Time Boxing: How It Helps Freelancers Computers Articles | January 30 Justin Turner Jersey , 2012

Time boxing helps fight procrastination and the tendency to lose focus, two of the main problems of working as a freelancer. You get to set your tasks with corresponding time limit and work on them conscientiously as planned.



Doing freelance work means doing things on your own terms. It also means you alone are in charge of your time. This is a good work set up if you were, at some point, able to work at companies that have stressful leadership. Being a freelancer can give you so much freedom and flexibility when it comes to your work schedule. But along with this seemingly too-good-to-be-true nature comes the possibility of not being able to successfully control and make proper use of your time. Since there is no boss or supervisor to take note of your time and productivity, there is a big likelihood that you will be tempted to procrastinate Manny Machado Jersey , lose focus, or even end up having a lower productivity rate than when you were employed in a company. This is where time boxing, a very powerful yet simple time management technique, can help you out.


Procrastination is one of the biggest enemies of a freelancer. It often strikes when a big task or a major project is looming ahead of us. Time boxing can effectively eliminate this. It starts out by allowing you to plan your day ahead. You can spend the first few minutes of your work day setting aside time for each of your tasks. You might even consider it fun and almost non-work related, but you will notice that your first few minutes of planning your day is already work itself. You even end up with an organized work day Corey Seager Jersey , with each task set up for the number of hours or minutes that you intend to work on them.


Closely related to procrastination is losing focus. This often happens when you're distracted from your tasks. How? By spending more time on social networking sites, online gaming, and generally non-work related stuff. This is disastrous when your distraction has led you to end up not being able to do anything at all throughout the day.


Time boxing technique allows you to make ?deadlines? for each task in terms of minutes and hours. This gives you the opportunity to focus short amounts of time on certain tasks without the goal of finishing them. The concern is just to spend enough time on the tasks per day, no pressure to finish them. It might seem like a lousy technique but this is where the technique shines best. Notice how short your attention span can be? Too often, 8 hours of work burns us out. What we need is short amounts of time that will allow you to really focus on the task at hand.?


Increasing Short and Long Term Profits Marketing Articles | March 29 Chris Taylor Jersey , 2005

"I was at your site for all of two minutes before I bought one of your manuals. I'm impressed!" I love to get emails like this one sent by Vicki from Tucson, Arizona. Marketing my business would be easy if every client bought my products within two minutes of seeing my marketing materials, or signed up for my coaching services after a few minutes on the phone with me.



Do you make most of your sales in 2 to 20 minutes from the time a prospect first reads your marketing copy, visits your web site or calls you?


Neither do I. I make approximately 10% of my sales at the time of first contact, but most prospects take weeks Jackie Robinson Jersey , months and, in some cases, years to become clients.


As I mentioned in my marketing blog, I track sales on the day I send out my marketing newsletter. Typically, orders for my books begin to come in within a couple of hours. Some will be from people who just found my web site and aren't even on my mailing list Mike Piazza Jersey , others will be from prospects who signed up for my newsletter a couple of weeks ago, and still others will be from people who have been getting my marketing materials for a six months or even longer, sometimes as long as two years.


When Do People Buy?
Prospects buy from you when they know you exist, know which problems you solve, feel confident in your products or services and understand their value Los Angeles Dodgers Jersey , and, most importantly, when they want to do something about their situation or are ready to solve a problem. Prospects looking for an immediate solution may buy your $149 product or $5000 service today, but most won't want to purchase it until next month or next year.


Increasing Profits
You need a marketing strategy that helps you increase immediate, short-term and long-term sales.


Does your current marketing strategy do this? Does it prompt people to buy from you the first time they visit your web site or call you J. C. Ramírez Jersey , make a purchase a few weeks later and in some cases buy from you years after their first contact?


Would you like to improve your immediate, short-term and long-term sales? Below are marketing strategies you can use to accomplish this.


Making Immediate Sales
You want a prospect reading your marketing materials for the first time to immediately see you as an expert and understand the value of your products and services. Don't make the mistake of thinking the best way to do this is to describe products and services, credentials or list clients.


Introduce yourself with a marketing message that describes how you help your clients, phrased in terms of their concerns, not yours. Follow this with a few testimonials from clients that focus on the results you?ve generated.


Then describe the solution your product or service provides Kole Calhoun Jersey , again in terms of your prospect?s needs. Finally, ask for a commitment, an order or contact information.


Generating Short Term Sales
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