Freelancer? Add Some Structure To Your Life

Being a freelancer means you're in total control of your schedule and tasks. It's great to be your own boss and you have the freedom to focus on the things YOU want to focus on and decide when and how to do them. Being a freelancer also means you have no* real structure or workframe to rely on, nothing to really push you to do what needs to be done. Being your own boss makes it very easy to become a lazy boss-employee. Here are few tips on how to get some structure in your life.

If you ever worked in an office or as part of a company, you probably know how nice it is to have structure. You know when you need to wake up, when you can get a lunch break, when you have meetings, when you can go home, and of course - what work needs to be done while you're there. Having a boss and teammates pushes you to to work harder and complete your tasks. Having a workframe is giving the direction while setting up the boundaries you need.

Being a full time freelancer means there is no real structure in your life. You don't have a real schedule, you don't have a boss, and no one sets their goals for you. You get to decide everything by yourself**, for yourself.

While being your own boss can be a great thing - it can also be a bad thing. It's more than easy to become a lazy self-employed freelancer because, well... because you can. When you have no shoots scheduled, there is nothing like waking up at 11:30am, eating late breakfast at your local coffee shop, and taking it easy. Maybe watch some TV and spend a few hours on Facebook and Youtube. You get to decide - and it's easy to decide to take it easy.

Taking it easy is a good thing to do once in a while, but can become a bad and frequent habit if you have no boundaries and structure. What can you do to have some structure in life?

Set up Your Alarm Clock

Yes, even if you have no photo shoots planned for the day, there are tons of other things you need to do or should do with your time. You probably have to edit photos from your last session, work on invoices, send images to clients, meet potential clients, respond to emails and what not. If you really feel there are no must-do tasks, you should use your time to update your website, upload images to your social networks or even just learn some new techniques.

Setting up your alarm clock is the first step in getting structure. You wake up with a feeling you have tasks to complete. You wake up knowing you're not on a vacation. Feeling like you're on a day off will make you work like you're on a day off, and that's not a good thing for you or your business.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect you to wake up at 7am. Set it up for when it makes sense to you. It could be even 10am. All depends on your schedule of course.

Set Up Your Daily Goals

Knowing your daily goals when you start the day is important, so before you go to sleep just think: "What needs to be done tomorrow?". This way you can easily set up your schedule for the day, and know what are the important things you need to take care of. Maybe it's visiting the bank to take care of new checks, maybe it's editing final images for a big client, and maybe it's replying to a big inquiry you received via email.

Set up your goals and if possible, make sure to write them down. On a notepad, on a whiteboard or on your iPhone tasks app. Writing down your goals/tasks is a good way to make sure you don't forget to do any of them. Personally I write the major things on my whiteboard that is sitting right next to my computer - this way I see it all the time. It acts as a very annoying (but quiet) secretary that reminds me what I need to do ALL THE TIME.

Set Up Your Daily Schedule

Once you know your daily goals and tasks, it's time to set up your schedule. If you have meetings or photo shoots on a given day, build your schedule around it, and if your day is open, you can be a little more creative.
Now, we work for ourselves, so there is no need to really build a crazy strict schedule, but it's good to give yourself time-frames. Know that you have 2 hours to complete task X and 3 hours to deal with task Y.

Because no one is there to tell you what to do and when to do it, it's easy to postpone tasks and "do it tomorrow". Setting up a daily schedule is another way to push you to do what needs to be done. After all, it's better to do it this way than realizing at 11pm you have tons of tasks you need to take care of by the end of the day. Spread it over the whole day and you'll be much happier.

Take Breaks

Working is important, but taking breaks in between is just as important. We are artists, not machines. We need to be inspired, we need to see and hear things, we need to relax and think. When you build your schedule, make sure to schedule breaks in between your tasks. Watch a TV show you like, go talk to friends on Facebook or go take a walk outside. Do something that is NOT work-related. Refuel.

As a person with A.D.D, I take a break nearly every 10 minutes. That's fine. But it's fine just because I know that when I do get back to work, I need to complete my tasks. Some people can work for 3 hours straight, some can work for 30 minutes straight. Learn what works best for you, and go with it.

Conclusion
Those are my 4 easy-to-follow tips that will add some structure for your life and will make you a better freelancer. It won't make you a better photographer, videographer or retoucher in the technical way. It will make you better in delivering the goods, and will make you better on the business-sides of your career. Some of my methods may work for you, and some not. We all have different life-styles, preferences and of course different jobs and tasks. I based my article on my own experience as a freelancer and from hearing fellow photographers who struggle with having no framework and real structure. Now it's your turn: What are your tips to help people become better at what they do?

*Unless of course you have a family and kids. It gives you the family structure, but not work structure. You need to figure out how to combine the two.
**Unless you're married, then it's a whole different story.