Whether you lean toward working less and having more free time by contracting, or to working as much as possible with the goal of retiring early, developing strong time management skills is still an absolute requirement for contractors.
Divide Your Time Well
As a contractor, some of your time has to go to each of the following:
- Paying work
- Finding paying work
- Administration
- Sleep
- Eating
- Free time
Eating is almost always the lowest amount of time. Depending on how many clients you contract to simultaneously and the length of those contracts, finding paying work may take up a significant chunk of time or next to none, averaged out day by day.
As much administration as is necessary to do your paying work compliantly and at a reasonable rate of return must be done; we hate to admit it but doing much more than that baseline can often be a form of procrastination.
Aside from that, the other categories fall into a balance based on your own intentions and reputation. Maximising the value you get from each of these, however, is where time management really shines.
Break Projects Down
Whether the project is ‘find a new client’, ‘secure the contract’, ‘update my accounts’, ‘chase payments’ or the paying work your client has asked you for, breaking it down into individual pieces makes life easier.
It can also help you better estimate how long a job will take. Most importantly, it helps you allocate your time. Starting out on a task you expect to take ten minutes when you have fifteen minutes before a client call is fine when your estimation was right; it’s when there turns out to be extra steps you breezed over that you have problems.
Now your momentum has halted a quarter of the way into an hour-long job so you can jump on the call; once you’re off that call, you’ll lose more time getting yourself back up to speed on what you’d been doing.
This problem is compounded if you’d booked that call, as many do, just before lunchtime. Now your afternoon plans are running behind before you even start.
Breaking projects down into smaller parts with individual deadlines allows steady, measurable progress. It also allows you to better assess your ongoing capacity, so you don’t take on contracts you shouldn’t and end up dealing with penalty clauses.
Variety is the Spice of Life
As much as possible, plan to change up the jobs you’re doing regularly. The shift from one task to a different type helps keep things fresh, which creates increased focus. That improved focus leads to better results – and it can also mean that individual tasks are achieved more quickly.
This does also mean there’s value to staking out ten or fifteen minute intervals in your day to enjoy some free time, keeping you refreshed for the next business task.
Track Time and Update Estimates
However you want to do it, it’s worth keeping an eye on your pace at different tasks, especially as you work with different clients over time. You might find that some tasks speed up as you get more practice, or that the same task takes wildly different times for two clients due to other complicating factors. Knowing how this works will make it much easier to keep pace.
Eliminate Unnecessary Time Sinks
If you can’t update your accounts quickly, efficiently, and accurately, should you be doing that yourself or would you be better off with a contractor accountant? If keeping up with the dunning cycle to receive payment for the work you’ve done takes up too much of your time, would an umbrella solution save you time?
Contractors don’t have to work solo, and sometimes bringing in experts to support you allows you to focus on what you do best. However you want to prioritise your time, businesses like ICS Accounting can give you more of it back. Get in touch today if you’d like to explore your options.
