Being self-employed means you wear a lot of hats -accountant, publicity director, technical support – and spend much of your time juggling various seemingly unrelated responsibilities. Whether your speciality is marketing, translation, graphic design or computer programming, going from one task to another takes a little practice.

Organisation is the means to a smooth operation. You should have an effective record system for each client, whether it’s computerised or not. This will help you when communicating with them. Remember, each client must feel like they are your only client. The key to ensuring that is constant communication, and making certain you’re accessible and responsive to their needs.

If you have clients for whom you only do work occasionally, touch base with them periodically – especially when you know they have events coming up in which you may play a part. This shows your continuing interest in them, and it could also get you more work.

You must stay on track – even if your clients don’t. When you’re working with multiple clients that can often be a bit tricky. Careful, but flexible, scheduling is the key. Prepare a monthly agenda of each client’s activities. Prioritise each by due date. Then prepare a weekly schedule -planning out specific tasks for each day. If you need input from clients in order to accomplish specific tasks, schedule yourself to remind them ahead of time, keeping in mind that your first blown deadline could be your last.

End your day by sprucing up your surroundings (do a little filing, organise your phone messages, write your to-do list for tomorrow, etc.). It will be much easier to start the next day with a clean slate.

Consistency in anything lessens the work, for both the client and you. If possible, set up all of your clients on the same billing schedule. For the most part, you should be able to prepare statements for all your clients in one day or less.