Congratulations, you made it as a freelance Graphic Designer! You’ve got some clients in the bag, have completed a few jobs for them, and now they are coming back to you for more. So how do you start to organise yourself so that you can get the work out on time, keep a record of everything, and send an accurate invoice out when the job is complete?
This is something I’ve revisited lately after my New Year’s resolution to be more organised in business. It’s easy to let time and job management slip when you are on an interesting job, get bogged down with details, or the deadline is gaining on you. But if you get yourself organised in the right way from the start, it should only take you a few minutes to keep your system up to date, giving you all the information you need about a job at invoice time, or should a client ask you for an update.
So, here is an outline of the system I use which has evolved over time from various influences, such as past employment, web articles, software and how I need to work today. You don’t need expensive time/job logging software, just a few simple tools that you will probably already own.
- Start a job numbering system and log all jobs that come in on a spreadsheet or notebook. I use the syntax SCxxx, where SC stands for ‘Spirit Creative’, and a consecutive number at the end.
- On your spreadsheet or notebook, set up a few columns such as “Job No., Client, Job Title, Deadline, Value, Date Invoiced” etc. This should give you an historical and quick summary of all your jobs, past and current, seeing what has and what needs to be done. Make sure you fill the information out as you go!
- Then create a job sheet for each job, again this can be done on a spreadsheet, or you can design one in your graphics software of choice, and print off as you need them on your laser printer, keeping in a ring binder. The details you put on this sheet will depend on what you need to know about a job, but an area to keep a time log on the job, with details about what you did, would be a good place to start. On my job sheet I have also set up a few Excel formulas to add up the number of hours, multiply them by my hourly rate and put the total into a table/area called marked ‘Invoice details’ which I then cut and paste into my Word invoice template when the job is complete. This table also has room for the clients name and address, along with the job title. It is an invoice within the job sheet if you like.
- When you begin the job, start a new folder on your computer with the job number and title in it’s name. Keep everything electronic to do with the job in here e.g. information, text and pictures from the client, your design work, PDF proofs etc.
- You might also like to set up a whiteboard system so you can see quickly at a glance (without having to look at your computer) which jobs are currently in (or live), and need working on. Again the columns you might use are “Client, Job No., Description, Due, Status”. As the job status changes, is completed, or a new one comes in, you can quickly rub out, or add what is needed. My status codes are P (proof), C (contractor), Pr (printer), H (hold) and INV (invoice). I only ever have live jobs on here and they get rubbed off when invoiced. Again this can be done via a spreadsheet or with Google office tools (great if you need to share the information with colleagues not on your site).
With all of the above set up and being kept up to date, you should be able to see at any time where the job is, if it’s been invoiced, have all the information relating to it in one place, be able to invoice for everything, and feel much less stressed as a result!
This article is written by Rachel Toy, a freelance Graphic Designer working in the design industry for over 15 years. Her company, Spirit Creative Ltd, is a full Graphic Design Agency serving Beds/Bucks/Herts, providing logo design, business cards, leaflets, brochures, web sites, web hosting, exhibition graphics and more! If you would like us to help your company with any of the above then do not hesitate to contact us on info@spiritcreative.co.uk
