People sometimes ask me how I manage to stay on top of all of my work when there isn’t a boss at home telling me to do so. I joke (half-joke, really) that I can’t stomach the idea of having a boss hanging over my shoulder so I’m motivated to stay productive!

The truth, however, is that I’ve learned a lot of little tricks over the years that keep my productivity on track. Here’s a few of those tips:

• Stick to a schedule. One of the things I love about my work is that my schedule is flexible. Despite this, I try to stick to one more often than not because that’s the way to stay productive.
• Set goals. It’s so cliche but setting your own goals really helps you to stay on top of productivity.
• Hold yourself accountable. Do productivity checks throughout the day to make sure you’re meeting your goals. Make a phone appointment with a friend to touch base about how productivity you are (or aren’t) being.
• Use technology in a productive way. Your mobile phone, social networking sites and access to the Internet are all great tools for productivity but only if you’re careful not to let them distract you.
• Cut yourself some slack. Sometimes it’s okay to slack off a little bit. If you beat yourself up when you do, you’ll actually reduce your productivity.

Mostly being productive is about knowing what you want to get done and finding a way to motivate yourself to do it. Do you have any specific productivity tips that have helped you out?

Tags: business, freelance, kathryn vercillo, productivity, time management, tips

I have been thinking about offering some sort of summer promotion for my writing services. I’d like to get some new clients. I want to spread the word about the blogging and social promotion services that I offer. And I really just want to be trying out some new personal marketing techniques.

Summer promotions seems like a great way to do this. There is a bit of downtime in the summer so I can focus on creating a cool promotion. The people I’d be interested in reaching are people who are probably spending hot summer afternoons checking out blogs and social networks anyway. And since it’s seasonal, I can try it out without committing to it for a long period of time.

I’m not sure what type of summer promotion I want to offer. I’m kicking around different ideas. I’d love to hear some thoughts from you about good summer promotion ideas for bloggers. Leave it in the comments or drop me an email!

Tags: blogging, business, freelance, kathryn vercillo, marketing, self-employed, summer promotion, work

I love “to do” lists. I make a To Do list at the start of every week with the tasks that must be completed for work as well as the tasks that I need to complete in my personal life. I find that it brings a sense of order to my days and makes me capable of easily seeing how to organize my time.

However, I realize that the To Do list isn’t the most efficient tool for this type of organization. There are several alternatives to the To Do list that are probably preferable to this method including calendaring, the use of task management software programs and simply doing tasks as they come to mind instead of writing them down and putting them off until later.

I do use these tools to some extent. I rarely work on team projects as a freelancer but when I do I have been know to use different task management programs such as BaseCamp and Liquid Planner to get the work done more efficiently. I also use Google Calendars when organizing my own work.

Despite my ability to use these tools, I still hang on to the habit of using a To Do list regularly. I think there’s some value to having rituals in our lives and that’s one that seems to work for me. I’m not arguing that it’s efficient but it’s working for me.

Do you use To Do lists? If not, how do your organize your tasks?

Tags: business, freelance, getting things done, kathryn vercillo, productivity, task management, to do list

I’ve been writing a whole lot lately about how hard it is to work from home. I’ve been thinking about productivity and how to make it better in the home office. I’ve been wondering if multi-tasking helps or hinders these goals. And I’ve been putting together tips for increasing home office productivity. All of these things are based on my own experiences working from home for so many years.

But the truth is that I don’t always do what I recommend that others should do. And yes, my productivity probably falters because of it. Some of the things that I do wrong when it comes to working from home:

• I turn on the TV at lunchtime. It’s supposed to be a quick distraction but usually I get sucked in and leave it on for several hours in the background while I try to do my work which tends to mean that I’m only half paying attention to what I need to be working on.
• I check my social networking sites and IM throughout the day. This means that I’m regularly getting distracted by non-work conversations during my work hours.
• I often work from bed. I don’t have a good work space in my house and I frequently spend hours working from my bed even though I don’t think this is healthy for the mind or body.

However, there’s a lot I do right which is why I can make things work as a full-time freelancers. Things I’ve gotten down include:

• Scheduling. I’ve learned to create a schedule that works for me and I’ve learned how to adapt that schedule as needed when other things come up.
• Setting boundaries. When I don’t want to be bothered during working hours I have no problem letting people know that.
• Getting up and dressed. Even though I work from bed a lot, I always get up first and shower and put on clothes that are nice and make the bed before getting back into it.

Learning to work well from home takes time. I’m getting there.

Tags: advice, business, freelance, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, productivity, small business, work, work from home, working for yourself, writing

I’ve really been struggling lately with trying to figure out how to increase my happiness throughout the day. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not particularly unhappy. However, I have come to truly believe that the key to complete satisfaction in life is to maximize contentedness within every moment. It’s basically the idea of “being here now” and learning how to do that within the confines of a real (busy!) life.

One of the things that I’m wondering in relation to this is whether I need to stop multi-tasking. There are certainly pros and cons to multi-tasking. I’ve derived many benefits from multi-tasking in terms of being able to take on many jobs at once and to seamlessly integrate work life with my home life. I am a natural mutli-tasker and I feel more comfortable working this way than focusing on one task at a time.

However, I don’t think multi-tasking is conducive to my goal of trying to find true happiness in every moment. In order to “be here now”, you actually have to be present and fully focused on what you’re doing. You have to do things mindfully which means doing them with your full attention. Multi-tasking is the exact opposite of this.

I’m not really sure that I can give up multi-tasking all together. My brain tends to just keep trying to sort things out while I’m doing other things. And I don’t really know if quitting mutli-tasking is good for me in terms of productivity. But it’s something that I want to play around with more because I do think that true peace of mind only comes when you are focused on what is in front of you.

Tags: business, freelance, mulit-tasking, multitasking, productivity, work

As the result of many years of working as a freelancer and playing around with my own schedule on a regular basis, I have come to conclude that some days are going to be more productive than others. I have also learned that there is a steady rhythm to this ebb and flow of productivity for me.

The most productive days of the month for me seem to be the ones during which I do my organizing and planning. Although more may actually get done on days when I’m plowing through my projects, the act of getting it all sorted out on a calendar and a spreadsheet is really what makes me capable of being steadily productive.

For me, these days are the first few days of the month and the last few days of the month. I don’t do a lot of “work” on these days but instead take the time to review the month that has just passed, organize the month’s finances and then plan out the goals for the new month.

I don’t limit this to just work either. I also use these days of the month to make my personal To Do lists, set forth some creative goals for the month and figure out what I want to do with who and when. Of course, these plans are flexible and subject to change on a whim but the organized approach makes me feel like I can handle the ebb and flow of the rest of the month with ease.

Tags: be more productive, freelance, increase productivity, most important days of the month, productivity, schedule, working

As money has been getting tighter and tighter for everyone I know, I suddenly find myself fielding a lot of questions about the work that I do. Many people think that perhaps they can easily get into freelance writing and make some money at it so they want to know what I do to earn money. I’m happy to answer these questions not only because I like to be helpful but also because it reminds me of how tough what I do actually is.

One of the things that I’ve remembered from these discussions is that most people don’t know how involved Google is with advertising methods online and how it is possible to make money yourself as a result of that. Google has everything from AdSense for Blog Content to Coupon Templates for Businesses. I mention these things in passing to people asking me questions about my work and their ears perk up because they’ve never heard of these things before.

This reminds me that it’s taken me a long time to learn what I know about the web writing and blogging business. When I first started out, I didn’t know about these things either. And the fact that I’ve picked up all of these skills over the years sometimes gets overlooked because mostly I just do what I do and that stuff all adds up in the background. But it’s a real business and a tough one and those of us who are doing it should stop to pat ourselves on the back sometimes.

Tags: adwords, business, coupon template, freelance, google, google adwords, kathryn vercillo, web 2.0, web writing

I write a lot about blog carnivals here because I participate in them regularly and also because I think that they are a great way to easily find links to new blogs on topics that are of interest to you. Usually I don’t write about my contributions to freelance writing blog carnivals on this blog because I post that information on my blog about writing, Real Words, instead.

However, I’m choosing to include one of those here because the blog carnival is a smart blog carnival called Cerebral Barbed Wire which covers a wide range of different topics like I do here on Diary of a Smart Chick. one of those topics is freelance writing which is where my post on 10 places to look for freelance writing jobs was included. The other post in this section was on Digg Tools.

The other topics covered in this blog carnival were:

• Business and Personal Finance (particularly on penny stocks and remarkability)
• The technology of solar power
• Food
• Health and wellness – including overcoming fear

Interesting range of topics here!

Tags: best blogs, blog carnival, blogs, business, freelance, freelance writing, kathryn vercillo, real words, writing

One of the things that you have to incorporate into your daily schedule when you work as a freelancer is the time to look for new freelance work. Although it’s a good idea to build up a set of steady clients so that you’re essentially working as a remote employee for just a few businesses, it is equally important to make sure that you’re continuously putting yourself out there to get new (and perhaps better) freelance jobs.

There are a few things that I’ve learned about finding work as a freelance writer that make the process of doing this simpler for me:

• It needs to be something that I do every day. This helps me stay abreast of the job opportunities that are out there so that I can apply to all of the ones that seem right for me.
• It should be done at the same time every day. That’s because it becomes part of a habitual schedule so you don’t have to think about when you’re going to fit it in. It’s just what you do every day like answer emails or update your social networking sites.
• It’s important to know where to look. I have a post up today listing ten places to look for freelance writing job leads for those people who are also working in this same industry.
• My resume must be kept up to date. As a freelancer, I usually rely on a web portfolio to show off my work but there are many potential clients who want a resume so it’s important to update mine regularly.
• The more you look, the better you get at looking. I can typically just glance at an ad now and easily tell whether it’s worth pursuing, whether or not to put a lot of effort into the application or if it’s a scam. Practice makes perfect so they say.

What have you learned about finding work as a freelancer? Any good tips or advice to share?

Tags: employment, freelance, freelance writing, job leads, work, writers, writing, writing work

I do a lot of writing about taxes but I’m hardly the only person writing on this (and other financial topics). Two of my tax posts have been included as part of blog carnivals that deal with taxes and other things related to money. They both have a lot of informative stuff that is worth reviewing if money is something that concerns you. And really, who isn’t at least a little bit concerned about money?!

My Freelancer’s Guide to Important Tax Deductions was included in the Small and Home Business blog carnival. It was in the “money and finance” section along with posts on healthcare, Roth IRAs, day jobs, tax refunds, tax software, scams, cash advances, MMA rates, high yield savings accounts, business credit cards, debt consolidation, debt relief grants and even green printing!

My tips for Organizing Tax Information Throughout the Year was part of the Personal Finance blog carnival. It was in the taxes section along with posts on itemized deductions, TurboTax discounts and asset allocation. The other categories at this blog carnival were budgeting, investing, retirement, debt management, risk management, estate planning, financial planning, home financing, the cost of education and  the economy.

Tags: best blogs, blog carnival, blog roundup, blogs, bukisa, freelance, freelance taxes, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, tax information, tax tips, taxes