Photo by Zerone Eric Ouano

As a freelancer, you always have a hundred of things going on at one… writing, editing, bidding, marketing, researching, invoicing, developing passive income, and so on. It’s a lot for one person to take care of at any given time.

If you’re like me, you probably have sticky notes scattered across your desk, a calendar on the wall with notes scribbled and dates circled, a to-do list organizer, some online productivity tools, and a whole bunch more. If you’re a busy freelancer then you probably find yourself in catch-up mode half of the time because you’re pushing yourself so hard to increase your income from month to month.

Aside from that, you might even have some bigger dream projects that you have set aside… writing an eBook, developing a software, promoting a product you’ve already made, creating affiliate relationships, or starting some joint-ventures. Perhaps they’re different, but your dreams are there… they’re often the same dreams that have been there for months or even years.

One of the most difficult things to do as a freelancer is to manage your time so that you don’t only get all the work done that clients need, but so you’re also able to fast-track your goals to completion. You’ve probably found yourself focussed on one goal for a while, then get sidetracked by another, and then another comes along and you diddle with it for a bit – but nothing ever gets done.

Want a solution?

Let me tell you about the 100% Completion System.

Every month, pick a major goal of yours that you can realistically complete within 30 days. This has to be something that will be able to generate revenue for you once you are done. This can be an eBook, a joint-venture, or whatever else you have on your mind. But the rule is that it has to be done within 30 days to the point where it will be able to make money for you. This is vitally important because it goes against everything we would normally do.

Instead of slowly working on five goals at a time you will focus on one thing alone. Here’s a 3 month breakdown of why it outproduces anything you’ve ever done before…

Month 1

Standard Goal-Chasing:

  • 5 projects worked on
  • All at 20% completed
  • No income.

100% Completion System:

  • 1 project worked on – completed.
  • No income.

Month 2

Standard:

  • 5 projects worked on
  • 3 completed to 40%
  • 2 tossed aside
  • 2 others started and completed to 20%
  • No income.

100% System:

  • 1 project worked on – completed.
  • 1 completed project generating income.

Month 3

Standard:

  • 5 projects worked on
  • 1 completed to 60%
  • 2 tossed aside
  • 2 completed at 40%
  • 2 completed to 20%
  • No income.

100% System:

  • 1 project worked on – completed.
  • 2 Project Generating Income.

Do you see what this does? You and I both know that when we have multiple projects going on they never get done. If you’re creative you probably feel like you get a great idea every other week, but does that idea ever come into fruition? Probably not.

The 100% Completion System doesn’t require you toss your new ideas aside. In fact, I encourage you to write everything down so you can develop the projects sometime down the road. But the fact is, chasing multiple dream-projects at one time just means you’ll be chasing them for longer and longer before eventually giving up on them.

By managing your projects correctly and only focusing on one-major side project each month, you’ll find that your dreams become reality much sooner than you could have ever imagined.

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Comments

  1. 2
    Dan Brantley // June 8th, 2008 at 5:06 am

    Ouch!

    Truth is in this post.

    The beauty of this method is that it does not restrict work on the other projects, something a hardcore idea generator would have trouble with, but it allows us to work on other projects, with the stated and achievable goal of completing one.

    Actually I will throw this into the brilliant post file, and start this method today.

    Thanks!

  2. 3
    Chad // June 8th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    Hey Dan,

    Thanks for visiting the blog – I’m glad this idea will be able to help you. I know it’s helped me in the past and is probably something I need to implement better these days. When I’ve followed the plan, I’ve seen huge progress. When I’ve strayed from it, I’ve been overwhelmed (and staggered by) the madness.

    I’m looking forward to hearing how it turns out for you!

  3. 4
    Sachin Sagar Rai // July 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Simply amazing system!
    I’ve been through this same problem. Get new ideas and all are started but none is completed.
    I’ll definitely use this 100% system and lets see whether it works for me or not?
    Great post!

Trackbacks

  1. Bootstrapper » Carnival of Business and Entrepreneurship #15
  2. Practical Blogging Tips: Focus on One Project at a Time : Performancing

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