My top 5 scheduling and organizational tips for freelancers! 📅

Emma Nelson
Jan 8
5 min read

Time management makes all the difference. How do you manage yours? ⌚

As we start our first full work week of 2025, I figured now would be the perfect time to share my top 5 scheduling/organizational tips for freelancers! These tips, when applied consistently, will help you keep your writing business on track through the craziness of another work year. 😊

As a full-time freelancer, I often feel overwhelmed by everything I need to keep track of - there’s so much to do, and time is always chugging steadily along. In school, my workload was determined by teachers and professors, but now, it’s all up to me! I’m the one who decides how hard I’ll work, what my dedication and income goals will be, and how I’ll learn new skills that I need for my business. Freelancing is a career that requires extreme internal motivation, and some darn good planning.

So let’s get to it!

1. Don’t just buy a pretty calendar - find one with a good layout and USE it!

You know that one friend who buys a planner every year and insists they’re actually going to use it this time, but then it just sits on their desk until the year has passed?

Yeah, I was that friend. Calendars, planners, journals - when I see one, it’s so pretty, so new, so full of possibilities! So I buy them, ask for them for Christmas, and get them for my birthday. After many years of this, I’ve accumulated at least 15 beautiful notebooks that have never been used. 🥲

But I’ve finally stuck with a calendar for the past year and a half (cue the applause!), and it’s been a game changer. Be careful to choose a calendar that will work for you. I always choose one that has both a monthly calendar and a weekly calendar for the whole year. That way, I can write down big events, birthdays, and trips on the monthly calendar, and I can write down my day-to-day goals/events in the larger space allotted for the weekly calendar. I also look for a calendar with ample notes spaces somewhere on the weekly/monthly calendar pages. That way, I can write my monthly goals in the notes section of the monthly calendars, and my weekly goals in the notes of the weekly ones. I like to check off the things I’ve accomplished as I go, so this is a necessary feature for me!

Here’s a detailed post I wrote with things you may want to consider doing annually, monthly, and weekly for yourself/your writing business.

If you’re not a physical calendar person, that’s totally fine - in fact, it may be even better. Digital calendars are extremely personalizable and can even send you reminders prior to events or due dates. I’m a paper-and-pen type of person (I love those pretty planners, they make me smile ☺️), but I still put super important events in my digital calendar, and I use a digital calendar tool through my website for scheduling consultations with potential clients.

Having a planner has helped me keep track of my plans, my goals, and my day-to-day activities. I accomplish more because I write it all down in my calendar at the start of each week and I make sure everything on my list gets done!

2. Set realistic goals and create a step-by-step action plan for achieving them.

I wrote an entire post about this point! It is vital that you set realistic yet substantial goals for yourself and your business, and that you figure out the steps you need to take to achieve them. I can decide I’d like to draft a new manuscript in six months, but it won’t write itself; I have to figure out how much writing needs to be done each month, each week, each day to make it happen.

For a FREE downloadable action plan guide to help you reach your goals this year, check out my post on goal-setting here.

3. Have separate folders for separate things.

Remember that kid in school who showed up to class with a beat-up binder stuffed full of half-ripped papers? Remember how that kid usually got bad grades?

Yeah. That kid wasn’t unintelligent - they just didn’t know how to organize.

Whether you learned to separate your class materials in school or not, you can be organized now… And if you’re running a business, you should be! Your clients are depending on you, and it’s hard to depend on someone who doesn’t know where your documents are or which client you are.

I have a physical binder for my personal projects, separated by dividers. I’d have multiple binders, but all of my client projects are done on my computer, so I have digital folders instead. Each is neatly labeled so that I know where to find all of my business contracts, all of my financial paperwork, and each of my clients’ written work.

As a freelance writer, you will produce a lot of… Writing! So, be conscientious of where your documents are.

4. Keep track of all revenue and business expenses.

For those of you in the USA, you’ll thank me when April rolls around! As a business owner, you can reduce your taxable income by keeping track of all of your business expenses. I’m not a CPA - this is not financial advice, and you should consult one when it comes to your business/finances, but having a detailed log of what you’re earning and spending for your business is essential!

Watch your money closely - what’s coming into your account(s) and what’s going out?

P.S. If you’re enjoying my writing and receiving value from my work, please consider subscribing to The Ghost Post on Substack here!

5. Value your time and manage it effectively.

I have a few things to say about this one…

Set aside time for scheduling/organization. It’s hard to set goals/action plans or fill out your calendar each week if you don’t set aside time for it! Don’t let your scheduling and organization falter because you didn’t set aside time for them. I take a half hour each week to fill out my planner for the week, check in on my progress with my larger goals, and organize documents. It’s not a huge time commitment, but it’s important!
Give yourself more time for things than you think you need. If you think you’ll write something in an hour and a half, give yourself two. Either you’ll finish early and can move on to the next task/take a break, or you won’t be stressed out if the project takes longer than you expected. It’s always better to give yourself a little bit of margin in your day.
Build in breaks. On a similar note, be sure to build in breaks for yourself each day. You have to eat, sleep, shower, do chores… And rest! Give yourself time to relax and enjoy living, not just working. 😊 This is especially important to remember when you are scheduling meetings/socially intense days. Give yourself ample cushion between discovery calls, networking events, lunch meetings - whatever it may be. That way, you can take notes on your last meeting and get ready for your next without feeling rushed and overwhelmed.
Ensure that your client contracts are detailed. Make sure that your client contracts outline exactly how many revisions you’ll allow for the agreed-upon price so that you don’t find yourself in an endless loop of corrections or doing tons of work for free. Your time is valuable, and it should be treated as such. You should get paid for your work, so be sure to protect yourself with a detailed client contract.
1. Note: I am not an attorney and this should not be construed as legal advice. Be sure to work with a licensed contract attorney to draft your contractual agreements!

I hope you find these 5 tips helpful as you schedule/organize for your freelancing business in 2025! Let me know how I can help you by reaching out or leaving a comment below.

EMMA GRACE WRITES