Clear Systems & Processes: Time Management
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: time management.
Time Management System
First, get a time management system. I use Toggl Track’s free plan.
The best time management system will allow you to tag your time in a given category and view reports. This way you can track time spent on various categories: business learning, admin, blogging, social media, etc.
I love Toggl Track so I haven’t really explored other systems, but I know TMetric and Clockify also allow for tags.
Process #1: Setting Up Your Plan
This is a process you only need to do once, though you may need to revisit your plan and tweak it as needed.
Amount of projects
Decide how many projects you want to work on at a time. Do you only want to take one project at a time or do you want to work on multiple projects simultaneously?
For me, I would go crazy spending my entire editing time on any given day on one manuscript. It helps me to spend some time on one, then switch to another. My quality of editing goes up when I can edit different content for a bit instead of spending all my time on the same content.
For other editors, they need to focus on just one project at a time.
Time tracking categories
You can better manage your time if you determine ahead of time what tasks you spend your time on and how much time you want to spend on them.
Group your tasks into categories you want to track.
To determine your categories, think about how you want to track your time.
For me, I want to know the time I spend blogging and the time spent on social media, so instead of grouping those under marketing, I have given them their own category. Then my marketing category has all other marketing tasks.
Enter your categories as tags in your time tracking system so you can tag the time and see how much time you spent in each category.
Once you have your tasks and categories, determine what percentage of your work time you roughly want to dedicate to admin tasks overall and to each category.
I want billable time to account for at least 60% of my time, so that leaves 40% for nonbillable time. Then I can divvy out each of the categories, for example, business learning: 8%.
I view this amount as more like a cap, meaning I don’t want to spend more time than what I have listed, and if I do, I need to revisit my processes and policies and see what I can streamline. For example, if I were to go over my allotted time for my sample edits not hired category, I would reassess my decision not to charge for them, but so far, I haven’t gone over.
This plan can be revisited and adjusted as your business evolves. For example, you may need to spend more time on business learning and/or marketing in the earlier years of your business than you need to in later years.
Schedule
What will your work schedule look like and when will you do administrative tasks?
If you want a set work schedule, determine how many hours you will work on each of your working days. If you aren’t planning on having set work hours, then at least determine roughly how many hours you can work in a week or a month if your week will change a lot.
Then with your nonbillable tasks, you can either schedule a set amount of time each work day to work on them, or you can set certain tasks to be done on certain days, or a combination.
As you can see, some days are assigned a specific nonbillable task and others are just given a block of time to work on whatever nonbillable task is needed.
To-Do Lists Processes
Having to-do lists is the best way to keep you on task and ensure you use your time well. I have several processes with my to-do lists.
Process #2: Setting up to-do lists
I suggest you have at least two to-do lists: a master admin task list and a daily to-do list. I have four: a master admin task list, a master website task list, a master marketing task list, and my daily to-do list.
You can create these lists on paper, the computer, or your reMarkable. I LOVE my reMarkable for creating my to-do lists.
Your master list(s) are for tasks that need to be done but don’t have a specific deadline. You will continuously be adding to them.
Next to the task, I like to note a priority level. So when I look at my master list, I can be sure to do higher-priority tasks first.
For my daily to-do list, I have two columns: one column for nonbillable tasks, one column for billable tasks.
Since this is on my reMarkable, I can set up the list on one layer, then add the tasks on another, then just delete that second layer at the end of the day so it is ready to go for a new fresh daily to-do list.
Process #3: Adding tasks to your to-do lists
You will continuously be adding to and deleting tasks from your to-do lists.
Master list(s)
When you think of a task you need to do that doesn’t necessarily need to be done right away or doesn’t have a specific deadline, you add it to the appropriate master list. If you just have one, that is fine. I like to separate my marketing tasks and website tasks from other nonbillable tasks.
Deadline-specific tasks
For repeatable tasks (nonbillable tasks you repeat on a specific day or at a specific interval of time [every two weeks]) and project-specific tasks with a deadline, schedule those in your email system so you can receive reminders.
With repeatable tasks, I schedule them once, then revisit the schedule if I need to change what day I do them.
With the project-specific tasks, I schedule them after booking the project.
You can either have your email system give you a notification or an email or both on the day you scheduled it. I am bad about checking my notifications, so I have it send me an email.
This shows the agenda view of upcoming tasks, but when they are due, I will get an actual email reminding me to do this task.
Daily to-do list.
To create this daily, I look at my project schedule and list all the billable tasks I need to do that day on the billable side. I only spend up to an hour on a given editing project at a time, so if I scheduled two hours on a project that day, I list the project and put two checkboxes next to it, breaking that into two chunks.
Then I check my emails and write down emails I need to send, tasks I need to do based on email content, and all tasks sent as email reminders that day (remember I have repeatable and project-specific tasks scheduled via email). This creates my nonbillable task list. Then I assess how long the tasks will take me, and if I think I have some nonbillable time left, I will add tasks from my master lists to my daily list.
I make sure I get all billable tasks done and all nonbillable tasks that were due that day. With the remaining time, I work on the rest of the nonbillable tasks I had written down on my to-do list. Any that I don’t finish go on the next day’s list.
Tracking and Analyzing Time Processes
Always tracking your time is not for everyone, but I do suggest it for several reasons:
- Helps you with your editing metrics
- Keeps you on track
- Allows you to set goals and better manage your time
Even if you don’t charge by the hour (I don’t), I advise you to track your time spent editing. That way you can analyze your editing speed (see more discussion on this and why it is important in the lesson on tracking metrics).
I find that if I have a clock running, I am more focused and less likely to get distracted by other things.
But the most important reason to track your time is so you can analyze your time usage and set goals to better manage your time.
Process #4: Tracking time
Using whatever system, start the timer when you start a new task on your list and end it when you complete that task. Be sure to tag it in the correct category.
Process #5: Analyzing time and making goals
I like to assess how I am spending my time every month. At the end of the month, I record how much time I spent and the percentage of time spent on each category. This helps me determine if I am meeting the goals that I set in my plan, and I can adjust as needed for the next month. I can also keep an eye on how much I am really pocketing per hour after expenses and time spent on nonbillables. Since I love the admin side of the business, I can get carried away with various nonbillable tasks, so this all keeps me in check.
If you spent 20 percent of your time in, say June, on business learning and your goal is only 7 percent, that is fine because your percentage is for the year. But you can look at the number of hours spent total so far and see how many hours you have left and determine if you need to adjust in the coming months.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with spending more time on learning, but if you need 70 percent of your time to be billable hours to meet your income goals, then you have to watch your time spent on admin.
If you find you are spending too much time on general admin, the best way to combat that is to streamline your systems and processes (emailing, managing your projects, tracking data, etc.). So check out my course on Running Your Editorial Business like a Pro for systems and processes on all aspects of running your business, my other blogs in my Systems and Processes series, and/or my webinars.
I also analyze my time at the end of the year and compare it with previous years.
This shows one page in my yearly comparison notebook.
Conclusion
To take back control of your time, set up a time management plan that determines your categories and schedule. Then have a master to-do list and a daily to-do list and schedule repeatable or deadline-sensitive tasks in your email. This will all ensure you don’t miss doing anything that needs to be done. Then just like with all things, make sure to analyze your data to make adjustments and goals as needed. Happy time tracking!
