Hello I would welcome some time management/organization advice about projects. Last year I had one big client and some other little guys. Now I have like a dozen regular clients and other short term and other gigs that come along -- and I feel them tugging at me at different times. Sometimes they ALL want things from me and its a total stress machine. Other times it is quiet. Any advice? I would welcome thoughts on how to prioritize and figure out who should come first, second, third, etc. Also ways to get things done quicker or anything to do with managing multiple clients and keeping them satisfied. I have NEVER told my other clients that I have other clients. They know they exist of course because they are on my resume when they hire me. But I really try to treat every client like they are my #1 client. But this is getting to be very hard when I have several asking for things at the same time -- unless we run me through a copy machine! lol I look forward to your thoughts! Abby
Do some of the job for each of them and send them what you have completed so far, that will keep them going for now
Organize your work and you will know exactly how many ongoing projects you are working on and if you can schedule a few more clients or if your due dates don't conflict one to each other I use The Journal (www.davidrm.com), software which is an electronic diary, as its name suggests, but also a free-format database in which I can write and store my articles, keep a client's database and schedule deadline notes without strictly stick to its calendar so I can create as many folders as needed for those days with ongoing projects an prioritize them accordingly. Whether you try this, any other software or simply jotting down notes, if you can plot your own organizing method you will be able to determine when and how you can satisfy your clients' demands without conflicting with stress
Have a look at Time Management for Writers; an article I wrote quite a while back. It still works for me even at 'normal' work as opposed to writing. Hope it helps (and reading it back I'll have to fix the typos on the page now - cringe).
Get good contact software. I use one system and it keeps everything (scheduled tasks, notes, emails, billing, blah blah). The couple hundred you spend returns itself in increased organization and productivity. I'm on a Mac, so I'm not sure what's good on Windows these days, perhaps Goldmine or something like it. Only you can answer the question of priority. Is there one "cash cow" in your business? If so, perhaps doing that first is important. If not, perhaps it's best to either go in the order received or knock out all the small items first. And it really doesn't matter what clients "ask" for. It matters what and when you can deliver. Learn to manage yourself and then inform your clients accordingly.
You can use a calendaring system, either something electronic like Outlook, or a hard copy day planner. Whichever you choose, use something that breaks the day down into 15 minute increments. Then, plan out the amount of time you're going to spend writing and whose project you're going to be working on. Plan your week out in advance, e.g. on Sunday night. Use the same calendar for everything you have to do. It will keep you more aware of your time. You'll avoid scheduling a deadline on the same day as a doctor's appointment. When you get a new order, try to schedule it in your calendar immediately. That way as orders come in, you can refer to your calendar to plan out deadlines. It will help you avoid overbooking yourself. Only you can figure out the priority of your customers. You might place repeat customers before new customers. Or vise versa since repeat customers are more likely to wait on you. Or you might schedule your projects first come first served, like marketjunction suggested.