Being the Most Efficient Freelancer You Can Be

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2020 has been a difficult year. The unprecedented coronavirus crisis has meant that many of our working lives have completely changed. At the start of the year, most of us were rushing around commuting, heading to in-house office jobs and working the standard nine to five. But the rapid spread of coronavirus saw most of the world go into lockdown mode, with people only being able to leave their homes if they were essential workers, or to collect essentials like food shopping and medication. This caused many businesses to collapse. So, unless you were able to switch to remote working, you may not have been able to generate an income from your usual role. It’s not all too surprising, then, that many of us have switched to freelancing. Settling into freelancing is a steep learning curve, but it is possible to become pretty efficient, productive and profitable with work. Here are just a few different things you can do to be as efficient as possible in your latest venture!

 

Invest in a Good Internet Connection

 

Most of us look for the best internet connection possible at home. This helps to reduce our outgoings and, usually, you only use your home internet connection for basic tasks and it doesn’t mean all too much if there’s a little delay or buffering. But if you’re going to be making your money by freelancing from home, it’s more than worth investing in fibre broadband or another connection with high speeds. This will allow you to do your work quickly and without interruption.

 

Aggregate Your Data

 

Chances are you’ll have a whole lot of data to store if you’re freelancing. You’ll need to document your different clients, your different projects, your different invoices and more. So, it’s a good idea to have all of this information stored together in an easily accessible location. There are a number of great quality data aggregation tools available out there that you can make use of. Take a look at which will best suit your needs!

 

Manage Your Work / Life Balance Effectively

 

It can be difficult maintaining a healthy work / life balance when you’re working from home. After all, you’re used to using this space to kick back and relax, but now need to make it a productive area. But there are ways to overcome this. The key is to create a designated space in your home for work. If you have a spare room, great. This would serve as a great home office. If not, dedicate a desk or table to work and inform anyone you live with that you won’t be available to chat while you’re in that space. The next step is to create working hours. One of the perks of freelancing is your working hours can be flexible. But if you’re freelancing full time, it’s good to set a working schedule for each day and stick with it. This will prevent you from overworking (burning yourself out) or underworking (and not generating sufficient income).

 

Sure, there are countless other changes you’ll have to carry out to ease into freelancing. But the above steps should help you to be as efficient as possible from the start!