Essential tasks for running a freelance business (and how often to do them)

As you may know, I’m all about work-life balance and freelancing to have a more well-rounded existence.

Whilst that sounds super fun and free-spirited, a big part of it is nailing down processes and tasks to make the best use of your time. To keep me on track, I work from this list of daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and yearly tasks. It makes sure I’m covering all bases to keep my business ticking over (which it has been doing for almost five years), but most importantly, it helps me know when to stop and get outside to enjoy life.

It might help you make sure you’re doing everything you need. Or you might find you can cut unnecessary tasks and save time. If you find yourself with one of those no-paid-work days, you can turn to this list and get your ducks in a row for when the paid work floods in again. I block out dedicated time slots to work on each task (e.g. Thursday morning is website update time), but you could use it as a to-do list if that works better for you.

Have I missed anything? Let me know and I’ll add it and credit you!

Daily

• Respond to emails

• Post on social media

• Interact on social media

Weekly

• Plan social media content for the week

• SEO check-up

• Update business profiles and portfolios

• Website updates

• Pitch for work

• Follow up on pitches/proposals/potential clients

• Finances – including chasing invoices

• List wins of the week/gratitude list

• Networking (including social media chats or networking events)

Fortnightly

• Publish content (you might publish weekly or monthly, so adjust accordingly)

• Business development (this is scheduled, non-negotiable time for reading, thinking and planning. I leave it vague on purpose. It’s time to just take a step back and look at the business as a whole)

• Personal development (I schedule in time once a fortnight to read or attend training)

Monthly

• End of month finances

• End of month metrics review

• Review yearly goals, track progress, make adjustments

• Review pricing

• Tidy email inbox and desktop files

• Backup data

Yearly

• Tax return

• Check and renew subscriptions

• Plan holidays and note down bank/public holidays in your calendar

• Update blog posts

• Check links on website

• Update copyright year on website footer

• Client thank yous

• Charity donation and tree planting

• Annual review

• Goal setting, and new year planning and admin

• Share rate increase

• Delete old files for data compliance

Are there any I’ve missed? Let me know on LinkedIn.

To get intentional about levelling up your freelance career, book in for a Zoom power hour with me.