Why you Need a Freelance Diary

Document an event and you have an event to reckon with forever.

Have you ever written something and fast-forward to a few days/weeks/months/years after and it seems like ‘What? Did I actually pen that down?’

That is the concept of a freelance diary.

A freelance diary is a (small) book, which details all of your freelance work i.e all services you render as a freelancer, the specific challenges encountered per job, how you were able to surmount these challenges and the number of hours/days it took to complete a project. It may, or may not (if it has to do with volunteering, for instance) include the amount of money charged per job.

Charting is very vital in freelancing, as in any other profession that deals with the provision of services or production of goods.

As a freelancer, the following are benefits of having a freelance diary:

Monitoring of day-to-day progress

I have had my fair share of positives and negatives when it comes to documenting occurrences and for sure, there’s one thing I can say:

Documenting helps you to keep up with your progress

As a freelancer, on of the ways you can really track your own progress is by knowing, amidst your ever tight schedule, what services you have rendered as well as the rate at which you have progressed over time. The steps you have progressively climbed/ surmounted, the additional skills garnered over time is a vital component of a rich freelance diary.

As well, you could make side notes detailing the amount of time taken to finish certain projects over a given period of time. If you do this well enough, you might discover that now, it takes way less time than it used to for you to finish up your projects.

Source of encouragement on inspiration-less days

Taking off from the first point, knowing how well you have progressed over time is a key proponent of your success as a freelancer. Have you ever smiled, almost patting your own back when you wonder at the amount of proficiency demonstrated at a given freelance job? Feels good, yeah?

Another importance of keeping a freelance diary is that you can flip through its pages especially on days when it seems like you have a dark cloud over your head when freelancing is all but fun and keeling over is all you feel compelled to do. These progress notes written in form of a diary could serve as a propellant for your recovery.  Suddenly, you have a rousing feeling of accomplishment knowing that you have come this far as a freelancer- and that, is no small feat!

Ability to plan for the future, thus properly timing the services you render

With a freelance diary in hand, you can properly chart your progress and with this, give your potential clients a realistic time-frame within which you would have completed their projects. This is very useful here, as over time you would have been able to know your level of expertise and would be done for good, with the art of guessing.

In this business, trust is key- and an important basis for trust is found in not disappointing your clients/employers. A freelance diary could really help you in achieving this.

An encouragement to budding freelancers

We all are aiming for the top, right? Sometimes, as we sharpen our skills and become extremely proficient at our craft, we tend to forget how we began, it almost seems like a mirage when we even try to fully figure out how green we once were.

Well, if for no other reason, please keep a freelance diary for this cause. It definitely makes it easier to tell your story (with specifics), and to budding freelancers, your progress from the scratch becomes more believable. Your diary could serve as a landmark or even a monumental show of your progress over time.

Future Inspiration

Hey, who knows if your freelance diary could be made into a book sometimes in the future? You never can tell, those challenges you surmounted can help tons of people out there to take serious, the use of their talents. Just like that, you have become a world changer, a people influencer, and a pace setter.

And just by making use, day-by-day; of a freelance diary!