In this episode of Freelance Connection, we’re discussing all about how to juggle multiple clients or projects, how to stay organized, and how to move them through your process. 

First, it’s important to have a process. What this looks like for me is that I take over the onboarding process because when it’s on my process it goes a lot smoother and clicks. It’s how I’ve developed over the years of freelancing. My onboarding process starts with an engagement/onboarding call. During this 60-minute call, I let them know ahead of time what it's going to look like. I take detailed notes, sometimes I record the calls, and get the full project scope. This ensures that I can give them a better timeline and what I’m expecting from them to kick everything off. 

Right now I have 38 clients that I’m working with and you may be wondering how I manage all of them. So how I prioritize them is by having clients I work with on a weekly basis, clients on a monthly basis, or clients on an as needed. Some clients I may only work with quarterly just in case they have questions or something comes up. 

So every Sunday night, I go over exactly what I’m working on and what I need to get done that week. I want to make sure I’m hitting the ground running come Monday morning. I have a list of clients that need something done that week or I need to follow up with and get them on my schedule. 

I have a simple system of using a piece of paper and some post-it notes. I have a post-it for each day of the week and write their names down on when I’ll be working on their project. When I’m done working on their project for the day, I either cross their name off or they get moved over to the next day. I start with the bulk of the list on Mondays, then start to move people over as needed, or others creep in. I make sure to track all of that to know my bandwidth. So how do I prioritize ongoing client stuff and client’s projects to honor all my deadlines? On the same piece of paper, I also have written down all the deadlines. First priority are things that are due that month that we’re in, then I have secondary priority for the rest. 

I’m checking my email a few times a day. This is something I’ve let them know in advance that I only check first thing in the morning, mid-day, and once at the end of my workday. This way I don’t let my email control me. 

There are times when I do get a little backlogged with work but I always let my clients know when they can expect to hear from me. Sometimes I’ll have a client message me with a quick project that I’m not able to get to until Wednesday or Thursday or whenever it makes sense for me. As long as you’re communicating your deadlines upfront and what you have going on in your life, people are totally fine with that. You are a freelancer but you also own your own schedule. You don't have to be at people’s beck and calls. If you’re ever feeling like you need to be at your client’s beck and call then you need to really take a look at your communication style and set that boundary upfront. I found that positioning myself as an extension of their business so that’s where I feel like I need to be but I also have boundaries. 

If any of this is foreign to you or you have any questions please reach out to me and I’d be happy to walk you through any of this. I wanted to give you a starting point to this is what my process is. Did it always look like this? No way, it used to be a hot mess. But, when I finally found something that worked for me everything started to come together, I gained more confidence in my schedule, and I started owning my boundaries. You can always contact me here on my site or you can dm me on Instagram @leahmmeyers.