Freelance graphic designers frequently risk losing control over their productive hours, many often working over 40 hours a week. Thus, mastering time management for freelancers is important, regardless of their niche, as it directly impacts client satisfaction and profitability.
Key Takeaways
Also Read: How to Start a Freelance Design Business: 10 Winning Tactics
There are roughly seven tips on how to properly maintain your work time and schedule as a freelance graphics designer, such as the following.
First, create a daily schedule so you know when to start working, preferably within a realistic timeframe. You have to determine your starting time, finishing time, break time, and when to do tasks like editing, revising, and sending completed projects.
If you need an application to help manage your daily schedule, you can download apps such as Todoist, Trello, or Evernote. These two automation tools are great for arranging work plans, keeping notes, storing important data, and setting reminders to finish certain tasks.
Time management for freelancers also includes taking rests once every so often to avoid stress. People who work for long hours are prone to suffering burnout, which can affect their performance.
You may achieve this by following a work technique called the Pomodoro. This method suggests that you work for 25 minutes, then take a short break, and then you work again for 25 minutes. There’s actually a timer app called Tomato Timers that is based on the Pomodoro technique.
Also Read: 10 Best Digital Tools for Freelancers to Save Time and Money
Some projects are more urgent than others, so you have to create a priority list to see which ones need to be done first. You can set specific work hours to tackle your top-priority jobs by applying the time-boxing technique, a method where you dedicate fixed, predetermined periods of time to specific tasks or projects.
Also, there are great tools to help you apply time management tips for freelancers called ProofHub and GoodDay. Those two applications are good for developing work plans, visualizing diagrams, and evaluating your progress.
Be careful of things like phone messages, pop-up notifications, and extra tabs on your computer, because they can distract you from your job. Get rid of these distractions quickly before they waste more of your time and ruin your concentration.
You should try finding tools such as HazeOver, FocusMe, or ClickUp that can prevent annoying alerts from breaking your focus. With them, you can turn notifications off or block them entirely or simply filter them so you’ll only receive very urgent messages.
Setting up a comfortable workspace will ensure a productive and enjoyable working mood. Conversely, a cluttered and cramped area can directly diminish your focus, causing errors that cost valuable time and eroding your overall motivation to work.
So how do we make it positive and productive? You can clean up your working area of garbage and clutter, set up proper lighting, and get a comfortable chair. If you like, turn on the AC and play soothing music to lighten the mood.
Also Read: How to Create a Graphic Design Portfolio With No Experience
Once in a while, you may be assigned projects that contain similar design or theming. Rather than placing them in individual folders, you should consider placing those projects in one folder set or category. This would ensure a smoother and more time-efficient transition between jobs.
You will need a time management tool for freelancers to categorize lookalike projects, such as Freedcamp, Monday, or ProofHub. The aforementioned apps, while made mostly for collaborative work, can put together multiple tasks based on their themes to get your job done faster.
Automation systems in this case actually refer to intelligent design apps. This time management for freelancers tip is very helpful if you’re up against a project with multiple phases. By delegating some of your workload to these systems, you can save more time and prevent human errors.
Some of the best automation tools to delegate your tasks would be Asana, Nifty, Flow, and Connecteam. You can find all sorts of features on these tools, like progress tracking, team collaboration, customizable layout designs, and automatic checklists.
Also Read: How to Create a Good Graphic Design Portfolio in 6 Stages
Aside from the above tips, a freelance graphics designer can find even more tips to manage their working hours. It can be things like applying free automated templates instead of making one from scratch or using time-saving custom fonts.You would definitely want your projects to look more convincing to the clients, right? By using special fonts like Sans Serif, Script, Retro, or even Vintage, you can create designs that’ll appeal to more people. Out of all the websites that provide artistic fonts, Lettersiro might be your best bet.
