Dealing with multiple projects simultaneously

[lucioric]

Hello. ¿How do you deal with the stress of working simultaneously with many fixed price projects?. ¿How do you deal with the mess of multiple acounts created, passwords, python packages, subdomains, working directories?.

Best regards.

[resultsassoc · Accepted solution]

As a client? Not difficult. First thing every day, seven days a weeik, I first visit every freelancer project. I'm currently coaching two executives, selling a client's business, setting up U.S. logistics for a foreign exporter, overseeing an ERP implementation, sourcing services for one manufacturer, sourcing indirect materials for another, and a few projects on the back-burner. Then I turn to projects where I'm a cliient - developmental edit of the most recent novel, cover creation for the same novel, my VA's involvement in current projects for clients, and a couple of CAD projects. Then I look at personal projects - two novels and three business books in progress, mentoring a few MBAs and entrepreneurs.

Touch every project every day; the ones needing urgent attention identify themselves. At the end of the day I call two clients who need a lot of hand-holding and give them 30 minutes each. I call inactive clients every two weeks on a schedule (about 15 right now). I look at requests for work; if I don't like the tone or there's no opportunity to learn, I turn them down. If they can be done as well as I could do them by somebody better, cheaper, or with more availability, I refer them.

This isn't rocket science.

[prestonhunter]

re: "How do you deal with the stress of working simultaneously with many projects?"

Poorly.

[luce-neidert]

I try to avoid working on too many projects at a time, but as I'm procrastinator, I'm used to having to concetrate and work real fast once in a while, I sort of enjoy it, particularly if all goes well.

[reinierb]

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@Bill H wrote:

As a client? Not difficult. First thing every day, seven days a weeik, I first visit every freelancer project. I'm currently coaching two executives, selling a client's business, setting up U.S. logistics for a foreign exporter, overseeing an ERP implementation, sourcing services for one manufacturer, sourcing indirect materials for another, and a few projects on the back-burner. Then I turn to projects where I'm a cliient - developmental edit of the most recent novel, cover creation for the same novel, my VA's involvement in current projects for clients, and a couple of CAD projects. Then I look at personal projects - two novels and three business books in progress, mentoring a few MBAs and entrepreneurs.

Touch every project every day; the ones needing urgent attention identify themselves. At the end of the day I call two clients who need a lot of hand-holding and give them 30 minutes each. I call inactive clients every two weeks on a schedule (about 15 right now). I look at requests for work; if I don't like the tone or there's no opportunity to learn, I turn them down. If they can be done as well as I could do them by somebody better, cheaper, or with more availability, I refer them.

This isn't rocket science.

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@Bill, compared to your work schedule, I am in heaven, since I now have only a few clients and no tight deadlines. 

Before I retired, I dealt with a couple of dozen customers, several parts suppliers and walk-in reps, and about 200 phone calls while supervising 9 mechanics and 14 assistants- every day. It's not exactly rocket science, I agree, but it requires a high degree of "razor's edge" time management skills. 

My advice to the OP would be to do a crash course in time management, and to learn how to prioritize tasks, schedules, and meetings, but to keep at least one hour a day open for unforeseen issues- which could crop up at any time

[versailles]

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Before I retired, I dealt with a couple of dozen customers, several parts suppliers and walk-in reps, and about 200 phone calls while supervising 9 mechanics and 14 assistants- every day.

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I totally imagine the car repair shop. Mechanics running all over the place, their heads down, curses in Afrikaans flying from the back office, along with occasional wrenches and other metallic items.

[reinierb]

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@Rene K wrote:

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Before I retired, I dealt with a couple of dozen customers, several parts suppliers and walk-in reps, and about 200 phone calls while supervising 9 mechanics and 14 assistants- every day.

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I totally imagine the car repair shop. Mechanics running all over the place, their heads down, curses in Afrikaans flying from the back office, along with occasional wrenches and other metallic items.

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@ @Rene, you are not too far off the mark.

You got only one thing wrong though- there weren't curses flying from the back office; there were many curses flying from the back office, and not all of them in Afrikaans, either. The Zulu language is remarkably descriptive and very easy to curse in, so there was a fair amount of Zulu spoken from the back office as well.