With These 5 Tips, Freelancers Work More Successfully

Like hardly any other professional group, freelancers have to optimally divide their time in order to achieve the greatest possible financial output at the end of the month. As a company that has built up the largest freelancer community in the world in recent years, 99designs is therefore increasingly concerned with the topic of efficiency. The team reveals the crucial tricks that make everyday work much more efficient.

1. Separate work and private life

Many freelancers reject the typical “9 to 5” work model. You would like to benefit from the flexibility and freedom that self-employment brings. However, this also means that freelancers work longer than employees on average. But more hours do not automatically make you more efficient. In order to invest the time spent as best as possible, a strict separation of work and private life is inevitable. The best way to do this is to structure the working day with fixed times and breaks around your own obligations, needs and preferences.

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2. Benefit from the right productivity tools

The best way to clear up the chaos in your own head is with project management tools such as Asana and Wunderlist. They help to keep an eye on the projects and tasks and always know what has to be done when. To monitor how much time it takes to complete the individual tasks at the same time, you should rely on Toogl. This can not only measure working hours, but also demand the appropriate hourly wages.

3. Fast and smooth communication

Even if you sometimes think that the fastest way between two people is via email, you should still avoid writing a digital message for every little thing. This not only annoys the recipient, but is also very time consuming. Tools such as Slack help you communicate with customers and partners more easily and quickly. This is particularly helpful when it comes to small changes or quick questions. Alternatively, you can also pick up the phone and clarify important questions by phone.

4. Maintaining and building a network

Working independently at home does not mean having to work alone. On the contrary: Building and maintaining a network is important - regardless of the area in which you work. If you are in contact with other freelancers, you can benefit from their know-how in various areas and exchange information. To make contacts, you should go to relevant conferences and events or work in a coworking space.

5. Set priorities

It sounds easier than it is to distinguish between the important and the unimportant. And that alone is not enough, because the urgency must also be weighed up. So tasks can be very important, but not necessarily urgent. To keep an overview, you should list the tasks and then prioritize them using numbering. This way you don't lose sight of the work and you know exactly what needs to be done and when.

“Those who work more efficiently work more motivated. For example, an inefficient way of working means that you have to start a task again and again because you are distracted. Sooner or later, having to deal with the same thing again and again annoys everyone,”says Marcos Gutiérrez, Managing Director at 99designs. He continues: "Those who complete their tasks in less time have more fun at work and can take care of customer care in detail - the clients will be delighted!"

Additional information about 99designs:

99designs is an online marketplace for graphic design. The company connects the freelance designer world with creative people, entrepreneurs and companies - in other words, with everyone who appreciates great designs. International designers create designs for logos, websites etc. according to the briefing requirements of a customer and submit them to a design competition - the winner receives the prize money for his design and a new customer. To date, more than 130 million euros have been paid out to the global community in over 500,000 design competitions.