1 Surefire Way to Increase Your Productivity

Freelancers must learn to be as productive as possible. You have to juggle multiple responsibilities within your business, work with various clients, etc. If you aren't productive, you can easily fall behind and have upset clients within one week or less. 

However, there is one surefire way to increase your productivity: get ready for work.

You will be surprised at how much you can get done when you have shifted your brain into working mode. The quickest way to go from 0 to 60 (productivity style) is to get dressed for work - all the way down to putting on shoes. I explain more details in this video:

It works, believe me. If you don't believe me, try it, and if it doesn't work, you have full permission to give me a good cyberslap :-).

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Why Every Freelancer Needs a Productive Work Environment

For the past year I worked from my couch, the bed, Bread Co. (a St. Louis twist on Panera Bread), and even on my patio. Were these productive work environments? Not in the very least. Sure, these spots are fine when you're only doing an hour or so of work, but not for working a full day. You need your own personal space that is defined as your office.

Why does an office make you more productive? There are a few reasons:

• When you enter your office, you know it's time to work because that's the space dedicated to working.
• You can have a desk that is unique to your working style.
• You can have an ergonomic office chair that is comfortable and provides a good level of support.
• You can put up pictures of your family, friends, pets, etc. that mean the most to you (the reasons why you work).

Now that I have my own office, things are different (though my space is a bit cluttered right now). I'm better able to focus, and I know when I sit down in my office chair, I mean business. I have even been able to hook my laptop into a monitor from an older computer so that I can run dual screens. This helps immensely as I'm able to look at information on one monitor while I may be keying everything in on the other.

How has having a dedicated office boosted your productivity?

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Can You Succeed As a Freelancer?

A little bit ago, I was blog surfing and found one post that struck me as rather interesting and the title nearly slapped me in the face. The writer said work-at-home freelancing is a joke. Comments are disabled on his blog - otherwise I would have commented on it.

I just couldn't get some of the things he said off my mind - and mainly because the blog is titled "Matthew's Problem with Authority". Ideally - he is a perfect candidate for freelance work because he can essentially "be his own boss".

But, to answer the question posed in the title - yes. Well, it depends. And here's why --

In order to succeed as a freelancer, you have to have all of the following:

• Willingness to succeed - believe it or not, some people don't really want to succeed. It may sound odd, but trust me on this.
• Ability to commit - if you aren't able to commit to yourself, you won't be able to commit to your business.
• Entrepreneurial spirit - you must be able to self-manage. There's no getting around it. If you aren't able manage your list of priorities, you will fall behind and could risk losing a client.
• Marketing skill (or money to pay someone to market your business for you) - you must be able to market yourself to your target market. If you aren't able to do this, you may not be able to get clients.

Possessing the above listed characteristics doesn't guarantee your success as a freelancer. However, having these tools in your arsenal is a recipe for potential success.

If you don't think that you can have a successful career as a freelancer, maybe you can't, but that doesn't mean that others will have the same result.

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Welcome to the Grand Opening of Black Freelancer!

Hi, thanks for stopping by for my "Grand Opening"!

I want to take the time to introduce myself, and I'd love to get to know some of you as well.

My name is Elise, and I've been working independently for close to a year now. After working what most folks call "a real job" for most of my adult life, I'm actually happier than ever building my career as a professional independent worker - aka freelancer.

My goal with this blog is talk about any and everything related to freelancing. Even though the blog is titled Black Freelancer (more on why I chose that name in just a bit...), there will be content here for everyone to consume, enjoy, and even debate. So, go ahead and click to "subscribe". You won't regret it one bit. I promise -- and if you do, you can always yell at me. I'm a big girl, I can handle it.

So why Black Freelancer? Well, the simplest answer is to fulfill a need that is missing in the online community. There is no "go-to" resource for freelancers/independent workers/etc. of color to connect with each other. I want this to be that hub, and like I said before, we are an inclusive community and everyone is welcome to read and participate (last time I checked it's a free country anyway).

Keep up with me over the next few days as I get into the swing of blogging, let me know that you're reading, and if there's anything you want to hear.

Talk to y'all soon! :-)

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