When you’re getting started as a freelancer, you might find yourself struggling to find much work from anywhere. The “busy” period that many of your peers talk about might seem like a faraway dream at best, or delusional at worst.
But as you grow your presence in your field, more people and companies will want to work with you. Over time, you'll likely enter periods when you're busier than you ever imagined.
If you’re not careful, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at these times. Here’s what you can do to stop this from happening.
1. Establish Clear Systems
One of the most transformational books you’ll ever read is Atomic Habits by James Clear. In this, he talks about how taking small steps every day will eventually lead to something bigger. He especially mentions the importance of having systems in place to make your days more productive.
Before you do anything else on this list, we recommend that you think about your freelancing goals. Ask yourself questions such as:
- How many hours do you eventually want to spend on client work?
- What are your income goals?
- What kind of projects do you want to work on?
As part of this, you’ll need to establish a system that helps you complete your client work efficiently—while leaving time for other things like marketing. Once you’ve figured out your targets, write down what you will do to continue moving the needle forward.
2. Invest in the Right Software
One of the most beautiful things about freelancing is how accessible it is to most people; you don’t need a huge budget to get started.
But while a laptop and good Wi-Fi will be enough, in the beginning, you’ll need to start spending money on your business to help it grow.
You can save yourself a lot of time by investing in software that makes your job easier. For example, purchasing freelance accounting software will make keeping track of your income and expenses a lot easier—along with sending professional-looking invoices.
Examples of platforms you can use include:
You can also buy software to help you find emails, create a professional website, and more. In some cases, you can get away with using the free version and save yourself a bit of cash.
3. Create Templates for Common Correspondences
When you freelance, most of the conversations you have will be pretty similar. Spending time entrenched in your emails will stop you from getting work done elsewhere, so it makes sense to try and reduce how long you spend with your inbox open.
The more experience you gain at freelancing, the more you will notice which emails you are typing out repeatedly. For these, you’re better off using Google Docs or Microsoft Word to create a template that you can copy, paste, and quickly customize.
You can also create templates for contracts, invoices, and other documents that you regularly send to others. Doing this ahead of time will ensure that you free up more time to complete your more important tasks.
4. Keep Track of Your Projects
Even if you’ve got the best systems in place, and you know where you’re headed, busy periods are still difficult to avoid. When you feel overwhelmed, it’s a good idea to break each of your projects down into more digestible chunks.
Start by outlining everything you need to complete and by when. Then, start creating subtasks that you can tick off as you go.
You can keep track of your projects using an Excel spreadsheet. Alternatively, you might find tools like Basecamp useful.
5. Reduce Your To-Do List
Okay, so this one sounds a little counterintuitive. But if you’re feeling snowed under with work, the worst thing you can do is fill your to-do list with more tasks than you can manage each day.
Filling your to-do list beyond your capacity will probably stop you from beginning to tackle it in the first place. Moreover, you’ll feel like you’ve let yourself down when you haven’t ticked everything off at the end of each day.
Reducing the number of tasks on your to-do list will make you feel calmer and more accomplished once you’ve completed them. If you’ve got time to spare and want to keep working, you can put in some extra hours.
If your workload is bulging to the point where you need to work more than you’d like, ask your clients if you can extend a couple of deadlines—or outsource the work to others. You shouldn't let the quality of what you produce slip.
6. Turn Off Distractions
If you worked a full-time job before freelancing, you might have spent hours killing time with pointless tasks each day. For example, you might have spent hours on Facebook or scrolling through tabloids.
You’ll quickly discover that as a freelancer, your time is more valuable than any other resource. If you let these distractions rule your life, your income will take a hit.
Set clear boundaries and turn off all distractions while you work. If you need to, consider using blockers like Cold Turkey and RescueTime.
7. Stop Saying Yes to Everything
When you start as a freelancer, you’ll probably need to say yes to projects you’re not passionate about. After all, the most important things at that stage are bringing in some revenue and gathering momentum.
But at some point, you’ll be relatively comfortable with your income. Moreover, you’ll know what you do and do not like—and the direction you want to move toward.
If you’re in a position where you can be fussier with what you do and don’t accept, ask yourself if the project you’re taking on will move you closer to your desired goals. If it doesn’t, politely decline and refer the company to a freelancer you think can help.
Advance Preparation Is the Key to Avoiding Overwhelm
Having a lot of work coming in is far from the worst freelance dilemma, but it’s important to expect it and prepare accordingly. You have complete control over your time, and managing it correctly is the most crucial skill for succeeding as a freelancer.
The best way to prepare for busy freelance periods is to ensure you’ve got the correct procedures and systems in place beforehand. Then, everything else will become a lot easier.