If I learned anything from being a freelancer, then starting my own business and now planning a wedding its that there will always be something that can stress the finances. Whether it’s a loss of a client or project, a new competitor or just an unexpected bill. You can’t plan for all of these events but yet you still need to be prepared. A lack of a cash cushion for yourself or your business is scary and if you’re down already, it becomes harder to recover. 

The creative process is a strange one that’s hard to explain and even harder for you to bill. One day a simple task might take you 30 minutes, the next time that same general thing could take two days. Learning your creative process and how to make use of your time more efficiently is often trial and error. I’ve learned over the years what works best for me. For instance, I know that I have to have a little time to think and brainstorm before I start a new project. When a new project hits my desk you’ll almost never see me start working on it right then. And that’s not just because I have a handful of other things in the pipeline. Its actually because I need time to think about it and let it digest. Depending on the project, that could take me five minutes or a week. No way I can just jump into something new straight off. I need to let it simmer there for a while… you can’t just turn creativity on like a faucet. I usually have at least one project on the back burner that I’m starting in a few days or next week. I’m not working on it so I’m not billing for the time. But I know it’s there and my brain is thinking about it. Perhaps while I’m sleeping or while I’m out for a run, the ideas will start forming and coming together. Maybe its the color, style or how best to explain the product in a witty way; it all begins to take shape before I actually start officially working on it. So when I sit down to finally get to work on this project or idea I don’t spend a day forcing myself to be creative, I already have an idea of what I want to do. If you take time to understand your creative method, you’ll be able to work more efficiently and maybe even produce better work.