Many digital marketing professionals are leaving their 9-5 corporate jobs for a more balanced work life and are becoming marketing freelancers and contractors. While this lifestyle means that you’re no longer confined to strict work hours and have to work on projects that don’t inspire you, you still have to make a living and make your current clients happy.
One way to achieve a balanced life while producing quality work is to become more efficient with the time you spend working. There are 3 tools that will help you stay organized and focused on your current projects so you can meet deadlines and still have time to spend outside of work.
Collaborating with Clients
You don’t need a complicated project management system to share files and collaborate with your clients on new projects. Google Drive allows you to share files, photos, documents, videos, designs, recordings, drafts and more. The best part is that this tool is safe and free, and your storage can be expanded if needed for a small payment.
Another advantage of using Google Drive for creating content is that you can easily share outlines or rough drafts with your client. This way, the client can make suggestions early on and determine if you’re moving in the right direction, instead of viewing the project is much further along and not liking it. By keeping your client updated and informed on your progress with a click of a button, you don’t have to waste a ton of time redoing entire projects.
Staying Organized
Part of working more efficiently is staying organized and on top of your projects. Evernote is a great tool to help you track your time, progress, to-do lists, and content. This is another free tool, but you can pay for the premium option to add more features and storage.
A great thing about Evernote is that you can organize everything by tags and notebooks. There are some great how-to articles that can show you how to organize your account, but one way to start is by organizing your notebooks by clients. You can store notes on projects, mark up documents, and even save relevant articles to your account. Also, you can download the Evernote app and access your account across all your devices.
Managing Your Time
It’s easy to get distracted as a digital marketing contractor, especially if you’re working on multiple projects at once or working alone. Instead of bouncing around different tabs and projects, learn to track where you’re spending your time with an app like Wrike. The dashboard shows you where you’re spending the majority of your time so you can see where you’re getting sidetracked. Or if you need something a little more restrictive, you can use a Chrome extension like StayFocused to block time-wasting sites you tend to visit. Either way, it’s important to know where you’re spending your time and how long it’s taking you to do certain tasks so you can plan better when taking on new projects or clients.
Working as a digital marketing contractor or freelancer gives you more freedom, but that can negatively affect you if you’re not able to get the job done. Use these 3 tools to become more efficient and productive as a freelance professional.
