By Cody Tucker in Entrepreneurship — Sep 8, 2022

Time Management Plan for Creators

Aerial view of our home in Nebraska

Keeping each hour effective as a freelancer is difficult. There never seems to be enough time, yet everyone operates within the same 24-hour days.

Currently, it's 9:30 pm, and I want to think about proper time management. 🤦‍♀️

Time Management for Creators

There are many terms for business people, creators, business owners, freelancers, hustlers, and the like. But all of us who market our passions feel the same time crunch.

Some people like me enjoy working. The hours go by, and most times, we never regret it. But not guarding time leads to it being wasted.

Others are better at optimizing and become very efficient at where they spend time. Over-management can squeeze passions and lead to burnout.

Do I need another app?

There are tons of tools and tricks people use to curb bad habits; maybe that's what you need.

For me, what I miss at the end of the day is feeling fulfilled by my efforts.

I've tried many apps that improve processes, but my main problem stands.

💡

If you want an app, I found this chart by UpWork helpful. It lists the most popular time tracking and management options.

The Plan

To be fulfilled, we need a plan with a high probability of success. That way, we won't get discouraged when we don't see results immediately.

A good mix of improving our product and marketing should do the trick.

Fast forward a bit. We're back from Canva, and here's my plan visualized.

Improve Products or Services - 10%

Yes, only 10%. Unless you've been doing this for a long time, you probably aren't that good at making things.

Think of it like this, after spending five years perfecting a product, are you any better at making things? No, you only made one thing.

Creators shouldn't work in a vacuum. Feedback from customers is needed to make good decisions. So 10% in comparison to marketing is a good fit.

Produce Marketing Content - 30%

Write about your service, and create videos and marketing material.

💡

Content as a noun means in a state of peace. I never like using it as a noun because it loses meaning. In this setting, content means conceptualizing your product in text. People need this to understand better why they should buy it.

Develop Channels for Distribution - 30%

Find ways to make your marketing content and product go further on their own.

Distributing might be licensing your product to be used by other people or finding an online community that will share your marketing content.

Improve Brand Quality and Recognition - 30%

Do you want to build a product or a brand?

Even if you only plan to see one product, having brand recognition improves the chances that anything you do will succeed.

Cultivate people's thoughts and perceptions of your business to match your intentions.

Final Thoughts

I'm all about letting people figure out their way of doing business. The last thing you need is another guru telling you each step to take.

But if I should spend more time on a topic, drop me a line in the comments.

Written by Cody Tucker

Eternal optimist, thinking my way through life, sharing confusing and sometimes helpful thoughts. Wanna go deeper? Join the Convo