A big part of my success as a freelance writer is staying organized. It keeps me from missing deadlines or forgetting to invoice clients. This all revolves around my trusty planner. Here’s a look at how I organize my business using a planner.

By the way, I’m not saying this is the only way to plan. It’s just how I do it.

The planner I use

After trying out many planners over the years, I've fallen in love with Happy Planners, mostly because they are incredibly customizable. There are a bunch of different types on inserts you can purchase to make the planner work better for you. You can also print off free inserts to add to your planner. They also come in various themes, such as Desert Flower, Live A Happy Colorful Life, Marbled Paint, Good Habits.

Specifically, I use the Classic Vertical Happy Planner. Vertical types of these planners have three vertical boxes for each of the days. It gives you a lot of space to plan days.

Dashboard Happy Planners are a little different. For each week there are spaces to help you keep trach of emails, calls, errands, things to buy, and the focus of the week. On the second page the days of the week are laid out along with a to-do list. This style lets you plan out specific tasks. I suggest getting the style that works better for the way you plan.

How I plan out my week

Now that you’ve gotten a feel for what type of planner I use, my method will make a little more sense. You can use my method in just about any type of planner, but I find the vertical layout of the Happy Planner gives me enough room to write everything down, though I like the dashboard style, too.

Okay, so let’s get into it. First, I write all of my assignments down in the To Do section on the left side. I used to keep a running list on a legal pad, but I find this works better. I make sure to write out the date each article is due and the time. I’ll make a smaller list for other to-dos underneath the assignment to-do list.

Next, I’ll write down any appointments that I have on the day they come up. From there I’ll do a small daily to-do list at the top of each day. Here will be the assignments I need to do that day, errands, calls to make, etc.

Finally, I tally my earnings. For each assignment I complete I will write down how much I earned and then add it up into a daily total. On Sunday I’ll tally up all of the daily totals and write down the weekly total. At the end of the month I will take my weekly totals, add them up, and write the tally on the last day of the month. Writing down my earnings in my planner helps me stay motivated and gives me a daily glimpse at how my goals are going.

Extras

You’ll notice that I spruce up my pages with stickers. I just like customizing the pages to match my mood that week. Plus, I’m a sticker fanatic. Happy Planner has a lot of stickers designed to be used with their planners, but you can also get cute planner stickers at Dollar Tree if you’re on a budget.

I also use erasable pens because I tend to flip around when I’m going to do what. Some good erasable pens are Pilot Fixion.

If you go with a Happy Planner, I recommend getting their hole puncher so that you can add in homemade or printed inserts to your planner.

BTW, if you need more help making your freelance writing career successful, check out my book The Fluff-Free Freelance Writing Master Course Workbook: The only course that gives you concrete, actionable information to building a successful freelance business without any fluff.