3 tips for managing your life as a caregiver’independent
Being professionally independent is a situation that has many advantages that cannot be denied. Indeed, you have the possibility to organize your time as you like, and to work when it suits you. However, it’s not always easy to get it right managing your life as an independent, because you can get carried away and lose sight of your goals at any time.
That’s why we offer you three simple tips to help you cope.
Time management for a better efficiency
For a freelancer, time management is a real necessity. You need to be able to organize yourself, so that you can develop a realistic and coherent schedule that you can respect. The more you can optimize your working hours, the more efficient you will be and the better your performance will be.
So the first step to follow to manage your life as an independent is to learn to manage your time better. We must admit that it is far from being an easy exercise, especially when you consider that there is no usual pressure from a hierarchical superior. Being self-employed means that you are on your own in a way.
In these conditions, if you lack the drive or the will, you can quickly fall into procrastination.
The best way to avoid this is to set rules for yourself, and to function as if you were accountable. This forces you to give more of yourself, and to be more efficient. The schedule here will help you to know the moments reserved for work and only for work.
You can for example choose to work on your projects in the morning, and meet your clients, partners or investors in the afternoon. If an appointment has to be postponed, you should be able to occupy this free time with other tasks, because as the saying goes, time is money. So one of the keys to being successful manage your independent life, is to avoid wasting time at all costs.
Know how to separate professional and personal life
When you are self-employed, it is not always easy to find the right balance in your life. Indeed, many are the self-employed who can not separate their professional life from their personal life. This is understandable, especially when you have your work space at home.
But you can remedy this without too much difficulty. First of all, you must keep in mind that being self-employed does not mean working at any time. You have to make a distinction between time for work and time for personal obligations.
This is how you can manage your life as a freelancer while having a rich and fulfilling social life.
To succeed in this challenge, the workplace is of great importance. It will be easier to separate the professional from the personal, if you have a precise and adapted place for your professional activities. You can choose to create a work space in your apartment, with a proper office and all the equipment you will need, depending on your field of activity.
On the other hand, if staying at home does not encourage you to really work, you can think about renting a coworking space. This will be especially useful for people living with a partner or family. Indeed, a single person can easily separate the professional from the private to better work even while at home.
But with a spouse or children in the equation, this will be an almost impossible mission. Then you have to think about the solution of the work space to better managing your life as a freelancer.
Prepare your professional appointments
Business meetings are very important for a freelancer. It is during these meetings that you can find investors, clients, etc. You must therefore prepare your professional appointments with the greatest care.
First of all, you need to know what the meeting is about. Depending on whether it’s a client or a potential investor, you need to prepare a really convincing pitch to get what you need. Do not hesitate to take notes, to mark the essential points to be discussed, so as not to forget anything during the interview.
Then, your presentation, i.e. your dress code, will also be very important. It is therefore crucial for a freelancer to know how he should dress for a professional meeting. Whether you are a man or a woman, you must be elegant, neat, both in dress and in hairstyle.
A woman should also pay attention to her make-up, while a man should rather worry about his beard and/or mustache.
Another point that should not be forgotten is punctuality. Knowing how to be on time for your professional appointments is also a must if you want to be successful manage your life as an independent. So don’t hesitate to take this into account when setting the times for appointments, because there is no point in inviting a client to a business lunch at 1pm, knowing that it will be difficult for you to be there on time.