Clear Systems & Processes: Project Management Part 1

When asked what advice I would give other freelance editors, I answer with this every time: Take the time to get clear systems and processes in place.

This is the best thing you can do for your business. And the good news is, you do not have to reinvent the wheel.

You can borrow from others’ systems and processes, then customize them to make your own.

This blog’s system and process topic: project management.

If you’d like more in-depth information on this topic, check out my two webinars that cover project management.

First, create or invest in various project management systems.

You want a system (or systems) that will do all or most of these tasks:

You can find a lot of freelancer systems that cover these, such as:

• Dubsado
• 17Hats
• Bonsai
• Trello
• Infinity
• Beacon Point’s Project Data Tracker

I explored a variety of project management systems and listed their prices and pros and cons for each one. (Video tutorials walking you through how to use each one are included in my course “Running Your Editorial Business like a Pro.”)

A checklist is best for ensuring you’ve gone through every step in your process and received all necessary documents and information, whether physical or digital. If you input your entire process into whatever preexisting project management software you use, you can automate some steps. For example, you can set it to automatically send the contract email once you check off that you created the contract. Or if the email needs modification, you can have it send you a reminder edit it and send it manually. I prefer not to rely on automation for this so I don’t have to worry about whether something didn’t get sent or handled correctly.

Of course, just because your checklist is digital doesn’t mean you have to automate it, you could manually check tasks off. But I love physically checking a box with a marker, so I use a paper version.

Either way, you want a checklist. You can simply check off each step as you complete it and visually see where you are in the process.

I use a digital one in Trello for my agency projects (projects edited by editors in my agency and not me) that I’ve somewhat automated.

For my personal projects, I use a physical checklist, which I put in a sheet protector and use color-coded wet-erase markers to check things off. One color for each current or upcoming project.

If you invest in one of the aforementioned systems (Dubsado, 17Hats, etc.), they each have a different setups for managing these other tasks. Some can handle certain tasks, while others can’t. Honestly, I haven’t found a freelancer software program that can track the metrics important to editors and help you schedule multiple projects and what you will do each day except for the one I built in Excel: Beacon Point’s Project Data tracker.

Outside of preexisting software programs, Excel, which is what I used to build my tracker, is the best option for these tasks. I mean, just look at how beautiful this spreadsheet is. (Circled the data entered in during onboarding.)

And look how clear this scheduling system is

You may want to work backward here and determine your processes to help you decide which freelance system is right for you.

Or you might build your processes around the system you choose.

Either way, you need a system (or set of systems) to execute your processes effectively.

The most important part of project management is ensuring a smooth journey from intake to completion.

To do this, repeatable processes are your friend.

This stage sets the tone for what your clients can expect when working with you. So it’s important to get this right and align the experience with your brand promises.

Even if they don’t end up hiring you, you’ll want to record the inquiry so you can track important key metrics (tracking metrics will be discussed in another blog).

It’s up to you what to include, but I like to record the inquirer’s name, how they found me, whether they hired me, whether I pursued the project, and reason if they opted not to hire me.

You can use a contact form on your website to gather details (word count, editing type, deadlines, budget, etc.), or you can have an email template that contains the questions you need.

If an inquiry comes in without the needed information, your process should be to direct them to your online form or reply with your email template that contains the questions.

To cut down on the back-and-forth, make sure your form or questions covers everything you need to give that client a quote, provide a timeline, and decide if you’re a good fit and interested in the topic.

If the client took the time to fill out your form or answer your questions, they won’t want to jump through more hoops before receiving a quote. Unless they didn’t follow directions or missed a question, you shouldn’t need to send another email until you give them their quote.

How you determine the quote and timeline is up to you. You can do a sample edit and time yourself, review the state of the manuscript and compare it to similar past projects, etc.

But just make sure you have a clear repeatable process so you don’t spend a ton of time on this.

The emails you send during onboarding should align with your brand and desired customer journey. Since a big part of my brand is education and support for indie authors, my onboarding emails include an email explaining my process and what to expect and an email outlining their next steps and how to find outsourcers after me. Use email templates to streamline this.

Onboarding may include multiple processes:

• Sending required documentation: contract, client information form, invoice for the deposit, etc.
• Recording project details in your system: client name, project title, word count, page count, genre, deadlines, estimated time and speed, rate, etc.
• Setting up necessary folders: folder in your email system and folder in your management software system or in your computer file system (part two of this blog will go into more depth on this)
• Scheduling the project: this will be discussed in depth in part two of this blog
• Noting any style deviations: ask indie authors for their style preferences and set up an initial style sheet; for non-indie clients, make sure you know the publisher’s guidelines
• Setting up task reminders: to send invoice, to check for if they will be ready on time, etc.

This will be covered in a separate blog: Editing Processes to Improve Your Efficiency.

Your brand and desired customer experience will again influence what you include here.

I notify the client when the final files are ready but clarify that they won’t be released until payment is received in full.

Once payment is confirmed, I return the files with a message highlighting what I enjoyed about the project, clean and tracked versions of the edit, links to book awards, and information about my newsletter.

Record the time spent editing and the total time spent on the project, including admin time, so you can configure what you grossed per hour on this project.

Send a follow-up email that lists ways you can help each other out.

Some ideas include:

I like to follow up twice. If I don’t hear back after a week, I send a second email asking if they’d like to take advantage of these offers. If I still get no response, I follow up one final time.

Repeatable processes ensure a smooth client journey from start to finish.

Part two of project management will cover organizing documents, meeting deadlines, and scheduling projects. Tracking metrics is a big topic, so I will write a separate blog for that.

To get notified every time I create a blog, get links to other professionals’ helpful blogs, get discounts to my resources, receive business management tips, and see what I’m reading and recommend, sign up for my newsletter.

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below using any of these prompts to guide you:

• What questions do you have?
• What do you include in your intake or project completion that wasn’t mentioned in this blog?
• What is one thing you did professionally or personally today that you’re proud of?