Freelance. See the goal and overcome obstacles

This article is about standard management methods that help to increase work efficiency and quickly take a high position even in a field that seems to be not associated with the concept of “management”, such as freelance.
We will talk about completely prosaic things: strategic and calendar planning, accounting and reporting.
I checked everything that was written in the article for a year and made sure that the method worked.


Before you begin planning, you need to study the "market environment" and determine your current position on the exchange.

Free lance - a platform where “pioneers” and senior citizens start on an equal footing


If you are just starting out as a freelancer, your position is “newbie”. You are a beginner, regardless of the baggage of knowledge, experience, experience, academic ranks and regalia. Of course, all your advantages can (and should) be published in a resume, but in the eyes of most customers you will remain a novice until you confirm your capabilities with examples of work in the portfolio and positive customer reviews.

At this stage, the advantage is given to one who soberly assesses the situation and is ready to work for the future, ignoring the guaranteed low initial return. The main thing for a beginner: to learn to work, hone their skills, build up their "human capital" and simultaneously raise their status on the stock exchange. An objective sign of improving your market position will be an increase in average monthly income (in fact, this is a collective review of customers paid by them from their own pockets, and therefore really reflects the value of your work).

But in order to reduce the time spent in novice status to a minimum, you need to have clear, clearly formulated goals and strive to achieve them, ignoring the unenviable current status and low earnings.

Competition


The freelance market is the customer’s market, where the largest and best part of the orders goes to the smaller, but better part of the freelancers. The rest are forced to battle to share what remains, and to do work at "bargain" prices. Therefore, it is important to identify your potential advantages and focus on them when positioning yourself on the exchange. And if there are no advantages yet, set as a goal the achievement of such advantages and fulfill the assigned tasks. The position "greedy customers are to blame for my troubles" is guaranteed to lead the ranks of "losers", because involves the absence of productive actions on your part (a frog that does not jerk its legs drowns in sour cream).

But even when you have achieved success, you must remember that having won the desired position on the exchange, you can not stop. Your rivals are improving, striving to step forward and take your place in the market. Competition is like a steam locomotive. To be successful, you must run ahead, but those who stop at the same time, she crushes.

Here is another reason why it is necessary to clearly see the goals and move in the chosen direction, and not hang out, as, politically correct, a certain substance in the hole for ice fishing.

Goal Definition


From the point of view of management, a freelancer is a full-fledged company with all its attributes: fixed and current assets, labor resources, products, customers, income and expenses. And for the work and development of this enterprise to be effective, you must at least understand what you want to achieve.

Following the canons of management, you need to determine your strategy - to build a "goal tree". You need to start with the root, global goal. Determine why, by and large, you engage in (or intend to do) freelance. The goal can be “achieve financial prosperity”, “create the foundation for career growth”, “have one-time side earnings”, “improve your social status” - it all depends on your aspirations and life circumstances. The goal must be reasonable and achievable.

Having outlined a global goal, we can proceed to its decomposition. That is, to determine what intermediate goals and in what time frame should be achieved in order for the main goal to be realized. And also establish the criteria by which you will judge the achievement of goals. The main thing is to fulfill two conditions:

  1. intermediate goals must be real (feasible and achievable in the existing conditions) and
  2. the achievement of all intermediate goals should be sufficient for the global goal to be achieved.

For example, your global goal is to "work 100 hours and earn 100 thousand per month."

To achieve it you need:
  • "Learn to earn 1000 per hour" and
  • “Attract a flow of orders for 100 thousand per month at a price of 1000 per hour”

You can make the decomposition more detailed:
  • “Raise the level of their work so that they cost 1000 per hour”,
  • "Strengthen their position on the exchange so that customers agree to pay you 1000 per hour",
  • “Attract a flow of orders of 100 thousand per month at a price of 1000 per hour” and
  • "Learn to moderate your greed so as not to collect orders for 200 hours."


Naturally, the approach (especially to its capabilities) should be extremely objective and based on facts. Suppose you find out that someone received a certain amount for their work and build their calculations based on the fact that you will constantly perform the same work and receive the same money. In principle, such an approach is possible, but first you need to make sure that: a) you can do the same job with the same quality and performance, b) you will be paid the same money for this work - and this is far from a fact, c) you will receive the right amount of orders; and d) you have enough time and effort to cope with such a stream of orders.

If you are unable to create a set of goals that meets two main conditions, this means that either you have not studied the situation enough to find a way to achieve a global goal, or your global goal has been overestimated, and you need to
change it, make it achievable.

Setting goals


When intermediate goals are defined, it is necessary to analyze the situation and determine what tasks need to be solved to achieve the goals, and it is imperative to outline ways and deadlines for their solution.
For example, to achieve the goal of “raising the level of your work so that it costs 1000 per hour,” you might need:

  1. upgrade the workplace by spending part of the money deferred on summer vacations;
  2. get training by spending the rest of the deferred funds;
  3. internships in a strong team (working as a “black man” with a strong freelancer) - such offers on the stock exchange are not uncommon.


These will be the tasks that must be solved to achieve the goal.
When working out the ways and deadlines for solving problems, you need to assess the risks and consider actions in case of failure.
By the way, in order for the method to work, the “goal tree” must be written down (the designer can draw beautifully), the solution of tasks and achievement of goals regularly (once a month), and adjusted as the situation changes. Flexibility is one of the foundations of competitiveness.

Planning and management


As already mentioned, in terms of management, a freelancer is an enterprise.

Moreover, the freelancer is the main and only head of this enterprise - the boss and top manager all rolled into one. Therefore, it is all planning, accounting and reporting (it is necessary to report to yourself, but this is necessary so as not to constantly step on your own rake scattered anywhere).

To make your life easier, it’s useful to get in the habit of drawing up a detailed calendar for all accepted orders. This will help to avoid overlaps in the planning of subsequent orders and to monitor compliance with interim deadlines. The second necessary document is a time sheet indicating the time spent on each work or element of a major work. This will help determine the complexity of the implementation of various types of work and more accurately plan the execution of orders. (I have a
schedule and time sheet in one table, and work and payment records in another).

Take planning and accounting in just a few minutes a day - and you will save a lot of days and nerves.
Actually, on a large scale - that’s all that is required for success (except for hard focused work).
Perhaps readers will say that everything written here is corny.
And disgusted with the free spirit of free artists.
Like, they didn’t leave the office routine!

But…

It works!


Starting to work on freelance, I understood that of the types of activities demanded there, I can only do texts and translations, that is, the most low-paid work. On the other hand, I had potential competitive advantages that allowed me to count on a high position in this segment: a wide technical outlook, knowledge of technical English, the ability to quickly understand new topics for me and work 200-250 hours a month without losing performance. In addition, I had a ready-made workplace and a lot of free time (I am a pensioner).

The global goal that I set for myself was: "an interesting job for a decent decent pay."

Accordingly, intermediate goals:
  1. “Master copywriting in 3 months”, achievement criterion - most standard texts are accepted by customers without comment,
  2. “For a year to raise the flow of orders to the level of 200 hours per month at a price not lower than 300 rubles. at one o'clock",
  3. "In three years, achieve an income level of one million rubles a year."

I will not list my tasks - there were many of them and for the most part they were solved, and the first two goals were achieved. Articles for magazines and content on a simple (for me) topic go without comment, and new customers themselves offer work, despite the fact that I have been holding a “busy” sign on the exchange for six months now.

But in place of the solved, new goals and objectives appear.
For example, in May, I stepped back from my own rules and “started” maintaining the schedule and time sheet. As a result, he miscalculated and scored so many orders that in July, to eliminate the “tails”, he had to work out almost 300 hours. And now one of my pressing goals: "to ensure the rhythm of work."
Another important goal: “consolidate your position”, for which to improve your skills as a technical writer.

Why do I need this article


Actually, this article is dictated by the desire to "improve the skills of a technical writer."

The problem that I am trying to solve with this publication in the sandbox is obvious: to get the opportunity to publish further articles in thematic hubs, where they will be the subject of discussion and feedback from a large number of qualified readers. When working on the exchange, this is unattainable: one customer - one review, and even then not always.

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