Nicola Balkind

Freelance Writer & Content Specialist

  • Services
  • Work
  • Books
  • Contact

Investing in Your Microbusiness

By Nicola Balkind

Microbusiness might sound small, but working lean is a fantastic way to get farther, quicker, avoid bureaucratic slovenliness. Not to mention the freedom to do things the way you want!

Whether you’re bootstrapping or have a little investment behind you, chances are you’re running a streamlined enterprise and keeping your overheads low.

And guess what? There’s no better time to innovate.

But are you investing everything that you can into your business? Are you cutting corners to keep overheads low in areas thy might actually improve your business processes, work flow, or client retention?

Don’t feel guilty about investing a little money into the areas that matter.

Is business slow? Maybe it’s time to spruce up your website to capture the would-be clients who are out off by some sloppy navigation. Maybe you need to put some more time into your newsletter. Or perhaps it’s time to pony up for a new microphone or camera to make your audio-visual content really shine.

If you’re holing back on going “all in” on your big ideas, here’s more helpful information and inspriation from Natalie McNeil at She Takes on The World!

 

What could you improve with a little time or cash injection? Have you been holding back on investing in your business?

—

This blog post was originally published on the Small is Beautiful blog.

Filed Under: Client Work, Microbusiness Tagged With: enterprise, freelance lifestyle, microbusiness, self-employment

Managing Yourself

By Nicola Balkind

As a freelancer, my work often involves a lot of irons in the fire and a lot of spinning plates.

Clichés aside, one of the biggest challenges is managing in a time that works for you and for your clients.

Here I’ve compiled just a few of my favourite tools, tricks, and nuggets of wisdom for managing yourself and your own time as a freelancer.

 

1. Take the best advice, not all of the advice, you can get

With so many business start-up and productivity blogs and books around, it’s easy to get stuck in a research rut. I’ve found that you get much further with one or two good, solid pieces of advice.

Rework by the guys at 37 Signals was a revelation for me because it justified a lot of my existing working method, while giving me new ways to think about how best to handle my time. Manage Your Day to Day from 99U is also packed with simple, easily implemented advice on managing your time.

More recently, this blog piece on structuring your ideal workday further confirmed my theories about the best times of day to get certain types of work done.

Now that I have those fundamentals down, it’s time to move on and put them into practice. Don’t get bogged down in the latest tricks if you’ve found something that works for you. Give it a go and try to develop it into your perfect practice.

 

2. Find a system that suits you

In earlier (and less lucrative) days as a freelancer, I kept all sorts of paper notes and a planner. The planner was my own diary, keeping track of meeting dates and deadlines, and I liked to keep a separate notebook for each project. As I  gradually added more and more projects to the pile, it became important to keep all the key things in one place.

Now I use Basecamp Personal, using my work-life as a single Project. Within that, I have a to-do list for each client (each to-do is attached to a deadline), and a document for each week in which I list the days of the week and the time spent on each client. After trying tends of productivity apps to manage them all, this has been the best solution I’ve found for keeping separate lists in one place.

Some other great tools with similar functionality are and Toggl for time management and Trello, which is a dream for to-do list addicts.

 

3. Don’t forget the fundamentals

You know how the tax deadline seems to come around earlier each year? And you end up spending hours in a sea of receipts, wishing you’d been more organised? Try dedicating 20 minutes per week, or an hour each month, to getting your receipts together.

I like to keep my monthly receipts in separate envelopes. Usually I’ll clear out my purse at the end of each week and write the totals on the envelope. Then I keep a separate spreadsheet where I tally up the monthly totals and separate day-to-day and capital expenses. As an added bonus, breaking it down will keep things fresh in your mind so you won’t miss those stray receipts, and I promise you’ll feel loads more sane.

If you’re more of a geek about these things, try Kris Atomic’s blog post on The Joy of Accounting – it could be a life-changer!

 

—

This blog post was originally published on the Small is Beautiful blog.

Filed Under: Client Work, Microbusiness Tagged With: freelance lifestyle, freelancing, self-employment

Follow Me

Sign up for my newsletter

Contact Me

Email: nicola@nicolabalkind.com
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Subscribe to my newsletter

Categories

  • Archive
  • Client Work
  • Microbusiness
  • Notebook
  • Social Media & Content
  • Writing Portfolio

Testimonials

Nicola has been my number one go-to for freelance community management. She is incredibly efficient, she is clear with costs, time estimates and invoicing and completely reliable. She is a breath of fresh air in an industry which is plagued by self-promoting “gurus”: her range of skills and experience is broad and authentic. I really appreciate the way Nicola is uncomplicated to work with: she asks quick, straightforward questions about what’s required then sits down and gets the job done without fuss. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Nicola and would certainly work with her again.
Annie MacfarlaneTOMS Europe
Nicola helped transform EIFF’s web vision at a time of change. She is assured and confident with her tactics in an ever-evolving industry and, more importantly, generates great content with results. Allied to Nicola’s strategic savvy, it’s a winning combination.
Colan MehaffeyEdinburgh International Film Festival
Nicola has been nothing but helpful, insightful, and an amazing force to impact our team. She exudes exceptional talent, and throughout working together I’ve been able to see first-hand her strength in organising and leading a team, attention to detail, and ability communicate with her peers and clients effectively. It has been a real pleasure to work with Nicola, and I can’t wait to continue working alongside and learning from her.
Jessica Yamamoto, Yelp
Nicola is crazy talented, knowledgeable and efficient when it comes to Social Media and Copywriting. I had the pleasure to work with Nicola on several online marketing projects over the course of almost two years. Not only is she a fountain of knowledge regarding latest trends and best practices for both Social Media and online writing – she is also able to put abstract ideas into action. Any team looking to improve their online presence would be lucky to get their hands on Nicola.
Eva MartinSERPS Invaders
Nicola was an important member of the Edinburgh International Film Festival Marketing Department and was key in the communication delivery of the Festival. In such a dynamic and demanding environment, Nicola delivered great content and was dependable throughout, an invaluable asset to the Festival.
Ross PerthEdinburgh International Film Festival
Nicola has worked with Purplefeather on various social media and copywriting campaigns. She is creative, reliable and professional and can be completely trusted with the voice of your brand – rare qualities indeed!
Andrea GardnerPurplefeather
Nicola is an experienced creative copywriter, with a great ability to produce quality pieces quickly and at short-notice. She has a great knowledge of social platforms and ability to apply this knowledge. Nicola is an absolute pleasure to work with and brings her creativity and personality to everything she does.
Kaye SymingtonMint Digital & Stickygram
Nicola and I worked together across several projects in the Yomgeo community management team. Nicola is great to work with, her attitude towards projects is always amazing and she is incredibly efficient, Her work is always of the highest quality, and I’ve learned a lot from working with her.
Catherine CarriganYomego
We’ve employed Nicola’s services several times at Yomego and every time she has been absolutely fantastic in both outputs and attitude. Supporting our community management team, Nicola has added invaluable expertise in creating customer focused strategies for our clients and helping to draft truly compelling content plans. I have absolutely no hesitations in recommending Nicola’s services for anyone that places important on ensuring outputs are consistently exemplary.
Sam Macleod
Nicola was a pleasure to work with. She managed a number of our clients social media and content strategy with a brilliant flair to adapt her creative skills for each of their brands guidelines. She also provided social media training which was highly informative and engaging. Nicola is highly knowledgeable and is constantly in touch with the forefront of all social media developments. She provides all her work in a professional and timely manner. Nicola is comfortable presenting and talking to clients. I would have no hesitation in recommending Nicola. Great person to work with!
Lorraine WaddellSERPS Invaders

Copyright © 2023 · Modern Studio Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in