![]() 4: Do paperwork digitallyĪs I use enough paper as it is, I do all of my admin digitally. I can stick it somewhere where I think I have time, but if it turns out I don’t, I can stick it somewhere else in my planners. If I have a job or assignment that’s flexible in its deadline, or I can move around, I write it on a post-it. I try to work not more than 5 hours planned every day, as there are always things during the day that take up unaccounted time, like phone calls and such. I also write down for every task how many hours it will take so I can see how busy I am. I will copy that into my weekly planner (I use a Moleskine agenda for this). In general, I make a to-do list for every day, by checking my monthly planner first. This includes more detailed and day-to-day tasks. Next to my monthly planner I have a weekly planner. So on my monthly planner is looks like: ‘Monday 17 July: 6 sketches book title’, for example. Everything that has a clear deadline and can be properly planned in, I add to the planner.įor example: if I know I have to have all sketches for a particular book send to the publisher by the end of the month, I will calculate how many sketches I would have to do per day. On this planner I write down the main projects, like book assignments or editorial illustrations. I don’t include weekends as I want to keep them free as much as I can. My monthly planner is very simple: it’s 2 sheets of paper taped together and I write the name of the month on top and make squares for my working days. I know I have to make a certain amount of money each month to pay my bills, so in the budget-row I can see if that month is/was sufficient. Personally, I not only look at the time I have left, but also financially. In the past I used to take on too many projects but when I see it on one page, I can see at once what I’m up to that month. I do this for every month so I can see in one quick glance what projects I have coming up and how much money is coming in. ![]() It’s in Dutch, but it says: ‘Projects September’ and below that it says: ‘client’, ‘what?’ (short description), ‘budget’ and ‘deadline’. This way I can easily oversee how busy I am and how much money is coming in. I used to pride myself with my good memory but since I had a burnout a few years back, my memory is not that good any more □ A nice, sturdy notebookįor me it helps if I use good and nice-looking stationery, it makes it more fun! In this notebook (from HEMA) I write down each month which projects I have, what the deadline is and what the budget is. Mainly because my brain can’t remember it all. Photo from Pexels 2: Keep track of your projectsįor me it works really well if I keep track of every project I have coming up. It’s a good investment and if you’re accountant is good, it will pay off. Especially when you’re starting out! This stuff can be really complicated and when you’re starting out you have enough to worry about already. So if you’re having trouble with filing your taxes and want to have it done properly: get an accountant. When I became a professional illustrator (in my book this means: doing regular illustration jobs and getting paid for it), I made a phone call to an accountant I knew and asked if she would help me. Or at least: bearable □ 1: Get an accountant In this blogpost I will give you a few quick tips that might make doing your admin a bit more fun. It’s a tricky one, most people don’t like doing it. On average I spend 60-70% of my time on anything but illustrating. If you’re a professional illustrator or designer, or have read one of my other posts, you know this: it’s not all just drawing and cutting and glueing.
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