Now Approaching: Busy Season 🚉
My daily schedule + the freelance tools I use.
Last update, I shared how I’ve been savoring the slow season. It’s been a time of reflection, gratitude for a busy year, and rest. Now, as spring gets into full swing, the busy season is here again. Work’s ramping up for Outdoor Media Summit planning, freelance contract work with Outside Magazine remains steady as we gear up for warm-weather adventures, and travels over the past few months have turned into story opportunities. My plate is full, y’all.
Keeping up with contract work deliverables and assigned stories is a job in and of itself. Most mornings, I’m focused on organizing my work for the day before I can even get started. That said, I’ve created a pretty solid workflow and an essential toolkit for organizing my work and staying on top of assignments (freelance writing work and otherwise).
I thought I’d give a glimpse into what a typical day looks like for me:
6:30 AM – AJ wakes up. My wonderful wife goes in to greet, feed her, and I start to wake up, too.
7:00 AM – I get up, take a quick shower, and pour myself coffee.
7:30 AM – Take over “AJ duty” - we play in the living room, watch music videos, eat some breakfast together, and wait for our Nanny to arrive.
9:00 AM – Our Nanny arrives (yay!) and I sit down at my desk for work.
9:15 - 10AM – Review my Google Calendar, Trello board, Slack messages, emails (personal, work, OMS email), and make my to-do list - handwritten in my notebook.
10AM - 1PM – Outside Magazine production work, building stories on Wordpress, managing affiliate/design for each story, and working with editors on upcoming assignments.
1 - 4PM – Outdoor Media Summit meetings, calls with speakers and the team, and emailing attendees and vendors for the upcoming summit. Also, constantly checking emails and responding to OMS-related work throughout the day.
4 - 5PM – Back on AJ duty until my wife gets home!
5 - 6PM – Wrapping up OMS work and final emails of the day or working out.
6 - 7PM – Dinner with the family.
7 - 8PM – AJ night time routine and putting her to bed.
8 - 10PM – Hanging out with Courtney, probably watching RuPaul’s Drag Race (go, Darlene!), Below Deck, or a Women’s PWHL hockey game before Zzzzz.
This glance at my schedule is probably boring for you all. But it’s an important part of my process – and likely many other freelancers’ processes – to build routine and find rhythm to your day. Routine, for me, turns into success. When I can balance all my work systematically, I’m more productive. My hectic work as a freelancer, with so many assignments, voices, editors, and emails flying at me in every direction, becomes manageable when I carve out time and a process to address them.
There are also many tools I’ve found that help my freelance workflow immensely:
Trello – for organizing assignments by month and due date
Wave – for managing my client invoices and keeping a pulse on my monthly income and upcoming payments
Authory – for automatically tracking and organizing published stories into my portfolio (one less thing I have to keep track of)
Otter.ai – for recording interviews and meetings, so I can refer back to them without having to worry about note-taking
Google Profiles – to separate each of my clients and my freelance/personal email, bookmarks, etcs.
And other tools I use for client communication and work/deliverables tracking include some basics, too, like Slack and Asana.
If you have any questions about my routine and/or tools I used to stay organized and productive as a freelancer, I’m always happy to help or chat. Sometimes just getting a glimpse into someone else’s world can help inspire change and make a meaningful impact on your own workflow. At least, that’s what I’ve experienced following many of my peers on Substack, online, and even having catch-up calls to hear how things are going in their world. Just know: I’m here for it.
My Recent Stories ✍️
Outside: With This Zippy E-Bike, I Can Go Weeks Without Driving My Car
Outside: I Bought Way Too Much Baby Gear. This Is the One Thing I Actually Use.
Backpacker: Forget National Parks, Geoparks Are the Most Underrated Hiking Spots on Earth. Here’s Why.
Backpacker: Skip the Pass: These 4 National Parks Are Free to Visit
Block Club Chicago: 14 Things To Do Outside In Chicago This April
Latest Adventures 🚀
Upcoming Travels ✈️
Myrtle Beach (April) — This is typically a place we’d probably never travel, but a PR friend has fully convinced me we need to visit as a young family. We’re looking forward to some warm weather and beach days over a long weekend. Send me some reccos, if you’re familiar with the area!
Seattle via Amtrak (May) — Could be the worst (or best?) decision we’ve ever made booking a trip to Seattle via Amtrak from Chicago. The 48-hour journey will surely be an adventure, figuring out what it’s like to travel with a 1.5-year-old on a train for two days.
Breckenridge (June) — We were just in Colorado, but couldn’t help booking another trip for the summer season. AJ loved going on hikes and seeing the mountains from the gondola. We’re stoked to spend some time in this super easy-to-get-to part of Colorado. Honestly, can’t recommend this trip enough, so close (and with such a scenic drive) to get to from Denver.
What I’m Diggin’ 🎶
🎵 One of my favorite artists in nature. When I work throughout the day, I often just have music playing (DJ sets, artists in scenic settings, etc.) on YouTube so I can look up and escape to what’s on the screen for just one minute of my busy workday.
🚲 I recently reviewed the Aventon Abound SR ebike for Outside and we are loving it to get around the city. Ebiking gets a bad rap but we absolutely love it for urban commuting and enjoying bike ride with AJ.
Thanks for reading ✌️
Your pal, Erica ✨