maltpress

I’ve had many, many different bits of advice since starting up, and several of these I’ve initially ignored - thinking foolishly they wouldn’t apply to me - and then found out I should have listened.

First of these was “it always takes more money than you think” - which it did. I cannot now stress enough the importance of a decent war-chest before you go it alone.

The other bit of advice I had was to put together job bags, job folders, job sheets or work logs - whatever you want to call them. At their most basic they’re just a folder which you keep all your documents for a job together, but mine have evolved through necessity to something a bit more sophisticated. They’re a good idea for any freelance writer or project manager - even if you only ever have one job on the go at a time. With a well organised job bag, all you’ll ever need for a project is in one place, and you can easily log everything you do. Old job bags can be kept and referred back to when you next have to do a similar job.

When I start a new project, I print out a job sheet. This includes the following information:

• Project number: based on the date and client code in my case. As long as it’s identifiable by you it’s probably OK, but be aware of sorting folders on your computer: I’m stuck now with a system which lists everything by date order because those are the first characters of the code. Because of this I need to remember when I start each project rather than something simple like who the client is.
• Client: often not really needed, but if you’re being sub-contracted it’s useful to keep a reminder of who’s involved in the full supply chain.
• Project name: Sometimes you’ll have several projects for the same client.
• Start date and deadline: so you always keep an eye on when you need to finish things. Deadlines can suck, yes, but they can also drive you to complete something you’d otherwise just spend weeks procrastinating about.
• Brief: a quick summary of the brief. It’s easy to go slightly off-scope if you don’t have a concise reminder to hand. Summarising a long brief can also help get it straight in your head.
• Notes: as appropriate. Keep a record of email addresses, things that come up - it’s a good idea to print this out with enough space to hand write notes in here.
• Quote detail: total cost, VAT, total payable, details of any instalments it’ll be paid in, and what drawings you’ll be taking. This will help you with month-by-month financial planning, and will stop the temptation to take too much from a project as drawings. Remember to put about a third of every amount you receive aside for tax.

On a separate sheet, print out a blank table with columns for date, task, times and notes. Use this sheet to keep a log of the actual work you do on a project. That way you’ll soon find out if you’re under or over quoting for work, and - if you’re working to a set time limit or charging per hour - you’ll be able to charge properly. It will also help you get a better idea of future quotes.

The job sheet and the time sheet go together in a clearly labelled document wallet or - for bigger projects (especially when there’s a lot of research) Rymans and other stationers do nice solid plastic document boxes. Stick a label on the front, keep your notes, research and other documents with it, and Bob’s your uncle - nicely organised projects. At the end of the project collect everything up, back up all your electronic files to CD, and put it all in a folder and keep it on your book shelves for future reference. When you get a similar project, be sure to go back and check what you learned before.