- Going Solo Live, learn to manage your work day, get into a routine and avoid making some mistakes the make you less effective. I keep blogging about this #GoingSolo, @Pistachio, @Stephtara
We have already posted these stories about Going Solo Live here:
Going Solo – @Pistachio – how to use Twitter smartly NOT
Going Solo – Dennis Howlett – tax and finance
Going Solo – where do you start when you set a fee for your services?
Going Solo – Suw Charman – balancing working and life
Going Solo – Martin Roell – tools and methods to get things done
Stephanie Booth moderated a session entitled solo in a networked world with Laura Fitton, Linda Broughton, and Stephanie Troeth. What they shared with us was:
– for some people being part of a co-working arrangement is the solution = is a physical space similar to an office as well as printing facilities, meeting rooms, etc.;
– how does one get the most out of a co-working space – go there regularly, make contact with people, use the meeting space, get energized by meeting others, nevertheless it is not for everyone – it is about sharing, if this does not fit your working style, co-working space will not work for you;
– what are the specific problems when managing freelancers
- 1) who works on more than one project is the first and probably the biggest challenge;
- 2) managing deadlines, assign tasks every week for every week;
- 3) check every day if the progress allows the team to reach the next milestone, otherwise flag the delay and take action; things generally take longer than you think they do;
– making estimates for a project is possible if you know how much time the various people have available;
– thinking about how freelancers might make it difficult for the client(s) – having a different flow meaning that their time slots may be different then yours and whilst you could make time available a corporate or government client may be on a mission (travelling abroad attending meetings) so re-scheduling is needed;
– co-working arrangements might help a freelancer to pass on some work to another qualified person if he or she does not have time enough for completing a particular project on time;
– how does one make the offline and online work if one works in a satellite office with a nine hour difference – daily calls or weekly meetings – makes it easier for the people in two offices to stay connected and share what happens in each office offline,
- a) meetings held offline must be well structured,
- b) decisions made offline must be brought to the conference call and shared with the ‘other’ group
- c) get them to read your e-mail early in the morning (if they are in the U.S.) and answer before you go home
Bottom Line
One has to find the working arrangement that one works best in. This might be achieved by having a co-working arrangement whereby one has a desk and can meet other small business owners and other freelancers that or workers to collaborate with.
A big challenge is to find people that are able and skilled in doing project management for a team of freelancers, whereby tasks and timelines are being kept in order to meet deadlines and COMPLETE the project. All this must be accomplished within budget – time and money.
check Summize for all the tweets about GoingSolo
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