’s time to build systems and strategies around freelancing to ensure you are productively moving forward, every day.

This guide will go over the essentials you’ll need as a freelancer to keep track of your finances, create contracts, and build a routine that works for you. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite FREE tools and resources to set you up for success! You will learn the best time-management hacks, how to optimize productivity, and bookkeeping solutions to streamline your finances.

1. Create a consistent work schedule that suits your lifestyle

Ahh, accountability. When you’re your own boss, it can be tough to self motivate and get work done when there are a thousand other things pulling at your attention. The importance of creating structure around what’s important to you will make or break your life, literally.

It’s so essential to create your ideal week based on your bigger goals. Start by writing down your business goals for the year, then break them down into smaller, bite-sized steps you can allocate for each month, and then plan out your week accordingly.

Let the calendar be your guide

I have found keeping a digital calendar and sticking to it has really skyrocketed my productivity. Personally, I use Google Calendar and color code my days based on work, my accommodation if I’m traveling, personal time, and events. Block out time for work, and stick to it. Ideally, this will be the time of the day when you have the most energy. Whether that’s the morning, afternoon or evening is up to you, but try to pick a time and stick to it everyday.

Perhaps you work Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am – 6pm. Or every day from 10am – 4pm. Whatever you do is fine, but it’s about getting intentional about your time.

Whatever you put in your calendar becomes a priority. If it’s not there, it’s likely not a priority and let’s be honest, it probably won’t end up happening.

Here’s a sneak peek at my calendar. I try to keep everything in there and sync it amongst my devices so it’s always reminding me what I have on my schedule, and I can refer back to it at a glance.

You can set events to repeat weekly, which is handy if you’re creating a work schedule. However, things sometimes change so allow room for flexibility. Figure out how and when you work best and adapt around your energy spikes.

2. Get intentional with your goals

Being a freelancer means wearing a thousand hats. There’s the business side and then the actual client-side, and sometimes the biggest challenge is just figuring out what to focus on first. I recommend creating milestones of how your work will be measured, then breaking it down into mini-steps that you’ll need to take in order to reach that milestone.

For example, I initially had the goal to launch a new website for my photography and design business. Okay, great. That seems big and overwhelming but by breaking it down into bite-sized, actionable steps I was able to get there.

The big picture steps I had to take to get there looked like this:

1. Sort through lightroom catalog and choose the best images to feature
   • cull images quickly by giving a “yes” or “no” with flags
2. Create new typographic logo in illustrator
   • sketch out ideas in sketchbook
   • upload final to illustrator and trace
3. Write copy for “services” page
   • organize services into packages
   • decide on pricing based on offerings
4. Write a case study based on client results
   • gather client statistics from social media
   • follow the outline of how to write a case study

Now that I have a clear grasp on what I need to do, I can break it down even further to get crystal clear on how I’m going to achieve your goals. Note my bullet points above are little bits of the big chocolate chip cookie. It’s essential to break that cookie into bite-sized pieces instead of trying to shove the whole thing in your mouth at once.

I’ll give you an example of how to break it down further into manageable steps by dissecting step one:

1. Sort through lightroom catalog and choose the best images to feature

• cull images quickly by giving a “yes” or “no” with flags
  • delete rejected images from lightroom catalog
    • go through remaining images and give either 5 stars for website usage, or 3 stars for social media usage
      • organize 5 star images by category and export to hard drive for proper web format to upload to website

Say you schedule 4 hours of “business development” time and work on any of the major steps (or “goals” rather) during that time. Perhaps you take an hour in between for lunch and begin client work in the afternoon. Be intentional, but allow room to pivot.

The best way to get into deep work is to silence distractions. I find putting my phone away and clearing my workspace really helps me get focused! I know it’s tempting to check the text or IG notification, but you’ll likely end up going down the rabbit hole and having trouble refocusing. We will discuss the best time-management hacks & bookkeeping for freelancers to keep you focused…

3. Focus on increasing productivity

Now that we’ve silenced the phone, it’s time to get in the zone. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it? Hahaha… I’ll stop being punny. I cant help it…

Moving on! Now that you’ve planned your week, how are you going to measure your progress and stay on track? There’s many apps that’ll help you make the most of your time. We’re about to dive into my favorite time-management hacks to optimize productivity, and bookkeeping as a freelancer.

Here are the best apps for time-management & increased productivity:

1. Toggl is the simple, intuitive time tracker app that you’ll actually use. It isn’t limited by device and works on your computer, tablet and phone, so no matter where or what you’re working on, your hours are being tracked. Oh, and you’ll never forget to turn this productivity app on because it sends you friendly reminders to do so.
   
   If you’re a freelancer, a tool like this is necessary. How else will you accurately bill clients? But even those who work a salaried position will find Toggl useful. After all, to become more productive, it helps to first know how you’re really spending your time.
   
2. Zapier allows its users to create integrations and automation between apps that normally wouldn’t communicate with each other. For example, a new email received in Gmail can be set to automatically save any attachments to a Dropbox folder and alert you via Slack.
   
3. Slack is a communication app that makes collaboration a breeze. Email is great for many things, but it can be annoying when conversing with colleagues and teammates. It’s too easy for messages get lost and buried beneath a mountain of other emails.
   
   With Slack, all of your office communications are neatly organized and searchable. Different channels can be created for different projects, departments, and clients; and team members can jump in and out of conversations as needed. Meaning they won’t get notifications about conversations they’re no longer involved in. You can also share documents and video chat so it’s a nice all in one work-centric chat tool.

My favorite project management software:

Asana is a project management app that makes managing projects less stressful. Enjoyable, even. How is that possible? It all starts with the platform’s highly visual interface, which makes it very intuitive.

Users can break big projects down into smaller chunks by creating “sub-tasks” for every task. Tasks can be arranged into different columns, which can represent different phases of a project. As tasks get completed, they can easily be dragged from one column to the next. Here’s how this process might look in a real-life scenario:

• Jen is tasked with managing her company’s blog.
  
• To keep track of all the articles written and submitted by different writers, she creates a project with four columns: “Blog Ideas”, “Writing”, “Editing”, and “Published”.
  
• As each blog idea is worked on, it makes its way from the “Blog Ideas” column, all the way to the “Published” column when the article has been finished and posted.

4. Improve your attention span and concentration

When you are working, consider using the Pomodoro timer technique to keep focus on your task at hand, and take 5-minute breaks in between.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique was invented in the early 1990s by developer, entrepreneur, and author Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo named the system “Pomodoro” after the tomato-shaped timer he used to track his work as a university student.

The methodology is simple: When faced with any large task or series of tasks, break the work down into short, timed intervals (called “Pomodoros”) that are spaced out by short breaks. This trains your brain to focus for short periods and helps you stay on top of deadlines or constantly-refilling inboxes. With time it can even help improve your attention span and concentration.

Pomodoro is a cyclical system. You work in short sprints, which makes sure you’re consistently productive. You also get to take regular breaks that bolster your motivation and keep you creative.

It’s the 25-minute work / 5-minute break x4 then one long 25-minute break formula that is said to increase focus and optimal productivity. Check out Tomato Timer Online or the Focus Booster App.

Tracking productivity is important and will help you get a sense of how you’re spending your time. There’s pretty much an app for everything now, but these are just a few of my favorites.

5. Bookkeeping and contracts

This is huge for freelancers and self-employed folks like us. Bookkeeping for freelancers is often a point of stagnation and overwhelm. There are so many handy platforms to help you with contracts and bookkeeping, but I have a few favorites to recommend.

Personally, I use and enjoy and.co, an all in one expense/income tracker, time tracker, and contract & proposal maker. It’s an amazing tool to track time-management, productivity, and bookkeeping. They also have quick customer service when you need to ask questions. Use my link to get $20 off your first year!

My favorite thing about and.co is that it’s super simple to invoice clients with their templates. You just enter the relevant information, frequency of billing, and they take care of the legalities for you. They also promise to make a demand on your behalf if a client refuses to pay. I luckily haven’t had to try this out yet, but it’s nice to know that someone has your back if all else fails at retrieving payment.

I’ve also hear great things about HoneyBook. They have similar features to and.co, but a different interface. They also have free resources to get you started such as a free invoice template and email signature generator!

If you’re looking for a powerful accounting software to keep on top of your books, check out Freshbooks. FreshBooks makes invoicing painless, expense tracking simple and knowing how profitable you are easy.

6. Using automation to simplify tasks

Are you repeating the same monotonous task that is eating away at your time that could be spent working on other, more important things? Time is the most valuable resource in your life, and the only one you can’t get back. I’m a huge proponent for spending money over time if someone can do it more efficiently than you, and it’s not something that you find joy in working on. Here are some of the best time-management hacks I use in my business.

Hiring help for the little things you’d rather not do

Outsourcing is a huge time saver and honestly, you can hire someone to do just about anything that already has the skills. You might have heard of websites like fiverr and upwork — yes you can find help for just about anything there at affordable costs.

If you’re anything like me however, you’d rather hire a fellow female freelancer first.. yay for community! My favorite place to do this is via the Freelancing Females Facebook Group. What a mouthful! But I’ve hired some awesome females to do things like handle accounting, code websites, and collaborate on projects outside my scope of expertise.

I truly believe in outsourcing something that someone else can do quicker and better than you, so you can spend more time focusing on the things that light you up!

7. Create strict work boundaries and shut off when needed

Back to the calendar concept. Schedule in work time with free time in mind. Once it’s 5pm and you’ve worked all day, it’s time to shut off the computer, put away the phone, and straight up chill. Chill time is essential time and creating healthy work boundaries will lead towards a balanced, happier lifestyle. Boundaries go hand in hand with time-management.

We’re all guilty of answering the client email at 10pm, accidentally giving out your personal phone number and texting back on a Sunday, and spending more time than we should be analyzing a project. It happens. But part of the reason you want to embark on this nomadic lifestyle is so you can see the world, and have beautiful experiences. Give yourself permission to do that.

Time allocation – remember to have fun!

Just as you allocated time for work, allocate time for play. You don’t necessarily need to put this in your calendar but I will for upcoming events and activities that I want to attend in the future, and any plans I might make with friends.

Find your flow, and adjust as needed. Pay attention to when you feel the most energized and inspired and work off of that.

For me, I always write first thing in the morning as the new day allows for a clear channel to allow me to communicate my thoughts into things.

But some mornings, I just want to read, do yoga, or explore a new city. And that’s okay too.

Conclusion

With the five tips I outlined in this article, you can begin spending the time you do have more intentionally. Begin it now! First and foremost, travel slow. Take your time visiting a destination so you don’t feel a sense of urgency to do it all.

Create a schedule that works for you, become an expert in productivity, use apps to help automate tasks, and don’t be afraid to outsource! After you have completed your work for the day, shut down and spend your time in whatever way makes you feel the most joy. Hopefully you’ve learned some time-management and productivity tips for success!

It’s time for our final day! Great job for making it this far. Next up,

Day 5: How to Choose a Destination and Create Roots Anywhere

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