Freelancing in Real Life

Image by William Hook via Flickr

In my previous post I came “clean” about my messy desk.  Several of you commented offering words of comfort and advice, and I appreciate that. I reached out to a few organizing experts on Twitter as well, and professional organizer Stacy Kaplan from Clutter Away by Stacy K. offered up some great tips.  Here’s what Stacy had to say:

1. Spend 15 minutes a day organizing your desk. Take a photo at the end of each session to track your progress.
 

2. There are 4 places where a piece of paper should end up:

(1) in the recycle bin (most papers),

(2) on a desktop filer (more about this in the next step),

(3) in a file drawer adjacent to your desk or

(4) in a deep freeze file away from your desk.

Files in spot #2 are for important papers and are most likely currently sitting on your desk. Files for spot #3 are for papers you need regularly. Files for spot #4 are for archival items, such as old taxes and records.
 

3. For your desktop, I recommend using a vertical, graduated filer where each folders stands up and the folder behind is higher than the folder in front. Office Depot and Staples have these filers. You should end up with 5-7 files and they should be for those papers which you need all the time (i.e. To Do, To Read, Bills To Pay, Travel, Tickets/Invitations, etc). Make labels for each folder accordingly.
 

4. Purge (recycle) any papers which are:

- Duplicates

- Obsolete

- Available on your computer or the Internet

- Available from someone else if you accidentally toss

- Untouched for at least a year

- Saved for “just in case” but not critical

- Related to a task you don’t have time to do

Good luck and please keep me posted on your progress!

Thanks for these tips, Stacy! I will keep you and the rest of my readers posted on my journey…my long, much needed journey.  Everyone, be sure to check out Clutter Away by Stacy K. for all sorts of great organizing-related services. Even her website is well organized! 

In an effort to make this site as honest and transparent as it can possibly be, I’m going to ask for your help.  I have a home office. I have a desk. I have a filing cabinet. Yet look at all this stuff:

Help me.

I would love to hear what type of system you use to not only file paper documents, but what you do with your data backups on CD/DVD, post-it notes, books, pens & pencils, checkbooks, etc.  What organization plan is the quickest to learn and implement? I don’t have a week to devote solely to organizing. I need to be able to pick it up on the fly.

What system has worked best for you? Please share some insight.

I’m going to try something new and I think it would be great to detail my progress here on AnywhereMan. Hey, it could be fun. The funny thing is, my digital workspace (email, digital files, etc) is way more organized than my physical workspace.

Seriously…help.

Thanks everyone!

You’ll see that I’ve linked to this site in my People section, but just wanted to give a public recommendation that you check out Phil & Jason Montero’s TheAnywhereOffice.com.  They provide some excellent content especially targeted at managers of virtual teams.  While my site tends to cater a little bit more towards the freelancer, The Anywhere Office gravitates more towards the world of teleworking.  

If you are not yet living the Anywhere lifestyle, directing your manager or boss to The Anywhere Office may help you convince them that a virtual office team really can work and offers many benefits.  Go read up on their site and as I mentioned, tell them the AnywhereMan sent you. 

Today’s wardrobe courtesy of Freshbooks.

Related articles by Zemanta

• FreshBooks Allows Freelancers to Network and Collaborate (mashable.com)
• Finding the Hub – A Common Data Model (cloudave.com)

The battery on my notebook PC has been almost completely dead for a few months, thus I’ve had to keep myself close to an outlet lately.  A few times I’ve even gone in the garage, grabbed a super long extension cord, and gone through the rest of the hassle of moving my “office” out to the hammock. (Fresh air is important, especially here in MN where we’re stuck indoors half the year!)

Every room in my house does, in fact, have multiple outlets, but this tedious act of putting my notebook on “sleep”, unplugging the power cord, fetching it from behind my desk, and taking the whole system with me has been a pain in the rear-hind (a word invented by my 4 year-old). Lately I’ve found myself tending to stay in my home office.

Today I got a new battery, twice the capacity of my old one. Life is good. I’m on my couch in my living room right now catching up on blogs, following up on emails, and enjoying the freedom that the lack of being plugged-in can bring. Really I’m only feet away from my office, but it doesn’t matter. I have the freedom. I have the “power.” (isn’t that a He-Man line?)

Anyways, just wanted to point out that sometimes just a little thing like a battery and the freedom to move around the house can make a big difference in attitude and mindset. I’m getting work done right now, but really I feel like I’m doing it on my terms and out of my own free will as I’m not stuck in the same place I spend most of my day.  You’ll find that I’m big on the atmosphere of the place I get work done…mood, sights, sounds, etc. A simple thing like a new battery has re-opened my options.  

Other things can have this very same effect. Re-arranging a room, getting a new light in your office, moving your office to another room of the house, putting your desk against another wall, new speakers for your music, a new monitor, etc.  Little things make a big difference when you have the option to be Anywhere but are sometimes stuck in one general area for a while.

Do something different today.

In today’s video I discuss the “office” portion of my phone setup. When I started my own freelance business I didn’t want my mobile phone to be the primary number I provided to my clients. I therefore set out to find the best office phone option based on both cost, quality, and portability.

Here’s the phone I reference in the video:

Philips VOIP841 PC-Free DECT 6.0 Wireless IP Phone

When I bought the phone it was around $110, but I’ve seen the price vary a ton since then.  Now it’s not uncommon to see them go for $200+.  Look around for the right deal.

 
How do your customers call you?  Tell me about your phone setup in the comments below.