How to deal with a large stream of small tasks in freelancing?

Question

Freelance

The situation is ordinary : over the years of practice, many clients have accumulated. Often they have a need to do "small" tasks, and today or tomorrow.

Problem:
1. Small tasks distract from the implementation of large ones, and those are more profitable by nature - less spending on communication, coordination, etc.
2. Not doing them at all will not work: these tasks are important for the client's business, and these same clients provide big tasks. Failure to perform motivates to look for another performer.
3. Communication on small tasks is unprofitable. My most productive days are when I go to the messenger 2-3 times / day to give answers. And when I have to deal with a bunch of little things, I don’t have time to do anything.

What have I tried?
1. Dedicate 1 hour/day to small tasks.Why it didn't work:
1) Changes often come, or there are questions that the client clarifies during the day. You have to be distracted by these dialogues.
2) There remains the problem of discussing small tasks throughout the day.


2. Give small tasks 1 full day a week. If clients have a lot of small tasks that add up to $n, I allocate a number of days for D. Why it did not work out:
1) Some clients are not ready to wait so long, they ask quickly. And they don’t have tasks for the required number of dollars to allocate specific days for them.
2) There was a problem of time planning: you need to calculate how long the task will take, check how much has already accumulated on the 1st day of the week, and see if the current one will fit.


Actually, what measures can be taken to solve this problem?

Answer 1

There can be no universal option, because the tasks themselves and your free time are always different.
Personally, my position is as follows: I have 1-2 main clients on whom I spend 90-100% of my working time. They are like "my main job".
And periodically pop up old clients with modifications. I am ready to devote a maximum of 5-10 hours a week to them. I make this clear right now. If they have a big task, then I won’t even take it, because it will stretch for months. I take small tasks, but with the condition that I will do it when I have free time. It could be in a day, or it could be in a week.
In short: then I name my conditions, and they decide whether they are satisfied or not. The situation to drop everything for the sake of a sudden client is an exceptional rarity.

Answer 2

They should be more expensive per hour (especially if the client does not want to wait) or provided as part of a monthly subscription fee. The subscription fee must be sufficient.

Answer 3

You need an assistant to whom you can throw off these tasks. At the time, I did just that. He shifted the entire routine to an assistant, while he himself was engaged in more interesting and larger tasks.

Answer 4

Sell ​​them for more

Answer 5

A subscription fee is not an option ((
you won’t take a lot for small tasks on a subscriber, and the client will become completely insolent, he will say: well, I pay a subscriber
! will come out, because fuss.
IMHO it was rightly said here that the only correct way is to increase the cost of "small" works.
It's just difficult to do.
The client is used to paying N money.
And here he is: now pay N * 2
Therefore, it is important to warn everyone in advance, they say , due to the high load on large projects, the cost of small ones increases by 100%.then they will not be offended.

Answer 6

Pareto principle -> Occam's Razor
or sleep less