Job #1 is to pay the bills. Job #2 is to build your business.
In this article I want to take a look at a simple way to balance your immediate needs and your long-term plans.
Here's what I do for my own business...
At the beginning of each month I open a new page in my notebook and a draw a vertical line down the center.
In the left side column I make a list of the work I need to get done in order to pay the bills and meet any other short-term commitments.
In the right hand column I make a note of the various projects I am planning, working on or completing that won't give me any income this month, but have the potential to bring in a good income in the future.
Short term and long term planning. Tactical and strategic planning.
I then allocate blocks of time to each column.
You might think I give priority to the items in the left hand column. In other words, you might reasonably assume that I would pay attention first to those tasks that are going to pay the bills this month.
Not so.
From experience I know that if I do that, then the urgent tasks will fill my day from beginning to end and I'll never get around to the longer-term projects.
So I do it the other way around. I allocate one or two hours at the beginning of the day to my longer-term plans. This is the work that is going to bring in money in a few months' time, or even next year.
Once I have completed two hours, or a certain number of words written, I then move on to my left hand column tasks.
Will I have left enough time to get them completed? You bet I will. When you have bills to pay, then the short-term jobs have to get done.
So while job #1 will always be to pay the bill, my own experience tells me that I have to be self-disciplined about job #2, building my business. If I don't then job #2 will never get done, because I'll "never have the time".
And if that happens, I'll still be doing freelance copywriting piecework, day by day and month by month when I'm sixty five.
No thank you!
Do you want help transforming your freelance business? Find out about my coaching service...
Don't miss the next article, sign up for my newsletter...
Get a FREE copy of the Freelance Business Growth Checklist and SAVE 50% on a one-hour phone call with me when you sign up for my coaching newsletter.
Privacy: I'll never sell or share your email address. And you can unsubscribe at any time.
