I’m an organizer.
Let me rephrase: I’m addicted to organizing.
A number of years back, I decided to tackle one closet each weekend. Out went the stuff I never touched, even the stuff I was saving for when I had time/lost that last five pounds. I cleaned up, hauled it out to Goodwill, and enjoyed the tidiness, even if it lasted a week.
When Marie Kondō hit the market by storm with her decluttering methodology, I knew I’d found my demigod.
I haven’t bought her book yet. I don’t need to — I already buy what she’s preaching. My closets are in a constant state up updating (I toss something out almost daily). My kitchen is undergoing the same treatment.
And now, so is my freelance writing business.
[bctt tweet=” Are you using the Kondō method on your #freelancewriting business?” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Here are some ways to organize your work world that may actually simplify your life and help you earn more:
Lose the dead weight.
You know what I mean– those clients who pay you very little but make some pretty heavy demands on your time and talent. We all have one. Is that one you have worth keeping? Really?
Marie Kondō preaches discarding before you tidy. What else can you lose that is weighing you down?
Find ways to nurture the good stuff.
Send thank-you notes to your best clients. Email them some news that’s relevant to their business. Show appreciation in your own way, but do show it.
Seek more of the good stuff.
Kondō pushes the idea of imagining your ideal lifestyle. So from a work perspective, what does that look like? Who are your clients? How will you get them?
Ask the best clients for referrals. Compare your favorite clients to your list of client prospects. Seek out those who share similarities in business, in size, in philosophy. Train yourself to be more selective in what you bring into your work orbit.
Create a system.
That includes a way to approach your day so that you’ll get the most out of your hours. When is your best time to write? How about your least favorite time to research? Structure your day to revolve around what you need and when you’re best suited to perform.
Also, create systems around making daily tasks more regular. Regular marketing. Regular paperwork handling (I call it my “Admin Hour”). Regular tweaking of your marketing method. Every aspect of your freelance writing business should be reviewed regularly, tweaked, made fresh, tossed, whatever makes sense to you at that moment.
Simplify the tough stuff.
For me, that’s taxes. For you, it could be file naming. A few years ago, my husband made file folders that coincide with each line item on Schedule C and those that are relevant on the 1040. Taxes became easier because I was thinking of them regularly (filing bills, receipts, etc.). It no longer makes my skin crawl to think of the taxes every year. Well, a little. I’m always afraid I’ll underpay.
For file naming, find a method that helps you find quickly that one file you need. For example, your client asks for another copy of your invoice you’d sent on August 30th. But how are you finding it when you’ve sent seven files that day, all labeled “Invoice 8-30-18”? My own method is Invoice/Date/Client. What works for you?
Clean the desk.
Here I am preaching to you as I stare at my own small pile of unfiled papers. Find a home for it all. Once a month, I’m prone to grabbing the pile and going through it one by one. I file what has a dedicated folder, set aside (on the floor in the doorway) the things that I’m undecided about, and toss the things I kept for no apparent reason. If it’s sat on the desk for a month and I’ve not looked at it, I find it a new home. If longer, I toss it. I’m not using it, clearly.
Don’t put it off.
Know that note on your desk to look up that thing you talked with someone about maybe four months ago? Look it up. Throw out the paper. Tick that little to-do off your list. Do the same with the research into that personal project, that dinner you want to schedule with a friend, that call you’ve been putting off making, that appointment, that return email, that….
Writers, how are you regularly revamping your freelance writing lifestyle?
What do you keep? What do you toss?
I use Wave for invoicing, which is completely free to use but makes keeping my clients and invoices super easy to organize and find. It also lets me accept payment by credit card, which more than half of my clients ask for. I can easily print documentation of the credit card fees for taxes, too.
It’s fascinating that so many clients opt to pay by credit card. I’ve only encountered that once, and I had to have them do it through PayPal. Literally none of my current clients even do direct deposits, but I keep asking for them. Anything to speed up the process!
I think we have different types of client, though, right? Aren’t yours primarily publications, Paula? Mine are primarily corporate clients. So the publications all pay by check, but my corporate clients pay by credit card. The one time I tested the waters and sent an invoice to a corporate client the old fashioned way, they asked me if there was an option to pay by credit card, so I knew I was on the right track with my corporate clients.
Wow. I need more corporate clients, LOL. Then again, most of the publications I write for are owned by big corporations that tend to prefer delaying payments. So maybe smaller to mid-size corporations are more inclined to pay by credit card?
For two writers with so much in common, this is one place we differ. I am not well organized. Coming up with organizational systems is my biggest hurdle. But I do try to weed things out here and there. A little at a time. But as soon as I get one area sorted, another pops up. I’d say my cooking and knitting supplies are pretty well organized, but anyone who actually IS organized probably wouldn’t agree. No matter how disorganized things might appear, I usually know where everything is.
Speaking of Marie Kondo, a few weeks ago I was doing one of my FaceTime English Conversation “classes” with my friend’s daughter in Japan. Somehow the topic of organization came up, and I mentioned Marie Kondo. She had to Google her name because she’d never heard of her.