What is a 'workflow'?
And why it helps as a remote worker.
As a project manager, it is part of my role to oversee the overall running of a project, campaign and/or event. From making sure targets are hit, to ensuring the day to day is completed by all teams and individuals.
However I’m someone who not only works for multiple clients at a time, while travelling, and also has other projects of my own running in the background. And so the importance of an outstanding workflow is increasingly more crucial for things to go smoothly and successfully.
“Workflow is the series of activities that are necessary to complete a task”
Simply put, workflow is a to do list of actions that have to happen to complete an action or a project. So to create an event, things might be broken down by Operations, Marketing etc and then broken up again into smaller actions and shared among any team members. But as an individual starting something, or as a sole trader in general, all actions of course are on your plate. Which, for a little while, you can largely do, but it’s not necessarily sustainable long term.
Cue workflow optimisation.
With clients, both as a full time employee and freelancer, I’ve overseen the launch to business as usual and scaling of a business. But as we know, when it comes to your own projects of course, we’re mystified, right? Well I am anyway. Even with project management experience I was somehow baffled at the concept of scaling The Remote Life Podcast.
But a couple of weekends ago, this uncertainty was answered when I took part in the Aligned Action Summit. A virtual conference hosted by three content creators with the aim to talk about sustainable business practices and sustainable scaling (among other topics as well).
The entire summit was completely worth the investment, but one thing that particularly stuck out for me was:
Outsource what you need to so you can focus on creating (and therefore scaling and other things you are naturally great at).
I can’t remember who said it, and that wasn’t the quote word for word. But it was something to that effect.
What does ‘focus on creating’ mean?
As a project and/or business owner, you are the creator. You don’t necessarily need to be creative in the traditional sense of the word, however your project or business is your creation. And as we know, especially when you’re starting out or in general work on your own, it’s on you to keep spinning those metaphorical plates.
What I like about the concept that was explained at the Aligned Action Summit however was the idea to have an honest conversation with yourself: what do you actually enjoy working on? What can you do naturally day to day? And what can be outsourced? That is, what task(s) can be passed on to someone else?
For example, I can edit podcasts, do SEO, look for sponsorship contacts and write pitch messages to sponsors. But naturally, I’m best at strategy and overseeing the overall running of a project and can do this, no stress or procrastination.
From the start, I’ve sent off my podcast content to be edited and returned to me to add the intros and outros and it’s been a life saver. Since this revelation at the AAS, however, I’ve gone on to outsource my SEO and web work, as well as aforementioned sourcing of contacts and email writing (although that I’m personalising myself. I just needed help getting started).
Not only has this taken a thing off of my to-do list, which has been sat there for a while, and therefore freed me up to create. Create more content, create new opportunities and up my strategy - ie the things I’m naturally good at. But it also feeds into my mission to empower others to live the life of their dreams, by doing what they are naturally good at also.
And so The Remote Life and Han Meets World are set up and primed to run on their own and leap off of great foundations this summer and onwards. From a little bit of financial investment and trust in others, I can now turn my attention to the bigger picture creating. It’s optimised my workflow.
This goes for tech as well. Back in lockdown (yeah, remember those days?!), I completely stripped back all of my equipment and luggage so I could free up as much space as possible. From investing in a smaller laptop to cosmetics.
Well, after being on the road for six months again, I’m making some slight alterations again. When my phone was stolen in Mexico City, it was actually a good chance to reflect on my day to day workflow. I had no idea how much I relied on that phone as part of my workflow. From the different travel apps, to social media apps, as far as two factor authentication for basically everything. The details aren’t relevant for this post today but long story short, it was a great chance to think about my workflow. From the type of tech I use as well as things like how investing that £12 a month on phone insurance could’ve saved so much effort…
So, where I’m at is that I now have my MacBook Pro (13 inch) still, which will be kept for heftier tasks like Canva, emails while I’m working and any website work and other admin. I’ve of course invested in a decent iPhone again (keeping the second hand one I bought to get by in Mexico City as a back up). For day to day ticket apps, two factor authentication and messaging and social media posts on the fly. And then this time, I’ve actually invested in an iPad bundle with my phone this time.
When I was studying abroad, I had an iPad Mini, which was fabulous for chatting to family at the time all the way from Brazil. But of course post-2014 it slowly lost its use. However, the latest model is a decent size for photo editing, using Notion (where I keep my to do lists, long term goals and other notes) and other organisational apps. I’ll also use this along with my phone while I’m in conferences this month as it’s a little easier to crack out and work from in meetings than my laptop.
It might seem like I’m giving myself more work somehow by separating my tech, for me, it’s done wonders for how I work, even in the few days I’ve moved everything over. Almost like the remote life equivalent of two screens in an office - which makes me worry less about my MacBook when I’m using bigger programmes like Canva.
And actually, having that month where I didn’t have my life in the palm of my hand, has been brilliant to disconnect and get back online when I’m ready to do so. As opposed to being at the beck and call: yay head space optimisation!
Sustainable workflow practices
Workflow has to start somewhere, way before the actions, way before the to-do list, there’s our mindset. How we’re feeling mentally sets us up for how successfully our workflow goes after all. Feeling stressed? Nothing tends to get done, or it gets done in not such a great way.
Generally speaking, I’ll dip into meditative practices, exercise, eat well and occasionally journal. As I’m breaking a metaphorical ceiling for myself this time, I’ve gone back to a version of journalling in the form of Chelsea Yamase’ ‘Notes To Self’ journal. We were given a discount as summit attendees but it was actually on my wishlist a while ago.
Working through this for five to ten minutes a day has been great for shifting my awareness on to me first, especially now that all the things that were niggling me before are being looked after by others. Being aware of any doubts and squashing them there. Pumping myself up with a few words as well!
So with this mini check in each day, I’ve been starting my workflow in that much more of a ‘flowier’ way. Getting things done when they come in, if needed. Looking forward and in the present, not on the past where ‘things haven’t happened yet’.
The next thing, for me, is to double down on my routine practices. Rather than dabbling in the things above, it’ll be getting great at these so the day flows with ease - and so I then flow with more ease through my day.
How do you want to feel?
We’re human, it’s tough and exhausting to be constantly perfect. But we can decide where we want to get back to. Whether that’s waking up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, or recovering from a thing that was out of our control two days ago.
Do you want to feel ease (I know I do and that’s why optimising my workflow was so important to me)? Do you want to feel happy? Do you want to feel free? What do you want to feel? What do you want to feel from your business and/or project? Maybe that’ll guide you to how you want to feel overall.
Perhaps, establish the feeling first and then establish the outcome of your workflow. Then look at what will get you back to creating.
What can you automate?
I’m talking more than out of offices and social media schedulers like Later.com and Buffer - although they are handy to spend some time on once a month to every couple of weeks.
But more than that, what can you have running in the background so it takes that much more off of your plate? Could you invest in a business manager or virtual assistant to cover admin? Could you add recurring appointments and reminders in your calendar so it’s not physically on a list?
What about management tools like Notion, or Asana or Monday.com so you can share aims and to dos with your clients/team/yourself. Then close it up with everything inside so you can get on with your day or another client and not be staring at thousands of open tab? *sigh*
(Honestly from speaking to various freelancers and business owners over the last year, it sounds like Notion has been a popular go-to. The app and the web page. Just saying).
By making these moves early on, by streamlining my workflow like this, it allows me to go ahead with my travel and work schedule with ease (the feeling I want from all of this). Then, because I’m feeling ease, I’m able to see opportunities where I didn’t see them before, my head feels freer and I’m sure I’m also attracting more community and opportunities for ease. I can support others with their dreams and in general am actually a much more pleasant person to be around because my mind isn’t off somewhere else thinking about those ‘ten thousand things’. Now doesn’t that sound much nicer?
Plus, just overall much more sustainable for building a business long term - and my overall health also.
Chat to me on socials about how you get on (@hanmeetsworld)!
Han x
