If you’re hoping to be successful as a freelancer, you don’t just need the skills that are worth it; however, you must also be able to handle your work.
If you’ve never been taught about project management or how it works, you’ll have to learn it sooner rather than later to ensure you don’t forget deadlines or cause a problem for your clients.
What is the term “project management? In essence, “project management” is the process of planning an entire project from start to end. It is important to have repeatable procedures to help you avoid errors and ensure you complete your task within the specified timeframe.
It’s an essential skill to manage your own writing business as a freelancer. You’ll require abilities in project management to work with your clients.
Without a proper project management plan, You’re more likely to commit simple errors, like failing to send out your contract, do one final round of edits, or give clients access to all the important documents you require.
Let’s look at the project management tools for writers to enable you to develop successful projects as you progress and make more money.
The fundamentals of managing projects for writers
The process of managing projects involves managing your work and simultaneously managing clients.
If you are starting those first freelance jobs, it could be quite simple to handle:
- The issue arises when you miss the smallest aspects due to being on an errand or take on more tasks to complete than you have time to keep track of
- The one thing you don’t want is for things to slip out of the window or begin making your clients unhappy. When you’re a freelancer, your reputation plays an important part in obtaining new work, so being professional and at the high-performance is crucial.
- It’s easy to be overwhelmed or confused about what your clients want from you.
If you’re using an established project management system, you can organize all your document timelines, tasks, and deadlines in one place to keep a close eye on everything you require.
Project management can also provide clarity, as it will enable you to see what is important most, the deadlines coming up, and what you should focus on to accomplish your goals.
Take a look at these five suggestions for developing your process for managing projects:
Map your workflows first
The primary step may be to jump into the top software for managing your projects, don’t you? It’s indeed the best way to go. However, you’ll need to begin by defining your workflow.
Your workflows comprise the steps you must take to finish your task.
The biggest mistake freelancers commit in this field is signing up with project management tools, making a plan that doesn’t work, and then being annoyed with the website to be told it’s “not functioning.”
You could also sign up for the wrong tool for managing projects if you’re unsure what you require.
- For instance, you might spend the whole week putting together a program only to discover that they do not have Kanban boards, and you realize you require them. You’ll then have to remove all your work and transfer it to a different platform.
Every tool for managing projects that is available indeed reflects the systems you have. If you cannot lock down your systems, it is not a good idea to join one of these project management tools available.
Find out your ways to be a freelancer.
Let’s focus at the beginning…
- What can you do?
- Do you blog for customers?
- Are you an author?
- Do you run a blog?
- What is the specific product you can provide to your customers?
Once you’ve established the things you’re doing, it’s time to define the steps you take to accomplish them.
Let’s say that you write blogs for customers. What are the steps you take?
Examples include:
- Conducting research
- Reviewing the client’s branding guidelines
- Writing multiple drafts
- Waiting for edits from the client
The most important question to ask is:
“What should I do if my client has said yes to taking me on?”
There’s a chance you’ll be unable to remember the smallest steps in a few places. However, it’s crucial to record all you can. This way, you’ll understand how your project supervisors handle your projects.
You’ll have to be able to identify what projects are
- In the research mode
- Waiting for changes
- Being actively worked on being worked on, etc.
If you don’t clearly outline your steps, you’ll be compelled to look through your email and tasks lists to find out where you’ve stopped with tasks and what you’re waiting for.
Establish a project management procedure to help clients land
After you’ve laid out the steps of the creative phase, it’s time to create the project management procedure for how you will land and manage clients.
If you’re only beginning, it’s possible that you don’t have the entire process laid out; however, generally speaking, you’ve got prospective clients and later clients who have appointed you.
You need an approach to determine how they differ.
- This could be a short list of prospective clients and customers.
- You could also identify them based on the method you used to find every client via social media or referrals.
However you go about it, you’ll have to create a process to follow so that when you increase your freelance work, it is easy to see everything in one go.
You’ll also need to plan the steps involved in managing your project if you’re trying to get clients, such as making a phone call and sending out proposals or invoices.
Deliver your work
This could be easy, like sending a client the hyperlink that will open the Google document; however, you’ll need to ensure you’ve got this laid out, so you don’t miss the essential steps.
There are times when it’s more complicated than one step.
If you need feedback from your client, you may have some initial questions to help get the ball rolling.
- Do you have to grant your clients the right to view your work?
- Do you need them to contact you shortly?
- What is the date the deadline?
Make sure you set an exact date for when you’ll need to get your feedback to ensure that your projects don’t stack over each other.
Choose a platform for managing projects.
After completing all the steps, you’re ready to choose a management system.
Setting up a project management tool could take quite a bit of time, so doing your research in advance will help you save a lot of time when you arrive at this stage.
