When I first started my business, I read every article I could about others’ daily habits, and I asked every one of my friends who worked from home as well. That obsessiveness definitely affected how I structure my days now.
Although I’ve shared a lot about how I structure my days, it seemed like a good idea to pass on some of the habits I have picked up from others over the years. Maybe you will find something that will stick with you.
Call yourself an agency owner
Since I am talking to freelancers, I have to start with this one. When I first started, I called myself a freelancer. And then I talked to others who were in the same field and quickly changed my tune. I had to repeat to myself daily that I was an agency owner to believe it but it was worth doing.
Why did I start doing this? Money. Just think about it. You have two people in front of you. One is a freelancer and the other is an agency owner. Who are you willing to give more money to? The agency owner, of course.
If you want to argue with me about this because you are working solo, you only need one person to have an agency. You’re an agency of one and there’s nothing wrong with phrasing it that way.
Deep, short work
When I write, I write deeply with zero interruptions. This sounds insane with a feral three year old around, but my daughter naps. Guess when I get that deep work done.
And why do I keep it short? I think it started out with productivity recommendations, and then it just became something that fit my life well. As a mom, I work in short bursts. I get more done because I see the time ticking down. The joke has consistently been you’d be amazed what I can do with ten minutes, but that’s the truth. Doing bursts of deep work in ten minutes makes me think that it’s not very long, and I can do it. Meanwhile, a whole hour of deep work seems impossible in my head. I don’t think I’m alone in that.
Never finish your work
In 2019, I went to an all night writing event. In reality, it ended at two in the morning, but that all night enough for those of us driving country roads to go to this event. I did some writing at the event, but mostly, I went to the sessions that were offered since I wanted to soak up all the knowledge I could. And this is where I got one of my favorite habits: Never finish.
What does that mean? It means that when you’re working, leave a little in the tank you so you have a place to start when you come back to it. This is why I never completely deplete myself when writing. I write until I have a good stopping place and then I leave the rest until I come back to it so that I never come back to a blank page. Like a lot of people, I don’t react well to a blank page. But a starting place helps me get a little further along.
Don’t push through
Have I pushed through despite this being one of my tips? Yes, so I’m not going to even pretend otherwise. However, I will admit that it is rarely worth it and this is one of those habits I wish I stuck with. If I’m completely depleted, it’s much smarter for me to get some rest than to try to make work happen. I’m always more efficient when I rest and easily make up for any time I have lost.
For example, I started writing this blog post one day and finished it on another. Why? For whatever reason, I woke up at three in the morning on the day that I started writing it, and my energy died while I was writing it. To keep to my content schedule, I could have pressed through and gotten it done. But let’s be honest, it would have sucked. I chose instead to take the rest and make it up on my content schedule later (I always build in extra time whenever possible). It worked like a charm.
Create a game of tasks you don’t want to do
One of the bad habits of many freelancers is leaving work that they don’t want to do to fester. You don’t technically have a boss, so you don’t have anyone to push you to do everything you have to do. So promoting yourself or business administrative tasks especially are prone to fall off the to-do list. But anything that doesn’t jive with your personality can fall victim to this.
Know what games motivate you and use them to your advantage. Maybe it’s connecting with another consultant and seeing who can finish their task they don’t want to do first. Or maybe it’s seeing how much you can get done in ten minutes. Or you could even just commit to doing the first step and see if it takes you to the next step of the task. Just know yourself and use that knowledge to get stuff done.
Create habits around talking to others who do what you do
Most people who start as a social media freelancer come at it as if everyone is your competition. They’re not. I know a ton of people who do what I do and never once have we come into competition for a job. It’s actually more likely that we’ll team up to go after a job. And that’s why maintaining relationships with your peers is so important.
Get a team together that you can talk to as problems pop up. But also make it a habit to chit chat with them from time to time. Help them out as they need it. Make it a priority for the relationship to also be about what you can bring them and not just what they can bring you. They’ll be more likely to be there when you need it and that can make all the difference in the world.
What daily habit has helped your business?