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Going Solo Live, learn to manage your work day, get into a routine and avoid making some mistakes the make you less effective. I keep blogging about this #GoingSolo, @Pistachio, @Stephtara

We have already posted these stories about Going Solo Live here:

Going Solo - it started

Going Solo - @Pistachio - how to use Twitter smartly NOT

Going Solo - Dennis Howlett - tax and finance

Going Solo - where do you start when you set a fee for your services?

Going Solo - Suw Charman - balancing working and life

Going Solo - Martin Roell - tools and methods to get things done

Stephanie Booth moderated a session entitled solo in a networked world with Laura Fitton, Linda Broughton, and Stephanie Troeth. What they shared with us was:

- for some people being part of a co-working arrangement is the solution = is a physical space similar to an office as well as printing facilities, meeting rooms, etc.;

- how does one get the most out of a co-working space - go there regularly, make contact with people, use the meeting space, get energized by meeting others, nevertheless it is not for everyone - it is about sharing, if this does not fit your working style, co-working space will not work for you;

- what are the specific problems when managing freelancers

1) who works on more than one project is the first and probably the biggest challenge;

2) managing deadlines, assign tasks every week for every week;

3) check every day if the progress allows the team to reach the next milestone, otherwise flag the delay and take action; things generally take longer than you think they do;

- making estimates for a project is possible if you know how much time the various people have available;

- thinking about how freelancers might make it difficult for the client(s) - having a different flow meaning that their time slots may be different then yours and whilst you could make time available a corporate or government client may be on a mission (travelling abroad attending meetings) so re-scheduling is needed;

- co-working arrangements might help a freelancer to pass on some work to another qualified person if he or she does not have time enough for completing a particular project on time;

- how does one make the offline and online work if one works in a satellite office with a nine hour difference - daily calls or weekly meetings - makes it easier for the people in two offices to stay connected and share what happens in each office offline,

a) meetings held offline must be well structured,

b) decisions made offline must be brought to the conference call and shared with the ‘other’ group

c) get them to read your e-mail early in the morning (if they are in the U.S.) and answer before you go home

Bottom Line

One has to find the working arrangement that one works best in. This might be achieved by having a co-working arrangement whereby one has a desk and can meet other small business owners and other freelancers that or workers to collaborate with.

A big challenge is to find people that are able and skilled in doing project management for a team of freelancers, whereby tasks and timelines are being kept in order to meet deadlines and COMPLETE the project. All this must be accomplished within budget - time and money.

check Summize for all the tweets about GoingSolo

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Going Solo Live, learn to manage your work day, get into a routine and avoid making some mistakes the make you less effective. I keep blogging about this #GoingSolo, #Martinroell

We have already posted these stories about Going Solo Live here:

Going Solo - it started

Going Solo - @Pistachio - how to use Twitter smartly NOT

Going Solo - Dennis Howlett - tax and finance

Going Solo - where do you start when you set a fee for your services?

Martin Roell gave us a presentation entitled Self-Organisation for Effectiveness (tools and methods to get things done):

1) collect all stuff; write it down
2) dump all stuff in inbox
3) convert stuff into actions
4) put actions into lists

Things software might help you in organising your tasks according to projects. However, there are many more out there. Whatever you choose do:

organize your tasks by context (office, home, telephone, offline, etc.)
throw out as much as possible - you are not going to do it or YANGTDI for short

Basic principles, for getting things done you need to focus on one thing at a time. It is not just sitting down on the computer, instead, what will you do first answering e-mails and then write a post for the blog.

Best is to choose something from your list and not just start with a task at random such as answering e-mails.

What do you consider to be a to do item - look at first e-mail in your in-box and decide what you intend to do about it - phrase to do - items correctly

- what is the next action?
- action must be a doable action

Bottom Line

Martin showed us that organizing things in life could help quite a bit. Get things done one at the time. Break projects down to the first small step and then start. Also, begin the day by doing one important thing. Naturally, you have to distinguish between work and non-work activities. So take time off.

Thanks to Martin for helping us getting more effective in what we do. Working hard is fine but, most important is to work effectively, smartly …

Martin Roell - the slides as a pdf file

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Going Solo Live, learn to manage your work day, get into a routine and avoid making some mistakes the make you less effective. I keep blogging about this #GoingSolo, @Suw

We have already posted these stories about Going Solo Live here:

Going Solo - it started

Going Solo - @Pistachio - how to use Twitter smartly NOT

Going Solo - Dennis Howlett - tax and finance

Going Solo - where do you start when you set a fee for your services?

Suw Charman gave us a presentation entitled When Passion Becomes Profession (balancing work and life):

1) Decide on your working day

Do not make it too long but be consistent build your day with rituals… start your day with whatever but do it every day. For instance, I have breakfast and then bring my son to day-care (or he stays home) at 8:00 o’clock, I start my workday.

Sometimes I take a break or go and shop for milk or bred around 15:00 hours… and so on.

Your end of day ritual is most important. Therefore, I sometimes do work in front of the TV and this might not be a good habit. I have to focus more on my family and take time out playing with my kid and talk to me wife after our son is in bed.

In addition, make sure that you go to bed at the same time each night, help your sleep and makes sure you wake up next day being ready to go.

2) Take time off

Friday evening mails do not have to be answered before Monday morning. Do not project your own expectations upon others; clients do not expect you to answer your e-mails over the weekend or during your holidays

Re-charge your batteries - you need to take time off. Even from Twitter.

Stop work at least 2 hours before going to bed to calm down - helps you go to sleep.

3) Get a hobby AND a peer group

Find something to do besides working. Do something different; hang out with some of your friends.

The peer group you need to sound off your ideas - I thank my stars that I am able to discuss ideas with partner in crime Freydun M. Badri.

Do exercises - go for brisk walk, jogging, do weights at home.

Again all these things help you to be more effective during your work day

4) Managing Procrastinating (putting things off)

There is no cure as such since not all procrastination is bad. Too much is unhealthy.

Give yourself time to do a task and then stop. Do certain tasks when you know that you are productive. Therefore, phone calls should be scheduled and done during times of the day when you know you are less productive such as later in the afternoon. Writing a submission for a tender in the morning when you are more productive is a good strategy. You have to decide what works best for you.

Bottom Line

Break the bad habits and restart the new or better habit. If you do it, long enough you will change your habit. Start with defining which habits are most critical and need changing. Then start with one and achieve a permanent change. Thereafter proceed with the next one and so on.

Incidentally, the habits you have fallen into might not make you more effective, such as working until four in the morning and trying to get up at eight. It is all about being effective.

Thanks to Suw for reminding us that we have to get our house in order. Working hard is fine, unfortunately, taking time off is important as well.

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