When you work for yourself, and you are a parent, you get used to juggling. Finding business time during naps, slotting in work within nursey or creating a full day of work during school hours. However, right now, many parents are finding that they have needed to add “live in tutor” to their job description. I am one of those parents and wanted to share with you ten ways to manage your freelancer diary whilst the kids are at home.
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about this subject; having the kids at home during the school holidays is a circumstance many of us face several times a year. We have all dealt with snow days, and poorly children, but “bubble closures”, “lockdowns” and “Tiers” have now taken on a meaning we never would have expected before 2020.
I recently shared a post for working parents, through the lens of an employee, that could help them manage their workload and stress levels, right now. Today, I want to share with you my thoughts around balancing everything when you are a freelancer / self-employed.
Ten ways to manage your freelancer diary whilst the kids are at home.
- Utilise automation
Consider what can be automated or streamlined to reduce the time YOU take on it. For me this includes:
- Diary management through an online calendar, I use Acuity. I block book out slots for client conversations/sessions/calls and have specific links for these; 30 mins for an insight call and 1 hour for a client session. It stops the email tennis and reduces interruptions.
- A low-cost accountancy package that connects with my bank account to reduce my bookkeeping time!
- Standard emails that I use a lot now have templates; its just a cut and paste job!
- Frequently Asked Questions: currently, this is for corporate clients, but I have information that I can send quickly and easily!
- Keep a leads database
You’ll be surprised how many people don’t! A simple Excel spreadsheet with password protection can be a great start. This helps you keep in touch with those that have shown an interest in your business and reduces the time for new businesses development.
- Know what you are worth
Understand how many working hours, that generate income, you have a week. Consider which activity pays you! It’s easy for us to take on things that raise our profile or do work that seems like we are being productive, but in fact, it’s “busy work”. Make sure you are focusing on income-generating work as a priority.
- Only take on what you can manage
It’s hard to say NO when work comes in, especially right now, but what if you allocated your client activity against a workflow? By understanding how much “billable” or income-generating time you have right now, it can help manage your workload and make it manageable. Just think of some of the people that you work with; sometimes they just can’t fit you in until they have space; the majority of the time, you will wait as you want to work with THEM, or you want their services or product. Trust that your clients feel the same.
- Communicate to manage your mental health
It’s ok to not work standard office hours right now. BUT DON’T burn yourself out! Tell your clients that your hours are shifting and put this in your signature and out of office. For example, each day I remind people in my out of office that I am “briefly back on my email”; this nudge highlights that I will read and respond, but not within standard hours.
- Time block and theme your work
If you can, allocate your work against a specific block of time, and chunk it, so you are doing similar work. How does this look? You can do all your “money” stuff – invoicing/banking/bookkeeping-on one day. Task switching takes up time. Focus on one skill and get it done. When you time block include “thinking” time. This is the slot for unexpected work or creative thinking. Don’t fill your diary to the brim.
- Ask for help
If your kids are old enough, can they help? This could be packing products, generating ideas, or giving you headspace by helping the younger kids with their schoolwork. This help may also be other freelancers/self-employed people too; if your finances allow, maybe outsource certain elements to others to give you some focus back.
- Reuse and recycle your social media
You don’t have to create new content if you are finding that hard to do! Now is the time to get on board with “content syndication”. If you write blogs; use different parts of the article to create individual social media posts. Reshare posts, photos, or links, maybe tweaking a little to suit the audience now. It’s one last thing to have to worry about and trust me, not all your followers would have seen it!
- Change where you work
Can you work on your phone, even for part of your to-do list, parallel to your kids? My youngest has commandeered my laptop, so I often sit on my notes app, creating posts, making plans, and drafting up emails, as she works through a worksheet. This very blog was drafted in that way! It’s not ideal but moving my expectations around where I get work done, means that I’m not stressing (as much)
- Open up new channels of income
Do you have any services you can sell that aren’t your core offering? I have online workbooks and courses, that I admit I don’t promote enough! Do you have an equivalent that you already have that you can promote, reminding clients it exists? It’s not passive income (nothing is truly passive) but it gives you another income channel. We all know that having a structure behind your promotion maximises the chance of sales, but right now, we are looking at ways to quickly make an impact on your business.
So, there are ten ways that can help you manage your diary whilst you are home with the kids. The world of the self-employed / Freelancer is varied, but I hope that you can cherry-pick some of these to help you right now,
If you are a freelancer/ self-employed, what’s working for you? Come along to Creating Careers to Enjoy to share your top tips!
Clara Wilcox is a straight-talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes, and professional development. The Balance Collective has a social mission focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance. Isn’t it time you had a career to enjoy not endure?
Want to see how I can help you create a career to enjoy? Book some time to talk here.
Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance.
