My Secret To Working Less Than 5 Hours Everyday As A Freelance Researcher

Spilling the 4 things I do to keep this system in place.

Photo of me in Rome, with the cheapest glass of white wine.

I’ve been enjoying 5-hour workdays this year. Of course, with the exception of some days when I intentionally go overboard and overwork myself to sleep.

My secret? A daily system that supports me.

As a freelance market researcher, I deal with new clients and projects several times a month. Which also means that allocating my time spent on these projects are my full responsibility.

Basically, here’s what my everyday looks like:

• social media engagement (Twitter & LinkedIn)
• coaching freelancers (free & paid)
• market research for clients
• create content

And it looks like this wherever I am in the world.

Take a look at my time report from the second week of May:

Those are the pillars of my everyday.

Looking at my time report, you can see that Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday contributed the biggest chunks to my workweek.

Here’s why:

I did my market research work in the middle of the week, and I created a bucket of weekly content on May 13th (for the next week!). I normally drop work on weekends, but I felt too productive that day and I had to pour the momentum into something productive.

30 mins of social media engagement daily.

My engagement hours are limited. Twitter gets 15 minutes, and LinkedIn gets another 15 minutes after that.

The pressure of getting a lot done for just under 30 minutes everyday motivates me to comment quickly.

And because I need to do it quick, I also put good pressure on myself to leave comments packed with value and personality.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to engage effectively and efficiently.

I coach when my coachees are ready for it.

aka I’m present during their best times.

I don’t see the point of showing up when the other party isn’t there yet. Doing so will waste my time, and that’s the last thing I want to happen.

For those of you who aren’t connected with me on LinkedIn and Twitter, I launched a free one-on-one coaching program for freelancers who want to start their career and transform their journey. I called it Freelancing 101 and I currently have 6 freelancers on my list.

To optimize my time, I categorized my coachees into 2 groups:

1. Video call group — freelancers who want to learn via video calls
2. Messaging group — freelancers who prefer to type it out

By categorizing them into groups, I can

• gauge how much time I have to spend on each one of them
• point out exactly when they want to learn from me
• still work under 5 hours everyday

It’s efficient and it just simply makes sense.

Chunk of research work throughout the week.

As a freelance market researcher, I will never have an idea how many projects will knock on my door. Some months are generous, while some are stale as moldy bread.

But one thing’s guaranteed: Whenever I accept a new project, I dissect them into bite-sized work which I can do daily.

• I need to meet my client’s needs,
• submit my reports on time,
• and not overwork myself

In order to juggle all of that, I scatter my ‘deep work’ hours throughout the week.

Because I know that working 4 hours maximum each day is my sweet spot, I try to keep this system in place. Which means I avoid working for 2 days straight or simply clocking in 1 hour everyday.

There’s no point veering away from my sweet spot if I already found it!

And as for creating content,

I speed through it for 30 minutes during my ‘ideation’ time.

30-minute ideation system.

This is my ultimate secret to creating a bucket of content every week.

During my ‘ideation time’, I place myself in a comfortable and productive environment. It’s both a mental and physical space where I’m the most focused version of me.

Here’s the backbone of my system (feel free to steal!):

Select a major theme for the week.

A generic, umbrella theme that you can rip into other useful pieces.

Break it down to 5 bite-sized topics.

Branch out your major theme into smaller topics you can post daily. But make sure to really dig into it. Otherwise, it’ll become another generic topic that no one wants to read.

Write to your best friend.

Once you sit down to write your bite-sized content, type as if you’re writing an email to your bestie. Make it conversational, honest, and value-packed.

If you’re curious about my ideation system, see my LinkedIn post here:

Francesca Angeles on LinkedIn: #contentwriting #freelancers #ideation

There you have it! The stupidly simple secret is out.

Creating a daily system that allows me to work less than 5 hours daily has been a game-changer for my freelance career.

Since doing these 4 things, I’ve achieved a work-life balance that many freelancers strive for. Especially because we’re so known for being our own boss and owning our time, right?

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “How can I implement these in my own freelance journey?”

Well, the key is to customize them to fit your unique circumstances and preferences. Because we’re all different. We all work differently, and what works for me might not exactly work exactly the same for you.

Remember, freelancing is all about flexibility. Which means you have to put in some effort to discover your ideal work rhythm. And once you find that, stick to it because it’ll do wonders for your career and wellbeing.

If you enjoyed this, I think you’ll love the 5 Things I Stopped Doing In Order To Live A Fulfilling Freelance Career. Since you clicked on this story, I thought it was safe to assume that you want to transform your freelance journey by doing more in less time. By sharing my thoughts on a fulfilling freelance career, I hope to inspire you to make positive and productive changes in your life.