The Importance of Getting Paid

When you're a freelancer, NOTHING is more important than getting paid. Not finding new leads, not meeting your deadlines, not exceeding client expectations -- NONE of that compares to making sure there's money in your pocket and your bills are paid on time.

Over the past 3 years, I've learned that the act of physically getting paid by clients is much harder than it should be. Some of this is due to clients moving slowly -- after all, no one wants you to get paid more than YOU do -- but most of the trouble I've had getting paid stems from complications that I can improve on my own... and now, so can you.

5 Ways to Make Sure You, the Freelancer, Get Paid

1) Request half your fee up front.

Depending on the specifics of your freelance gig, a job you begin in February may not pay you until June. After all, it can take weeks to assemble all of the related materials, weeks more to complete the work itself, and then weeks (or months) of reviews until the client decides the work is complete.

And all that time, you're working but not getting paid.

Brand new clients should expect to pay you half up front for new contracts. Longtime clients may be more flexible, and agree to pay in increments as milestones of a project (initial plan, mock-ups, each review round, etc.) are reached. But if a client is reluctant to pay even a portion of your fee up front, you need to decide if you can complete the job while not seeing a penny for 3 or 4 months. (Odds are, unless you have a massive nest egg built up, you can't; rent doesn't give you a 4 month reprieve.)

2) Never presume an invoice has been processed.

Most clients are quick to respond when they receive an invoice. Their confirmation that the invoice will be entering the accounting system helps us sleep at night, knowing we can expect to be paid within the agreed-upon turnaround time.

Recently, one of my clients claimed to have not received an invoice. When I called their accounting department to clarify, the resulting wild goose chase included, among other proposed solutions, faxing a copy of the overdue invoice to a specific accounting employee -- who, it turned out, didn't actually exist(!)...

If a client doesn't confirm receipt of an invoice, call to verify it's been received. Be pleasant but, if you're not getting an affirmative answer, be persistent -- at that stage, nothing is more important than ensuring that your invoice is processed as swiftly as possible. Remember, it's not the client's job to make sure you get paid; it's yours.

3) Make friends within the company, to help when Accounting falls behind.

If you're good at what you do, it's hard not to make friends within your client company. Keep in touch with these people, even when they're not directly involved in your current projects, because you never know when you may need to ask them for help after the impersonal folks in accounting can't find last month's invoice...

4) Be consistent in your invoicing procedures.

Most clients have one specific procedure that they request you follow when submitting invoices. This helps them avoid overlooking an invoice, which could trigger late fees if they don't pay on time. It also protects you in case you need to prove that an invoice was submitted properly, so any dispute can't be blamed on your inability to follow directions.

I recently attached a client's invoice in an email in which I also answered a client's question. Upon receipt, the client replied to follow up on my answer, resulting in a longer email conversation. Unfortunately, the client didn't notice the invoice was also attached, which resulted in that invoice not getting paid until I noticed it was overdue. In this case, simply sending two different emails (one delivering the invoice, one answering the client's question) could have saved me an additional 30 days of waiting to get paid -- since, in this case, the client wasn't wrong for not noticing the invoice because I'd diverged from standard procedure.

5) Deposit your cash immediately.

This might seem obvious, but it's amazing how often checks can languish, awaiting deposit in your account. Maybe you think it's more important to meet today's deadline, or maybe it's more convenient to deposit that check tomorrow when you're running other errands.

Wrong.

NOTHING is more important than getting paid -- and that includes the physcial act of depositing that money in your bank account.

This step is doubly important if your bank (like mine) places additional holds on out-of-state checks. In my case, when a non-Pennsylvania client pays me, it takes an extra week to actually receive that money because my bank holds that check for 5 business days. Add in the time it takes for the check to physically travel from my client's desk to mine -- up to 5 days, depending on when and where it's mailed -- and that's over 10 days between the time a client thinks they're paying me and the time I can actually apply that money to bills. (So when that check comes in, the last thing I can afford to do is "get to it tomorrow"...)

REMEMBER: When it comes to freelance work, NOTHING is more important than getting paid. If you keep your bank account full (or at least "not empty"), you'll survive long enough to acquire more clients, get higher-paying work, and (if you're really good at what you do) build a nest egg that will make each of these "get paid now" steps a little less harrowing.

Do you have any tips for getting paid? Add them to the comments below!

Spiders, Starfish and Central Command

Bureaucratic as it may be, a certain truth made itself apparent to me today:

When working with large groups of people, make sure everyone is on the same page.

All for One and One for All

The Spider and the Starfish is a book that touts the adaptability of "leaderless organizations." It was a big success because people love the idea that they can work freely, without having to answer to 100 bosses.

Of course, they still have to answer to at least one...

Even a Starfish Has a Head (Sort Of)

Here in Pittsburgh, several dozen of us are working to bring PodCamp Pittsburgh 3 to life in October. While I love seeing so many passionate people dedicated to the same common goal, the downside is, sometimes we move too fast for our own good.

Today, we launched registration for the event... only for one of our co-organizers to notice that we hadn't actually worked out one of the financial details. As such, we had to halt all registration until that detail is worked out -- a situation that may require getting up to 10 people together in the same room (or on the same conference call), just to make sure something we *think* we all agree on is something we actually do agree on.

So, ironically, having *more* volunteers than we've ever had before is actually slowing down the entire planning process because we've now realized we don't have those top-down approval procedures in place. Of course, once we do, life gets better -- so, in light of that concept, here are...

3 Tips for Working with LOTS of People

1) Know Who's in Charge of Whom.

Sooner or later, everyone has to answer to someone. Knowing who you have to answer to, and procuring their approval (or working out any discrepancies) early on, saves you the worry of wondering if you're on the right track.

2) Talk Regularly.

There's nothing more frustrating (for both sides) than nearing completion on a project, only to find out that you're doing it wrong. If you need approval, get it. If you have questions, ask them. Don't presume that something being "almost done" is a license to do it incorrectly.

Likewise, don't keep people waiting for your approval. Delegation only works when the people expected to carry out the work know that they actually *can*.

3) Keep it Simple.

No one needs to open their inbox and find 100 emails, only 90 of which actually pertain to them. If you need approval on a dozen aspects of your project, sum them up in one email or phone call and direct it to the appropriate person(s).

Presumably, this means you'll need to work out the specifics of your project as early in the process as possible. The more actions that can be auto-approved (because they meet pre-approved standards), the faster that work can get done -- and the more time everyone saves.

Do you have any more tips that have worked for you in the past? Leave them in the comments below.

When Do You Say "No"?

Here's a near-universal question we can all relate to:

Have you ever been employed by a company that took great pains to convince you how fortunate you were to be employed by them? So fortunate, in fact, that you should be happy with the following perks:

* A substandard salary

* Being overworked and underappreciated

* A general inability to produce quality work due to inferior working conditions, and

* A dedicated team effort to NOT improving those existing conditions?

On paper, most people would walk away from a job like that at the earliest possible opportunity. Some might even go out of their way to CREATE an opportunity to leave.

And yet... SO MANY PEOPLE remain in jobs they despise (or relationships that make them miserable, or servicing clients they can't stand) because they don't know how much they, themselves, are worth.

Do you?

The "No" Factor

When was the last time you said "no" when someone asked you for a favor?

We're trained to believe that friends, family, coworkers and employees -- aka "nice" people who want to live peacefully within an existing system -- don't say "no." Instead, they say "yes," and then they find creative ways to juggle the extra work / errands / obligations.

Why?

Because saying "no" would create strife.

It would force the person who was relying on you to then handle that problem himself. And, worse, it might mean YOU were unreliable, or not well-organized enough to shift your workload at a moment's notice, or -- worst of all -- that you said "no" because you didn't LIKE someone else.

No one wants to rock the boat like that. So we say "yes" endlessly.

That's because we have no idea what we -- and, therefore, what our time -- is actually worth.

Snapshots of Impending Disaster

Your boss walks into your office and says, whoops, he forgot to inform production that a certain project was promised to the client by Thursday. Sorry, you'll have to work late.

A coworker stops by on his lunch break and says, hey, he forgot he had something else planned after work -- could you cover him at a company event?

Your brother calls and asks, please, would you mind babysitting tomorrow night because they just got tickets to a concert?

Before you reflexively agree (or disagree) in each of these situations, you first need to understand what your answer says about you, and how you present yourself to the world.

The Problem With "Yes"

Admitting that you can rearrange your schedule at the whim of another means that you don't consider your own plans to be particularly important -- especially when compared to the plans of someone else.

Adding additional tasks into your existing workflow means that you're either SO competent at your current job that you don't mind the extra work (which begs the question, "So what DO you do all day?") or it means the work you're doing is so unimportant that it can wait an extra day or two while you do someone else's (in which case, why ARE they employing you in the first place?).

And consenting to work late, especially when the reason involves someone else's mistake or mismanagement of their own time and resources, implies that you're willing to subvert and sacrifice your own health, happiness and peace of mind for "the good of the company."

Would you ever say any of those things out loud? No!

And yet, when you chronically say "yes," that's exactly what you're admitting.

The Power of "Yes, But..."

Inevitably, there will be situations in which you'll have to work late, you'll have to cover for someone else and, yes, you'll have to drop everything to help a friend.

Those are exceptions, not rules. And the way in which you ensure that those are exceptions is to not answer "yes," but,"yes, but..."

Yes, you'll work late this week -- but you're taking next Friday off.

Yes, you can cover for your coworker -- but only if he gets you tomorrow's reports today.

Yes, you can babysit tomorrow night -- but you need to borrow your brother's camping gear next weekend.

Why "But" Matters

Saying "yes" invariably means you're sacrificing something of yours for the good of someone else, and you think that's okay.

Saying "yes, but" means you're open to helping out, but not at the expense of your own well-being.

If you're losing time, you expect that time to be made up.

If you're disrupting your workflow, you'll do so in conjunction with someone else.

If you're losing freedom, you expect to exercise that freedom elsewhere.

What you're NOT doing is subverting your own independence and autonomy for the sake of another, because that sets a precedent that invites your job / coworkers / friends / family to continually take advantage of you -- subconsciously or not.

Aren't you worth more than that?

What Flooding Can Teach Us About To-Do Lists

Pittsburgh (actually Allegheny County) is under a State of Emergency due to the storms that rocked the region all day and caused massive flooding, power outages, downed trees, etc. Several areas (like Millvale, Ross Township, etc.) are in very bad shape.

On the news tonight, Public Safety Director Mike Huss said one of the reasons things are as bad as they are right now in the North Hills is because all of the debris from the flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan (in September of 2004) was never cleared away. That means today's floodwaters had even less wiggle room, so to speak -- because they're contending with leftover trash from 2004.

The good news? Huss said they're optimistic that they "may bid" on a proposal to clean that debris up... in October.

Not to be glib, but what leftover item keeps floating down your to-do list? Why not nip it in the bud now, before it causes problems down the line?...

Caught in the Endless Email Loop

I've realized it's entirely possible -- even likely -- to spend my whole workday in the following endless loop:

1. Open Firefox, where Tweetbar and Gmail automatically load.
2. Catch up on Twitter.
3. Answer pertinent Gmail.
4. Check STBD and PodCamp mail (using, easily enough, MAC Mail).
5. Spend the next 15 minutes answering pertinent emails.
6. Take a break to read SI.com and Newsvine.
7. By the time that's done, there are invariably new emails in all 33 of my inboxes...

So you see the loop, eh?

Half the problem is the overinundation of information. The other half is entirely in my own hands: how do I deal with that overinundation?

The solutions are obvious:

- Allocate a set time to check emails (say, 9 AM, 12 PM and 4 PM)
- Allow myself 10 minutes per hour, tops, to check all 3 email lists
- Disrupt the loop by only taking one Newsvine break per day.

Etc.

Funny thing about life: no matter what you've been trained to do in school, you've almost definitely NOT been trained to productively manage your own time. You want to fix the education system in this country? Start there.

(And follow by improving school lunches...)

Does Your Job Matter?

A friend of mine works for a non-profit arts organization. She laments, continually, that she cannot accomplish anything at work because her coworkers don't DO anything. She's walked into their offices dozens of times to ask IF they've done something -- or, more accurately, why they HAVEN'T done what they were SUPPOSED to do -- and is repeatedly met with excuses and shrugs.

Thus, she's come to the conclusion that, no matter how much effort SHE exerts, IT WON'T MATTER. That's a very debilitating POV to take to work every day, every week, every month...

(One apparent problem? IT DOESN'T MATTER if they do anything or not, because they're funded primarily by government grants. As long as those grants are stable, they have absolutely zero need to DO anything because they'll receive funding whether they're active or not.)

But this isn't an indictment of the non-profit arts system, because it works quite well for companies that DO something with those funds. Instead, this is a snapshot of a company with an even LARGER problem:

It doesn't matter of they do anything or not because THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES FOR BAD PERFORMANCE.

Heads Will (Not) Roll

Motivation starts from the top down.

As anyone who's ever attempted to work for himself knows, the number one hurdle to clear is motivation. With no one MAKING you work every day, it's easy to backslide into the illusion of "having it easy," and of things "not mattering."

Ironically, that same hurdle exists in every company I've ever witnessed. If an owner / president / manager / CEO isn't responsible and doesn't impose penalties for failing to achieve goals, a company has no clear-cut reason to take a specific action.

(Or, in this case, ANY action.)

Thus, employees realize they can remain at this company until they retire or die -- that they can accomplish absolutely nothing every day and still be employed -- because THE DECISION MAKERS DON'T IMPOSE CONSEQUENCES.

Few are the organizations who are motivated enough to accomplish their goals (much less achieve actual change). I believe this is because so few individuals are properly motivated in the first place -- and that includes a clear understanding of the goals AND reasonable cconsequences related to accomplishment or failure.

At the top, every company -- whether a sole proprietorship or a Fortune 500 corporation -- is led by individuals. How properly those individuals are motivated -- and how reliable, reasonable and consistent their imposed consequences are -- determines how successful they'll become.

What are the consequences if YOU fail? What are the rewards if you succeed?

Does your job matter?

Do you want it to?

NOT Getting Things Done

This week, I've had a mountain of to-dos to do. I'm co-organizing PodCamp Pittsburgh. I'm planning for Season Five of Something to Be Desired. I'm juggling a handful of freelance projects. (And don't get me started on the general disarray my apartment is in.)

So why have I gotten almost NOTHING done this week?

Problem Number One: Badly Scheduled Appointments

On Monday, I had to drive out to my old office -- a good 30 minute drive across town, each way -- to record some audio for one of their projects. I asked if they'd have anything else for me this week, so I could make sure to get everything done in one trip. They asked around the office and, no, there was just one script.

So I came out on Monday morning to record it.

Then they called on Tuesday to say, whoops, there IS another script.

So I drove out on Wednesday to record it.

Then they emailed Wednesday afternoon to say, whoops, there's another script...

Keep in mind, it's actually in my own better financial interest to drive there five days a week, since I charge by the hour -- but, all things being equal, I'd rather lose out on a few bucks and save myself the multiple hourlong round trips -- not to mention actual recording time...

Problem Number Two: One Car, Two People

Life is tricky because Ann and I share one car. As a result, whenever either of us needs to be somewhere, we have to arrange our schedules to be compatible.

On Monday, she had an appointment in the South Side -- so I drove her to work, drove to record the audio, drove back from audio to pick Ann up, drove to the South Side, worked while she had her appointment (yay), drove her BACK to work, drove myself to a cafe (and worked for an hour), and then drove to pick her up at 5.

On Wednesday, Ann won a "free" lunch from a local financial planning office -- sit, listen to a pitch, then eat for free -- so I did pretty much the same thing. Combined work time on Monday and Wednesday? About 4 hours.

On Thursday, Ann has another appointment on the South Side -- at noon -- which means...

Also, keep in mind that Pittsburgh is very much a "driving" town, so neither of us are "bus people." Plus, there's no easy route from where Ann works to where most of her appointments are made.

Normally, all this driving would at least allow me to make phone calls... but a Verizon salesman informed me that there's a new "all cell phones must be used hands-free while driving" law that I was unaware of, which nixes that opportunity...

Problem Number Three: The Heat

It's been about 90 degrees every day this week here in Pittsburgh, and we don't have air conditioning in our apartment. This makes it tough to try and catch up on lost work time at the end of the day because sitting here is so uncomfortable. I'm sweating as I type this -- at 1 AM -- and all I can think of is getting some sleep to escape the heat.

The Solution?

I'm still working that part out. Short of breaking my to-do list down into hundreds of mini-tasks, each completable in under 2 minutes -- and buying a headset for my phone -- I'm coming up short.

Any ideas?

5 Tips for Streamlining Workflow

Like most human beings, I'm perpetually overwhelmed with hundreds of duties from my dozens of jobs, hobbies and obligations. Between a weekly web video series, freelance videography / audio / writing / consulting, and being a co-organizer of PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, it seems my to-do list is forever expanding.

Meanwhile, I have a wonderful relationship, friends and family to spend time with, plus my own interests, which I'm always trying to find space to squeeze in during the day -- often at the peril of productivity.

How do I juggle it all? Not extremely well, I'm afraid. But I have learned a few ways to save myself the occasional headache and, when I'm lucky, steal some well-earned relaxation time as well.

1. Delegate!

The biggest problem I have with delegation is being able to communicate the basics of a duty clearly and quickly enough that, by doing so, it doesn't actually take longer than it would if I simply did the duty myself. That, and I'm a control freak.

But I realized (fairly recently) that I can't do EVERYTHING, and when I try to, most of it gets done at half-strength because I'm dragging myself across the finish line.

Instead, I've found a few capable assistants whom I can rely on to accomplish the simple or time-consuming tasks that I don't HAVE to 100% do myself. Chief among these: information gathering and sorting, database management, recurring promotions, and test-driving new sites / applications / software.

2. Keep All Your To-Dos in the Same Text File

I admire David Allan's Getting Things Done, but I've decided to simplify my life even more: I now keep everything I need to do in one text file, perpetually open on my desktop. I list all tasks, day by day, as well as "floating" tasks and other miscellanea, "in case I get time"...

If I have a complex, multi-faceted task, I'll list all obvious actionable parts of it, indented, beneath the task's title. This helps me keep track of the steps in the project. If I delegate something to someone else, or I send an advance email about something, I italicize it (to indicate it's in action but out of my hands, for now) and move it to a follow-up date on my text file.

Some might find this approach decidedly luddite, especially when there are so many killer web apps being designed to make the entire process look and feel 1000 times trendier. But by the time I figure out how to use most of them, I could have crossed another 5 tasks off my text file...

3. Turn Routine Maintenance into Playtime

One of the most un-sexy duties in computerdom is backing off completed files. My hard drives are routinely littered with long-finished projects I simply haven't had time to clear off. So I've begun making that maintenance a priority -- because when I'm burning a DVD, I can't do anything else with my machine. This frees me to read, or exercise, or play my timeworn copy of NBA Live 2004. (Yes, I'm old school.)

4. Fridays Are for Loose Ends and Future Plans

After lunch on Fridays, motivation is universally low. Instead of working half-assedly through an existing project, I use that time to:

- plow through any loose end emails I've been putting off
- clean off the crap that's accumulated on my desktop
- revisit some of the dozens of websites I've bookmarked during the week (thanks, Mashable) to see if they require further investigation / integration

I also look ahead to next week and see what my major deadlines / projects are. Is there anything I can do to prep? Advance emails I can send? What's my expected worfklow? Being able to start from "go" on Monday, as opposed to spending precious "action" hours figuring everything out, is invaluable.

5. Insist on Keeping Weekends Free

I've been doing this for over a month now and, with one exception (traveling to Israel for Blogference), I've been able to maintain a stringent refusal to work (much) on weekends. I still check email (sometimes), and I still do emergency fixes to existing projects (when required). But otherwise, I spend a LOT of time hanging out with friends... or family... or running errands... or reading...

I find that knowing I'm enforcing this "time out" with myself makes me actually work harder during the week to get everything done. The last thing I want to do is wake up on Monday and deal with a half-finished project I should have wrapped up on Friday.

These are my tips, forever in flux and always open for debate. What are yours?

5 Tips for Working with Freelancers (from a Freelancer)

Yesterday, I mentioned 5 tips for freelancers, based upon my ongoing learning curve as a freelance videographer / writer / jack of all trades.

Now I'd like to address the other side of the conversation: tips for companies on how they can work better with freelancers. Again, these tips are based upon my own experiences, as well as the success (and horror) stories of my colleagues. They're intended to help the freelance process run more smoothly for all parties involved, not to ruffle anyone's feathers in particular.

1. Pay Promptly

Freelance is by no means a secure career, which means the contractors you've hired are budgeting according to their expected deadlines and pay dates. By and large, freelancers don't have much rubber room in their bank accounts. If one client is slow to pay, it disrupts what's usually a very precarious house of financial cards -- and it makes that freelancer question working with you again.

Also, realize that freelancers who live outside your city or state may have additional holds placed on your paychecks by their banks, which can slow the payment process up to an additional week. Thus, if your company has the flexibility, paying freelancers earlier than the last possible minute is always appreciated. It's also a great incentive for the contractor to work even better / faster the next time around, because they come to trust you as a client they can rely on for paying promptly.

2. Understand Who You're Hiring

Sometimes the person you're considering for a job is an expert in her field. And sometimes she has absolutely no relevant experience. How can you tell the difference? It isn't in the pricetag; it's in the quality of the work.

It may also be in the quality of their support system.

These days, a contractor can be reasonably expected to farm out certain aspects of a job that they're not as facile in. If you hire someone to reprogram your website, rewrite your content AND redesign your logo, odds are, you're going to receive a finished product that was actually created by 2 or 3 people -- even if only one of them filled out your tax form. How do you know you're getting what you think you're paying for?

Google prospective contractors. Find examples of their work. Just as important, find out what circles they travel in, and then Google the work of those people as well. If your contractor is going to be farming out side work to his colleagues, you want to ensure that the median quality level of work among that support system is something you're comfortable with.

Through this vetting, you might also discover that the person you think you're hiring is actually a quiet force among his peers -- or is all talk with no connections to speak of. The size of that personal web speaks volumes.

3. Establish Clear Communication - and Deadlines

Time is money - for both employer and contractor. The longer it takes a freelancer to turn in a project, the more it's going to cost. Likewise, the more that freelancer has to tweak, re-edit and completely redesign after the initial review, the less time he has to work on other projects -- and believe me, he has other projects. He HAS to; otherwise, he'd be broke.

When you give a freelancer unclear directions, when you change the project specs midstream, or when you fail to adhere to review deadlines, it complicates your contractor's workflow. At its mildest, this creates logistical conundrums like a paucity of hard drive space because a freelancer is trying to juggle multiple (unfinished) projects within limited resources. At its worst, this means a freelancer must reallocate time, effort and possibly additional resources (including other people) from another job to yours -- and that means that other job will probably also require multiple re-edits, this time due to minimal attention being paid during production.

This creates a vicious cycle of underserving multiple clients -- which, believe it or not, freelancers hate to do -- all because one project they thought they understood turns out to be a tangled mess. There is a silver lining to this problem for the contractor, though -- additional review costs, which will be tacked on to the final invoice. Save yourself AND the freelancer the hassle and agree upon the specifics and hard deadlines for the project well in advance.

4. Minimize the Chain of Communication

Regardless of the size of a company, it seems a universal truth that anyone in a position of even moderately senior management will insist on putting their thumbprint on any project that crosses their desk. It's an unspoken belief that by NOT making some sort of comment, they're somehow not doing their job and will be seen as unnecessary in the food chain, soon to be removed from all reviews entirely.

This leads to an endless stream of relatively minor notes -- a font change here, a color change there, a suggestion for different background music or a slight pan to the left or the renaming of the "About" page to the "About Us" page -- that, when added up, usually makes a freelancer want to throttle the entire company. It's not that we object to the changes IF THEY'RE NECESSARY; it's that we hate wasting our time and resources in placating the ego of someone who's hoping to turn their own performance review into an office one door closer to the lunchroom.

How many pairs of eyes does it take to sign off on a project in your company? How quickly can each of those people be reasonably expected to turn around their review? How imperative is each person's review, really? The greater the number -- and the longer it takes -- the more expensive it's going to be for your bottom line.

5. Be Idealistic with Word of Mouth

Most freelancers make a living primarily from referrals. The cost of actively pursuing new clients, in both time and money, is a luxury few working freelancers can afford.

Thus, if you like someone's work, consider making that freelancer's portfolio and contact information available within your trusted circle. A freelancer would much prefer to work with clients recommended to them via other clients, because they can trust the word of this new entity based upon the implied endorsement of the existing client.

Likewise, if you're unhappy with someone's performance, it's better to be tactful about your disapproval when discussing this person with your colleagues -- or, even better, say nothing at all. Slamming someone's work rarely makes you any friends in the industry, and word of mouth has a way of working itself back around to the source. Plus, you wouldn't want your peers to discover that the real reason a freelancer flaked was because you were impossible to work with and changed the project specs five times in a month...

These are my tips. Do you have more?

Lifehack Overlap

Here's a great way to "make time" when it seems like you have too much to do at once: overlap.

Since most of us tend to be involved in 20 different projects at once, it stands to reason that there's a good amount of overlap among these projects -- same people, same topics, same resources.

Is there a way you can combine seemingly disparate tasks to accomplish multiple goals at once?

For example: while answering an email just now, I realized I was imparting the same information I'll cover during a presentation I'm giving later this summer. So I copy-and-pasted that email into a new document before sending. Now the emailer has the answers he needs, and I have the outline and talking points for a 40 minute presentation -- AND a blog post! Check, check and check!

The answer isn't always improving the ORDER of how we work -- it's improving the FLOW. And flow almost always means overlap.

How can YOU combine tasks in a new way today?

In Praise of Naps

The concept of the nap is a touchy subject in my household. One of us (i.e., me) believes a nap is one of the most useful, refreshing and rewarding ways to spend a slice of one's day. The other (i.e., she) believes naps are evil, soul-draining activities that rob a person of time that would be better spent being productive.

I'll admit it's entirely possible to overnap -- lord knows I'd sleep 24 hours a day if it were physically possible. But I actually consider a strategically timed nap to be one of the best things a person can do to improve productivity.

Maybe it's just me, but I find a nap helps me:

- recharge and reinvigorate my body

- clarify and recalibrate my mind

- calm down and refresh my energy

The way my mind works, I tend to go through "stages" in a day, in which I transition from number crunching to organizing to creating to filing to scheduling to brainstorming. I find the transition between mindsets can be jarring, and it often helps immensely to grab a quick nap and approach the new situation with a new frame of mind.

I'm not alone. Studies have shown that workplaces which allow their employees to nap / meditate on the job experience higher morale and increased productivity. It also decreases the chances of heart disease!

From one such article in the Chicago Tribune:

By one estimate, sleep-related fatigue costs U.S. businesses $150 billion annually in absenteeism, accidents and lost productivity, according to a 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine.

Pulling an all-nighter or sleeping as little as four to five hours daily for a week produces the same level of cognitive impairment as if a person were legally drunk, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10, according to Czeisler. We would never praise someone who came to work inebriated, he argues, yet business glorifies people who sacrifice sleep to work.

Polls suggest a majority of Americans are sleep-deprived, says Darrel Drobnich, program director of the National Sleep Foundation. The group's 2005 poll found that U.S. adults sleep an average of 6.9 hours daily, compared with about 10 hours a century ago.

How ironic: Given the rigors of the workplace and the pressure to succeed, sometimes the best solution is to check out of the game for a catnap.

What about you: do you find a nap recharges your batteries or derails your day?

Quick Flight Notes

I'm in New Jersey, staying with John C. Havens of About.com's guide to podcasting. He asked me if I wanted to work with him on a freelance project that had come his way and I agreed, so here I am.

This means I rushed around town all day running errands because I knew I'd be out of communication for most of tomorrow. So I get to the airport and I have 80 unchecked messages in my inbox. I answer those, and now I logon to my account and find I have 30 more responses in the 4 hours I've been away from my machine.

Egad. If this is busy for me, I can only imagine what the Jeff Pulvers and Andrew Barons of the world are greeted by when they click their "Mail" icon...

******

Meanwhile, I saw a fantastic example of customer service in action today. I went to Quizno's in the Pittsburgh International Airport food concourse and ordered a vegetarian sub (which is not on their menu, but they have the ingredients to make it; interestingly, it IS on their register keypad...).

While waiting for the sandwich to come through the mini-oven, the girl who adds the post-oven toppings dropped my order sheet on the floor. She stared down at it, perplexed. She was wearing plastic gloves, and she knew that picking up the paper would mean she'd need to throw the gloves away and get a new pair.

So she TURNED THE ORDER SLIP OVER WITH HER FEET, which was not an easy task -- many failed attempts preceded her success -- and read it (accurately) off the floor.

Now THAT'S finding a creative solution to a simple yet vexing problem...

PS The sub was excellent.

"Too Much Stability Means We're Not Trying Hard Enough"

I just typed that sentence in an iChat conversation, and it suddenly seemed far more applicable than just in the context it was intended.

So often, it seems like I (and everyone else I know) is striving to reach equilibrium. We want a day where we can "just relax." We want all the bills to be paid, the work to be done and the hard questions to be answered. (Hell, we even strive to ensure our Twitter friends are numbered the same as our followers.)

We want stability.

Fortunately, we rarely have it. Because when we do, a funny thing happens: we get complacent. And last time I checked, it was necessity, not complacency, that was the mother of invention.

Embrace Your Broken Pieces

I'm in the worst financial shape of my life.

I'm in relatively good shape health-wise. I have a good group of friends. I have a supportive family. I have a girlfriend who loves me despite my regularly asinine behavior. And I have this web series that continues to grow in all directions.

If I weren't embarrassingly broke, I'd be bored off my ass. Because being broke means I need to bust my ass and get as much done as possible to create new solutions to this problem.

I could say the same thing if I were ill, or lonely, or single, or working a job
I despised -- and I've been in each of those situations before. But the same methodology would still apply: my need to improve upon an existing trouble is the motivation that will lead me to new creative, social, economic and experiential endeavors.

I won't be able to solve my problems sitting at home. Or working alone. Or making the minimum possible effort and being otherwise content with my unsatisfying present situation.

Instead, I'll be inventing all kinds of harebrained schemes. I'll be taking risks and pushing myself to the edge. I'll be meeting people I never would have cause to talk to if I didn't need to track them down. And I'll be learning more about myself, and this wonderful world we live in, through my response to adversity than I ever would learn by waking up every day in a state of absolute contentment.

It may not be pretty, and it may not be the most zen-like approach to life, but it's what I have right now. And that's exciting.

It's our broken pieces that set us free.

New Year's Resolution Update

"Wow," you thought as you read this headline in a midday, coffee and lunch-induced haze... "Who's still thinking about New Year's resolutions? It's April."

Exactly.

As spring prepares for arrival, the promises we made to ourselves three months ago now seem like college love letters or old grocery lists: full of passion or practicality but, now, ultimately useless.

Or are they?

Punctuality and Organization

Those were my top two bugaboos back in January, as they have been my whole life. So, what better way to kick off the new year than by whittling away at old habits that die so very, very hard?

I knew going in that I couldn't change my world at the flip of a switch, but I could make inroads that, over time, would add up to something proactive. So I identified several key factors in my life that I needed to improve:

- I wanted to become more punctual (as in, not perpetually late).

- I wanted to find a workflow and daily schedule that worked for me.

- I wanted to clear off my desk and my inbox and clean up my apartment.

How have I fared these first few months of the year? Not great, but not horribly either.

Punctuality Status Report

Nope. Still need a lot of work here. (Ask my cast -- I don't think I've been on time for one shoot all year.)

- I still have trouble planning ahead for things, especially activities that require input from multiple sources.

- I still routinely show up a few minutes late for meetings.

- I still turn in paperwork / documentation / finished product at or near the 11th hour before a deadline.

However, I have learned a few tips and tricks that help me avoid the slip-ups that cause the tardiness in the first place. [Side note: does any word connote the spine-tingling shiver of gradeschool like "tardiness"?]

- DON'T check email on my way out the door. (Nothing says "ten minutes later" like one last email sweep.)

- Print out directions, itineraries, files, etc., as soon as they come in / the night before, so there's no need to rush right before departing on a trip.

- Snooze less. The extra ten minutes I buy myself after a nap could be the ten minutes in which I can get everything else packed and out the door on time.

Organization Status Report

It's not perfect -- not even close -- but my approach to keeping track of what needs to be done when, and where everything IS, is improving.

- I've narrowed my ToDo list down to one primary document, which I then (try to) update daily. I keep all ancillary ideas (STBD tasks, BootCamp tasks, bills, etc.) in separate text files, and then I (try to) review them once per week while setting up the following week's big list. That way my daily document isn't overwhelmed with EVERYTHING I have to do, and I have easy access to everything that does need to be done over the long haul.

- I've found my productive times of day for certain activities, and I try to stay within those bounds. For example, it's best to get my blogging and emailing out of the way early, get the hands-on work (like writing or editing) done during the afternoon, and then I re-fuel and return to work in the evening, where I find I can be productive until at least 3 AM.

On the other hand, my desk looks worse than it has in months, and the piles of stuff around it continue to grow. Once we're done with this season of STBD (if not gloriously sooner), I need to take a day -- or even an hour each day -- and whittle away at these towering infernos of obligation. Something tells me it'll do wonders for my psyche.

Future Outlook

So I've made some improvements and fallen short with others. Fair enough. But what happens now?

Instead of tabling the discussion until January ("I'll just try again next year..."), let's consider a few short-term goals:

- A clean desk by June 1st (talk about a long view)

- An empty "Pending" mailbox by June 1st (that's where all the items in my inbox that require more than 2 minutes of my attention get thrown)

- One week of meetings / errands in which I'm no more than 5 minutes late for anything. (Sounds like I'm planning to fail, but 5 minutes is definitely an improvement over 20...)

So, that's my quarter-year evaluation on all those sweet nothings I whispered to myself back in January. How about you?

100 Posts: PodCamp NYC Unlikely

Wow. I'd like to spend my 100th post proclaiming how ecstatic I am at going to PodCamp NYC this weekend.

Instead, I'll proudly proclaim I'm NOT going to PodCamp NYC because, quite simply, I'm too busy and have too many bills to pay.

I was wracking my brain this past weekend, trying to figure out how I could creatively disrupt both space and time to generate the phantom cash and extra hours in the week to fuel my NYC trip, when I realized...

... I'm quite content to work my ass off, get done with all the items on my to-do list, and enjoy myself.

To wit, I'm currently:

- Doing a freelance gig that's due for delivery tomorrow.

- Working on the next episode of Something to Be Desired, which is due Monday.

- Continuing to co-organize for BootCamp PGH, which happens in two weeks (!).

- Getting ready to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday on Sunday, which also happens to be Easter.

So, yes, as much as I'd like to attend PodCamp NYC -- which I truly believe will be an amazing time -- I'll instead be an adult, which is something I so rarely say I am, and get my work done instead of going to play.

Sorry, PodCamp NYC. I'll look forward to PCNYC2 next year!

5 Ways Twitter Has Changed My Life (After a Week)

I started using Twitter last Monday.

I was wary. I didn't know if it would be worth my time. I didn't understand how another attention-stealing device could improve my life.

After 8 days of use, here are my five observations:

1. Twitter Is Highly Addictive

This is obvious, because that's what Twitter was built to do. It's designed to enthrall the generation that can't help oversharing with itself, 24/7. But it's WHY in which it's addictive that's unusual.

Unlike a publicly-accessible forum, in which you may or may not particularly care what half the commenters have to say, the members of your Twitter group are all friends you've VOLUNTARILY chosen to "follow." This amounts to a nonstop stream-of-consciousness dialogue with the people whose opinions and anecdotes you inherently care about.

In my case, my Twitter friends happen to be a few dozen of the movers and shakers in the new media space. This colors the information I receive. Instead of inane posts from friends whose lives are no more interesting than where they're eating dinner and what they're watching on TV, I get real-time windows into the offices and mobile lives of the people who are changing the way we communicate.

This enables me to take action or supply information as needed on an instantaneous basis, which means I need to stay connected.

2. Twitter Replaces Multiple Websites and Apps

Twitter is billed as a "better IM" -- or, in some circles, the app that will kill blogs -- but I disagree.

I see Twitter as an ever-updating group chat or forum thread. Here, my Twitter friends can post links to news articles they're reading (or writing), events they're attending, pop culture they're consuming and world events they're considering.

Instead of needing to check Digg, Newsvine, CNN and other rapidly-updated sites all day, I can usually gleam the best of the buzz from my Twitter list. If something's relevant or worth talking about, someone on my list probably mentioned it, and included a link.

Instead of leaving Instant Messenger open all day, I now logon only when I'm looking to communicate with someone directly and privately and may need to transfer files. (I could do most of that directly in Twitter as well, but I have yet to cycle AIM completely out of my bag of tricks.)

And I check MySpace almost exclusively for business purposes at this point, because the people I'm really interested in keeping up with are on my Twitter list -- and I don't need to waste time opening their messages or approving their comments in Twitter; they're just there.

3. Twitter Inspires Me to Do More

Seeing what everyone on my Twitter list is up to reminds me that I need to keep up with their productivity.

At my old day jobs, I paced my workflow against that of my managers. If they seemed to be slacking, I knew I could slow down because the vibe was mellow. If they were stressed out, I knew I'd better keep my head down and get things done.

Now I can gauge the day's workvibe against my Twitter friends. And since the folks I follow on Twitter are all involved in a medium I'm highly interested in, and their work has massive and far-reaching impacts on the medium (and on me), they set the bar pretty high.

Speaking of which...

4. Twitter Urges Me to Be More Relevant

The meta-conversation my Twitter friends have tends to be the kind of conversation that moves a medium forward. At any given moment, a few of them can be asking questions, soliciting advice and making connections. If I'm fast on the draw, I can be part of the problem-solving process.

Twitter is also a great place for self-promotion. Did you just blog about something? Include a link in your Twitterstream. Are you being interviewed at a certain time and place? Mention that to your "followers." New song? New video? New website you've found that no one else seems to have glommed onto yet? Stake your find on Twitter.

Meanwhile, if I've noticed that 3 or 4 of my own most recent Twitter updates are of the "what I ate for dinner" variety, I realize I need to get back to work...

5. Twitter Reminds Me to Get Up Earlier

If I didn't realize I was wasting time by sleeping in before, I certainly do now.

It's embarrassing to see Chris Penn posting a new Financial Aid Podcast, Chris Brogan wading through three meetings, Jeff Pulver flying through twelve time zones and Steve Garfield raising the dead before I've even had breakfast.

Striving to keep up with my contemporaries means I need to get at the workload earlier and hit it harder. Otherwise, the dozens of people who get my Twitter updates will start noticing I haven't been around, and they may presume I'm wasting time... and they might be right.

The Last Word

Despite the downsides to the service -- it's obviously growing faster than it can handle, and it doesn't currently support a lot of features that many of us are striving to find workarounds for (like groups, filtering and "highlight reels") -- the immediate upside is hard to argue.

Twitter hasn't yet changed my life in such drastic tones that I can't imagine not having it around. But it certainly does add a new facet to my daily web life that I'm finding increasingly more dynamic by the day. And it enables me to live at the pulse of the new media lifeline.

I don't believe I'm jumping the gun when I say: The revolution will not be televised -- it will be Twittered.

Simplify

I realized yesterday that I have too much on my plate.

I can't focus. Things fall by the wayside.

I need to simplify.

Do Better by Doing less

You'll never be able to do everything that comes your way equally well. If you want to be a jack-of-all-trades, that's perfectly reasonable, as is being a specialist. But regardless of how much you WANT to do with your time, the bigger question is:

How much time do you need to feel you've done your best at the things you do?

The key to living well isn't to do everything simply because it's there. It's about doing a few small, manageable things extremely well. Once that becomes comfortable, changes can be made. New projects can be added. New challenges can be engaged. Eventually, you can become a jack-of-all-trades who does well at numerous things, or a specialist who excels in his or her field.

But you won't do it all at once, right off the bat.

You need to prioritize.

Understanding the Order of Things

How much work do you NEED to do in order to earn enough money to love comfortably?

How much work do you WANT to do in order to have a creative outlet, or build a new business / project?

How much time does that leave for personal enrichment, socializing, travel and relaxation?

If the answer is "none," then something needs to go.

If the answer is, "how could I find time for a creative outlet with all this WORK?" then something needs to go.

If the answer is, "how am I going to pay my bills?" then something needs to go.

Trim the Fat

Cut out ONE thing that's getting in the way.

What's consuming too much time in your life compared to the reward it provides? What actions are you taking merely out of obligation, or tradition, or because "no one else will do it as well as me"?

Stop. Scale back. Turn it off. Delegate.

There are 24 hours in a day. Make the most of yours. That includes doing less than you're currently doing, in order to do better at the things you DO do.

For me, that means agreeing to less favors that don't make me money.

By and large, I tend to consent to every request made of me because a) I don't like letting people down, b) I don't like thinking there are things I CAN'T do, and c) I feel obliged to sample every reasonable experience that comes my way.

Given the amount of work on my plate, and the day-to-day needs of my lifestyle, I can no longer spend as much time being altruistic as I'd like. I need to buckle down and get the important things done. I need to build on small successes, rather than widespread attempts that fall short.

I need to prioritize.

What's one thing that YOU can do less of -- or cut out completely -- that will free up your time, your money, your creative resources?

How can YOU simplify?

Get to the Point

How many blogs do you read every day?

I read about 12 blogs on a daily basis. (None of them via RSS.)

If a blog I regularly read hasn't been updated in a day -- unless it's the weekend -- I'm irritated. I miss that daily dose of wisdom or humor.

Conversely, if one of those blogs has been updated 5 times since I last checked in (BuzzMachine and Seth Godin are notorious for that), I'm also irritated.

Why?

Because now I have to catch up!

And now I can't spend 100% of my time on that blog processing their key issue of the day.

Length Matters

Some blog posts are meant to be digested over a period of time. They cover a lot of ground to make their point, and abbreviating them wouldn't do the concept justice.

Other posts are short by necessity. Here's a link. Here's a news item. Here's a three sentence observation.

I wouldn't want to be robbed of lengthy posts because they're fulfilling (when well-written). I also wouldn't want to be burdened with nonstop encyclicals because life -- and my day -- is short and I need my time for action.

So what's the appropriate updating procedure?

- One long post per day?
- One short post per day?
- A mix of long and short posts as required?

What do you, as a reader -- or a blogger -- prefer?

When Are You Most Productive?

I'm nocturnal. I can't help it. Every time I try to adapt my schedule to do more work earlier in the day, I end up falling behind.

Conversely, I can stay up until 4 in the morning without fail and get much more work done with a later-in-the-day start than most human beings would think is acceptable.

Why?

Because I know when my mind is ready to tackle certain tasks.

The Day Is Not Equal

At certain times of day, or when in certain mindsets, I can do some types of work much faster than others.

For example, in the early morning, I'm great for answering email, searching for clerical information or editing video according to an easy-to-follow script. Anything that doesn't require much independent thought, basically.

But when I'm fully awake, recharged and relaxed, that's when my mind automatically kicks into overdrive. That's when tackling larger projects, creative brainstorming and problem-solving, and multi-part objectives become much easier to navigate.

This isn't a matter of "getting enough sleep," because even a full tank depletes throughout the day. This is a matter of understanding when I'm best able to achieve what I need to accomplish during the average day.

Mentally Homeless

A recent survey by Jim Citrin found that most CEOs in mega-successful corporations are up and running well before 6 AM. In fact 6 AM was the latest any of those he talked to directly said they wake up; some are on the move as early as 4 AM.

This illustrates the problem with nocturnal folks like me: the bulk of humanity is trained to operate on a daylight-driven, 9-5 workday. Evenings are for relaxation with friends and family. This is endlessly frustrating to me because I'm at my creative and motivational peak at about the exact same time that the rest of the world just wants to curl up with a good book; meanwhile, when they need something from me, I'm usually too incapacitated to be much help. (Ask my girlfriend.)

This leads to a "homeless" feeling, as though I'm living on the fringe of society. I'm never around when I'm needed, but I'm never needed when I'm around.

The 24-7 "Solution"

For better or worse, the workday has been steadily evolving over the past century and is now almost universally recognized as neverending. I tend to go to bed just as the CEOs of the world are waking up. This means that exchanging important emails or project specs at 1 AM is increasingly common, as more and more people begin to realize:

a) Different parts of the day are better for various tasks, and
b) The ever-increasing pressure to "get more done" means we're all working more hours every day.

I'm not so sure this is the best approach. I've never been a fan of the "Dude, I just pulled an 18 hour workday" Hercules mentality. It seems that working MORE isn't the answer, so much as working smarter.

I also wonder if people aren't working more hours because they're more distracted than ever before, AND because they're trying to force themselves to be productive at non-optimal times.

Think about it: how much work do you ACTUALLY get done in the average 9 hour workday? 4 hours? 5?

What if you could start your workday whenever you wanted to -- say, 11 AM -- and work until YOU felt you were "done"? What if you could accomplish in 4 or 5 hours of steady work -- when you're at your creative and cognizant peak -- what it currently takes you 9 or 10 or even 12 hours to accomplish, every day?

Think of what you could do with all those extra hours!

It's your day. What would YOU like to do with it?