Time is Money: How I Track My Freelance Time

As a freelance editorial services provider trying to make a living, delivering a quality product with quality service to my clients is my No. 1 priority. Running a close second is tracking my time. Until recently, pen, paper and an Excel spreadsheet were my go-to tools. They served the purpose, but sometimes I forgot to log my time. Of course, this oversight always worked to the benefit of my clients because I always erred on the side of caution, shorting myself instead of running the risk of overcharging my clients.  

One of my professional goals for this year is to put even more effort into building my client base, making the need to track my time more efficiently that much more important. Enter Easy Tempus, a free app for Android devices. 

Easy Tempus is the perfect tool for me. I can organize multiple clients by project and task, and I can track my time by either running a timer or setting a start-and-stop period. The app generates a detailed history, tallies my earnings  and creates reports to view or export. I can also take photos and write notes, although I haven't had the need to do so yet. The premium version (just a few bucks)  lets users generate invoices, view an expanded history timeline, sync to Google calendar, and store expenses and receipts. 

The app definitely helps me more precisely track my time on hourly projects, but I also use it for flat-fee projects. By doing this, I can gain a better understanding of how long various projects take me to complete. Over time, I will be able to use this data to develop project-based rates that are fair but competitive and that more accurately reflect my talents and the value I provide to clients. 

(True confession time: I do still enter my time into an Excel sheet. Old habits die hard. I just like the security of a hard copy backup.) 

How about you? What time-tracking tips have your discovered for your freelancing adventures? 

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing ... Keep It Real.   

P.S. No one paid me to use Easy Tempus or write a review. This was all me.

Working From Home is Hard Work: 8 Tips to Help You Be More Productive

I've spent the better part of the past 5 years working from home as a freelance writer, editor, blogger and online content creator. I'm a self-motivated, no-nonsense, disciplined individual, and you would think that I'd be bustin' the productivity. Uh, not so much. At least, not always. 

In my experience, working from home is, well, hard work. I've spent countless hours unmotivated and distracted while cultivating the mindset of, “I’ll do that tomorrow.” It’s hard to stay focused and on track. But here are 8 secrets that I use to boost my productivity.

Get out of the house. Not every day, but maybe once or twice a week. You will be amazed at how a change of scenery can boost your productivity. From cranking out projects to brainstorming inspiration, you have fewer distractions (TV, snacks, laundry, household tasks), and a new perspective. Sometimes that's all it takes for me to get unstuck. Head to the local library, coffee shop, park, museum, wherever. In fact, I outlined this blog at the library and then shifted to Caribou Coffee for a Ho Ho Mint coffee and a hunk of warm monkey bread.

Go offline. When you leave the house, leave the devices (exception: cell phone). Bring paper, pen and your brain. Go old school. Some of my best ideas come from scritching and scratching around on a legal pad. Crossing out thoughts, drawing lines from one idea to another, cramming words in the margins. Trust me. It will get your juices flowing. Then, you can talk it all back to your home office and tap, tap, tap it out. Ka-Boom!

Set some office hours and respect them. This is where it gets tough. Because I’m home during the day, the underlying expectation is that I will do the laundry, cook some food, walk the dog, clean a toilet or two. Define your office hours, and stick to them. My hours tend to be traditional office hours because that's what works with my schedule. Find a block of time that works for you. 

Put your phone out of sight and out of mind. If you’re like me (and the rest of the smartphone world), every time your device rings, dings or sings, you jump. And if you’re like me, most of the time that e-mail or text message is scarily insignificant. Schedule time to check e-mail (every hour or so works for me), but remove the phone and turn it off if necessary. If it’s sitting in view, it’s too much of a distraction. It’s too easy to claim you need a mental break and before you know it, you’ve wasted an hour checking Facebook, rescuing pets, crushing candy or whooping up on a friend with a word.

Speaking of mental breaks, take one. After your butt’s been planted in a chair for an hour or two, give yourself a quick break. We’re talking 10-15 minutes. Walk the dog, do some yoga stretches (but not Camel, never ever do Camel), check Facebook, switch out some laundry. Then get back to it. You will feel mentally and physically refreshed and ready to roll.

Schedule a lunch break. I’m guilty of snacking through the day. I use it as a distraction – "Oh, look! A bag of pretzels. Those would go good with a dab of mustard. And now I’m thirsty." You get the picture. Any reason to get out of my chair when I should be working. At lunchtime, I’m not hungry, but by dinner I’m starving. Everything gets out of whack. I try to make myself take a 30 minute lunch around the same time each day. A real lunch. Sandwich, soup, leftovers. I read a book or check in on social media. When I get back to it, I’m refreshed.

Take a shower and get dressed in real clothes every day. Not a business suit or high heels, but not pajamas. 

Make yourself comfortable. By that I mean your environment. Too cold? Put on a sweater or turn up the heat a notch. Too hot? Open a window, turn down the AC. Go potty the instant you realize you  need to go potty. Taking care of those basic needs goes a long way toward productivity.

These are some tips and tricks that work for me. What works for you? 

Thanks for reading! Wherever you are, whatever you're doing ... Keep It Real.

Holding the Crystal Ball

I am 19 days into the Write Fifteen Minutes A Day challenge. Have I written everyday? YES!! I think I wrote in an earlier blog that I heard it takes 21 days to develop a habit. That seems pretty accurate to me. "Writing" is now a daily entry at the top of my "to do" list, and I find myself thinking about when I can grab 15 minutes (or more) and pondering what I'm going to write about. I'm proud of me.

This week I get to cradle a crystal ball and peer into one of my futures. I use the phrase "one of my futures" because I have many plans and dreams yet unfulfilled, and well, who knows what's going to happen, right? I'm playing the part of Reading Specialist at a local elementary school. My graduate program includes certification as Reading Specialist, which is something I've wanted for awhile now. I have six days to wear the job and to think about if it will fit down the road. Six days to make connections that might serve me well in one of my futures.

I work with K-5 students, quite a change from middle schoolers. Different strategies, different approaches. My favorite time of the day is from 2:40-3:00 p.m. For 20 minutes I work one-on-one with a kindergartner. It's just me and him. We have fantastic conversations about his life outside of school and his day. We talk about letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. We explore words, cheer together, and draw stars with yellow and orange highlighters to celebrate a job well done. When our time together comes to an end, we stroll back to the main school building (I'm in a mobile). Along the way, we scour our path for signs, posters, license plates - anything that contains the letters we learned in our 20 minutes together. The little guy beams with pride and excitement. Love it. Love it. Love it.

After Monday, I'll have to return the crystal ball to its resting place. But for now, I'm savoring the experience of what could be, might be, one of my futures.