Creative minds think alike…not many want to be organized, let alone put a time limit on the work that they do. Who would want to? If you’re going to use your creativity for your business though, it’s absolutely imperative that you do. Follow these simple guidelines to help you get organized and get your business rolling for the amount you deserve.
So, how long will it take you?
* Time yourself. The easiest way to know how long it takes you to do finish projects is to keep a log of it. If you’re a writer, time how long it takes you to complete a page. Look at the work count and divide it by your time. That’s how long it takes you per word and clients want to know that. If you’re a graphic designer, start your timer when you open your program. Include any time you took to draw up a rough draft. Stop the timer when you save it in the appropriate file.
* When you first start out, it will probably take you longer than you think for your first ten or so projects. You’ll forget to include the time it takes for admin, marketing, and the rest of life. The best thing to do is 1) count how many projects you have or would like to have, 2) estimate how long you work on them each a day, 3) add up how many hours it will take for you to complete the project, 4) divide that time by the amount of days you work.*
* Keep your schedule up-to-date. Always know exactly how much you’ve completed on a project, how much you need to finish, and an estimate of when you’re done. Fill in personal time and don’t ever erase it. You’ll wear yourself out quickly if you work 24/7.
* Add up the amount of time you need for each project and add on at least 5 hours. Your clients will be pleasantly surprised when it’s finished more quickly. They’ll keep coming back to you for more.
Knowing how long it will take you will lead you to when you expect to be completed, but they are not the same thing. As a web designer, it may take you 20 billable hours to complete a 5 page website that you also have to write content for. That’s not including all the time it will take you to write and/or call your client. Research the industry and company. Or prepare anything you need for the actual site, like graphics and content. For example, if you told the client on Monday it would take you 20 hours and you would have it ready by Thursday, they would be expecting it then. Yet, your program crashes. They’re not getting back to you about who’s info they want to have on the contact page. And you can’t get their ISO to upload the site on Thursday morning as promised. You’ll end up looking bad. And that’s not good business for you.
On the other hand, if you took the time before hand to calculate the 20 billable hours and then estimated that you would spend four hours a day on this project because it’s your biggest project thus far, you would discover that if you started Monday it would take you until Friday to complete it. Always add three to five business days to your projects. Telling them you’ll have it up and running by next Friday is very reasonable. Having it by Wednesday makes you a commodity. And they’ll keep coming back for more. Especially when you bill them 1) by the hour and they see how much time you put into their “20 hour project” or 2) by the project and they see that you put two weeks of work into “their project” and you were so inexpensive. [Either way, you calculated by the hour and billed them the same. It helps organize your records and makes increasing your pay rate, and thus your worth, a lot easier than by doing things per project]
So, when will it be completed?
* Calculate billable hours and spread it out over each day.
* Decide on the project’s level of importance before you figure out your completion date.
* Add three to five business days for life to happen.
* Contact the client with the estimation ASAP…they’ll be so happy when they receive it sooner.
There’s always more ways you can organize your business. Being creative, it’s a bit harder to do than most. Some brilliant minds just don’t flow that way. So if you’ve started a business for yourself and you want to make a profit off of your creativity, you have to be organized if you want a good reputation and return customers…and referrals! The better your work, the better you communicate, and, naturally, the better you organize yourself, the more you will hear from your clients community of business connections. You’ll be on your way to a brighter day if you start by organizing your work.
L’voe,
Jenn “Branden” O’Brien
Creative Consultant–connecting the creative world to the business industry one musician, artist, and writer at a time.*
Visit LvoeStudios.com to learn how creative consulting can help you increase your creativity within your business, music, artistry, or writing today.