-
Why it’s Crucial to Invest in Your Business
It’s no secret that we all want to make as much money as possible—to fulfill our essential needs, and to offer us some freedom and security in life.
It’s been embedded in our brains since a young age that money makes the world go ‘round, and as we’ve grown older we can see just how much that rings true.
For most of us, this means that we want to keep a tight grip on any money coming in, and be mindful about how it eventually (and inevitably) slips from our grasp—especially for freelancers.
Without the safety and consistency of a salary, it’s understandable that you would want to reserve as much of that hard-earned coin as possible.
However, as a one-person show, you are essentially running a business. And, whether or not you have an LLC, personal website, or lawyer and accountant on speed dial, your work should be treated as such.
Just as the success of a large corporation depends deeply on the funds being invested back into the company, so does the success of your personal business.
In order to get the best results, it’s important to know where to focus your finances. Let’s get started.
Read More… -
Steps for Finding (and Securing) New Business Opportunities
We talk a lot about being a freelancer or small business owner, and the benefits of being your own boss.
You can be selective about projects, have flexibility in your schedule, and control your own processes and outcomes. We outlined a lot of the advantages of being out on your own in our previous article, Are You Ready to Freelance?
However, being the CEO of your one-person business comes with additional, CEO-level responsibilities, including project management, bookkeeping, new business development, and billing.
Your income (and, likely, livelihood) is dependent on your ability to maximize your time and pack as much work into your desired daily, weekly, or monthly goal.
Throughout every freelancer’s journey, there is a constant need to assess workflow—have you taken on too much at once, or are you actually not filling enough of your time?
In this article, we take a look at how to know when it’s time to take on new projects, and the steps necessary to do just that.
Read More… -
Timing’s Look at the iOS 12 Update
There’s always a lot of excitement surrounding an Apple announcement—and for good reason.
The brand is an innovative leader in technology, and has made many products that have seamlessly integrated into our lives to make our daily routines easier, smarter, and better connected.
It should come as no surprise that we here at Timing are big Apple fans (Timing tracks all your time spent on your Mac—and off of it—after all). We love perusing what experts and customers alike have to say following a big announcement from the industry giant.
New iPhones, an Apple Watch update, and iOS 12 were all topics of discussion at Apple’s September 12 press conference, and we’re going to take a look at all of them.
Read More… -
How to Structure Your Timing Projects When Working with Multiple Clients
If you’re already a user of Timing, then we don’t need to tell you how time tracking can seriously improve your productivity, earning potential, and attitude.
Facebook even recently announced that it will allow users to track and limit the amount of time spent on its social media app to have a positive impact on mental health.
And, as a Timing customer, you likely immersed yourself (or hopefully at least skimmed) our email course during your first week playing around with the app.
Timing offers a lot of capabilities and features, but your situation might not require every single one. To get the most out of the software and become as efficient as possible when tracking time, we rounded up our best tips and tricks in one place.
Read More… -
How to Make This School Year Your Best Yet
Hey, students! You’ve likely spent your summer break traveling (lucky duck), interning, on your parents’ couch, or working to pay for next semester’s tuition (kudos to you).
Whatever the case, it’s time to dust off the notebooks and hit the library stacks, because university is back in session.
The back-to-school wave can bring on a number of emotions. We always personally loved the feeling of starting a fresh chapter—it seemed like an infinite oasis of opportunity to take the bull by its horns and really live up to the potential we knew was inside of us. We wanted to commit to our studies and accomplish a laundry list of endeavors for the year. (A little overzealous, but a good attitude nonetheless.)
On the other hand, it can feel a bit daunting. You go from having at least some control over your schedule to being inundated with lectures, class assignments, pressures to map out the future, and the non-stop flow of social engagements.
But, our friend, have no fear. Timing is here to help you tackle the new semester and set yourself up to have your best school year yet.
Read More… -
Are You Ready to Freelance?
Have you noticed how much more common the concept of freelancing is today?
What used to be a term seemingly reserved for writers—reporters, columnists, copyeditors, etc.—has now transcended across nearly every industry.
(According to Merriam-Webster, the word “freelance” seems to have started in the early 1800s to describe a medieval soldier who would fight for the side willing to pay him the most. It was first mentioned in Ivanhoe, a novel by Sir Walter Scott.)
Especially in an increasingly digital world, the demand for developers, digital marketers, and tech whizzes has skyrocketed. Particularly when it comes to specialized needs, experts can find themselves in a position where they are being paid top dollar without having to make a full-time, on-site commitment.
Are you in a place in your career where going out on your own and “being your own boss” is something that feels right?
Read More… -
3 Mistakes You’re Making When Tracking Time (and How to Fix Them)
Chances are that if you’re a freelancer or business owner, you are all too familiar with the practice of tracking your time.
Whether it’s necessary to properly bill clients or is just a good habit developed out of the desire to be more productive, you already know that the minimal time it actually takes to track time (especially if you take advantage of helpful tools, hint hint) is well worth the payoff.
And, if you work in an office environment and haven’t been required to track your time yet, get ready—it’s probably coming soon.
That’s why it’s important to understand how to properly track time and avoid some common mistakes.
Read More… -
Night Owl or Early Bird: How to be Productive at Night?
Because you don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn to be productive!
I really wish that I could bounce out of bed at 4am, drink some lemon water, and be on with the day. In fact, I once did that for a week and was a crying wreck by 7pm on Thursday. My coworker made me promise I’d stop.
Were I to believe many of the productivity articles and entrepreneurs out there, this flaw means I’ll never be successful.
When entrepreneurs talk about their morning routines, I feel like I’m in a locker room conversation of everyone one-upping the next. “I wake up at 5am and spend 90 minutes working out,” “Well I wake up at 4am, run a 10k, then mentor underprivileged kids and found a new NGO before checking emails by 8am.”
Sir Richard Branson wakes up every day at 5am and encourages everyone to do the same. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo is up at 4. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is up at 5:30am and out the door for a jog. They’re not the anomalies. In an informal survey, 90 percent of executives identified as being early risers.
Feeling guilty for sleeping in till 7?
This guilt made me want to explore a radical concept: what if you can sleep in, but still absolutely crush the heck out of your day?
Some entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, seem to be both lark and owl — getting 6 hours of sleep a night. Other CEOs swear by 4 solid hours, and even advise on how to cut your sleep down to that little.
The thought of only 4 hours sleep a night, though, is a little horrifying. So we talked to some real-life night owls, and guess what? They’re still getting loads done, and getting plenty of sleep in the process. Here’s why our successful night owls swear by the evening hours for their productivity.
Read More… -
Time Scarcity Can Be Beaten! Here’s How to Break Free
Do you say ‘I don’t have time’ too much? Here’s how to manage your time better with a change in mindset, and Mac productivity apps that will restore the hours in your day.
It’s already July. Where has the year gone? For that matter, do you remember the millenium? Children born in the Millenium will now be graduating from high school and heading off to college. Where has the time gone?
“I don’t have time” is said way. Too. Much. Period. Yet we all have 24 hours in the day, so how do some people seem to have so much more?
Statistics are now showing us how “I don’t have time” is just blatantly wrong. We work less than we used to, and we have more free time. Yet that is far from the experience of most people.
But why? There’s one simple explanation, which is that we’re spending too much time on our screens, even when we’re not working. In a 2017 Ted Talk, psychologist Adam Alter analysed why our screens are stealing our time, and the reasons why this isn’t good for our mental health.
It goes beyond our screens though. Being busy has become fashionable, a badge of success. It used to be that having made it meant that you had leisure time. Now, it seems that the wealthy and successful have more jam-packed schedules than any of us.
So how do you break out of this culture where being busy is a status symbol, and develop a mindset of time abundance, rather than poverty. From work time apps and Mac productivity apps to a change in the words you use in daily life, here are some ways to reclaim the hours in your day.
Read More… -
9 Entrepreneurs Share Weird Ways They Manage Time Effectively
Tired of the same old tips for how to manage time? We asked productivity experts to weigh in with what they consider their ‘weirdest’ tips.
Want to be more productive? Get up earlier, work in small bursts, exercise, and drink water. If I had a dollar for every article on the internet telling me to do these, I’d be richer than a Kardashian.
What about the things that you don’t hear constantly: the experiments, and the personal discoveries? The Eureka moments when those of us desperate to eke more time out of our day realize if I do this small thing I work so much better!
Employing some lesser-known hacks might be what you need to transition from stress-preneur to entrepreneur. Don’t worry, though, we’re only advocating legal techniques, unlike micro-dosing LSD which is currently the trending productivity hack in Silicon Valley.
To find some brand new productivity hacks, we asked some experts what they do to get the most from their day. Think you know it all already? You’re about to find out.
Read More…
