I returned from the Creative Freelancer Conference in June to face a week packed with project deadlines. But my project-planning calendar showed me that I the following two weeks were fairly light project-wise. And that two-week window gave me the time I needed to digest what I’d learned at CFC, turn that information into a to-do list and start taking action.
That to-do list included tasks like creating a list of SEO keywords for my website and using the site’s built-in tools to better optimize it. And developing an e-mail newsletter. And drafting messages for key groups of contacts.
It was great to have several days where I could dive fully into my own business tasks. But that’s rare; typically, we indie professionals have to weave those tasks in and around client work. If you find it challenging to tackle business development and marketing work, it’s helpful to break those big projects into chunks, and deal with them one at a time. Devote a half day once a week over 3-4 weeks, and you’ll make good progress.
I chatted recently with Ilise Benun of Marketing-Mentor.com about managing marketing projects, what I learned at CFC and other cool stuff. You can read a snippet of that conversation here and listen to our podcast here. In fact, Ilise and I have been doing podcasts since I launched my independent writing business last year; see those here.
How about you? How do you make time for working on your business?
Ilise and me at last year’s CFC