A career in freelance writing is comparable to being a juggler. As you’re catching one ball, you need to simultaneously be throwing another one in the air and keeping your eye on the one that’s floating somewhere in between the other two. After three years in the freelance writing business, I’ve discovered that it’s a lot like parenting. Though it’s best for everyone involved if you try to remain in a consistent routine, sometimes it just isn’t possible. Here’s a look at the schedule I try to stick with (and add to) each week to keep myself and my business moving forward:
- Mondays and Fridays, I make time (usually an hour) for my social media tools. I update LinkedIn (my activities and connections) write a new blog post, change the “What’s New” section on my web page, update the “Question of the Month”, and anything else that needs to be done. Next week I plan to increase this list by working on developing a blog roll and finding some blogs I want to comment on.
- Mondays and Tuesdays are my production days. I have radio shows from 10:00-12:00 both days that I love to listen to while I’m typing so I set up a pile of things that need to be typed to work my way through. Having good music to alleviates the drudgery of typing!
- Wednesdays and Thursdays are money-making days when I write my articles and queries for magazines and newspapers, submit pieces, make follow-up phone calls and emails to previous jobs or queries, have interviews and appointments with clients and sources, and do business tasks like invoicing and Quick Books.
- Friday is my “tie up loose ends” day so I’m ready to hit the ground running when Monday rolls around again. Friday mornings I spend a few minutes reviewing my weekly to-do lists to see how I did and check in on my longer terms monthly goals to prioritize what I want to work on for the next week. Since it’s almost the weekend sometimes I’ll schedule a networking meeting for coffee or lunch just to stay connected with friends and other professionals. It’s also the day that I give myself to work on projects that have no immediate payoff like a book or reading articles, newsletters, and books that will increase my knowledge base and skill level.
Having a loose schedule like this keeps me from wasting time and energy trying to decide what to do and gives me a positive feeling of accomplishment when I do my Friday reviews!
Tags: Business writing, Freelance writing, Running a business
