I am a freelancer. I write, I consult, I build websites, I put together creative digital marketing strategies for brands and companies, and I help entrepreneurs, business owners and aspiring thought leaders create and amplify their personal brand.

But being an effective one-man band is a lot more than just making coffee at home (or finding a local coffee shop) and being productive for a few hours. In fact, it's more of a test of your ancillary skill sets than anything else. Here are ways to make it work:

1. Create a daily schedule — and stick to it

One of the first challenges you will run into as a freelancer is understanding the art of time management. You might not be showing up at a traditional office, but you should still have it in your mind what time you start work in the morning and what time your day ends.

The reason is threefold: First, a daily rhythm will keep you focused and accountable. Second, you need something to get you out of bed in the morning (otherwise you'll waste a lot of time lounging around). Third, you need to know when your day is done, otherwise work life and normal life will blend together in a bad way. Know when to shut off your computer for the day.

2. Review your to-do list

every morning

Great advice for productivity in general, but a law to live by as a freelancer. As soon as you sit down to begin the day's work, review your list. Cross off items you accomplished yesterday, and, if necessary, make a new list for what you must get done today.

At the end of each week, you'll want to recap all the things you did and create a new master list for the week to come. Otherwise, important e-mails and tiny deliverables will fall through the cracks.

3. Do your most difficult

tasks first

If you wait too long to tackle the big projects, they will either be delayed or completed half-heartedly — a death sentence for your business.

Hit the pavement hard by doing your big-ticket items first. You'll feel great about crossing those off your list, then you can move on to the smaller items with a good head of steam.

4. “Chunk” similar items

together

For maximum productivity, learn from the king himself, Tony Robbins.

“Chunking,” he explains, is grouping similar tasks together. For example, instead of responding to an e-mail, then writing a blog post, then editing a video, then mapping out your social media content calendar, separate each one of those deliverables by category. Then look for all the smaller tasks you need to do along with each one of those categories and tackle them all at the same time.

For example: Block off four hours to write a whole bunch of blog posts, then, block off two hours to do nothing but edit videos.

5. Organize your e-mail

As a freelancer, you cannot ignore your e-mail.

Your inbox needs to be constantly looked after to ensure that things don't slip between the cracks: important introductions, client questions, follow-ups, etc. A poorly managed e-mail shows, and you will lose clients and work.

6. Keep track of your finances

You might be a freelancer, but you're also your own accountant, too. It's crucial that you keep your own cash flow chart. Each month, you should know how much money you made, how much you put away for taxes, how much you saved and all the different clients and revenue streams that money came in on.

Just like a business, you need to know whether you are operating profitably or at a loss. You need to know which clients have paid you and which ones haven't. You need to keep track of how much you're making so you can effectively pay taxes and bills, buy office supplies, etc.

7. Project your finances

for next month

In addition to keeping track of what you've already made, you should also be keeping track of what you are set to make within the next 30-plus days.

There is so much to be said for knowing whether you have income in the pipeline or if you need to be focusing more time on getting new clients. If you don't know what you have coming up, then you can't plan effectively. Sometimes, you'll have so much work that you will have to turn down new clients (or postpone them). And other times, you will realize that you will be out of projects within a month and suddenly need to get a new roster of clients.

The more you can plan ahead, the less you will find yourself in sticky, stressful situations.

8. Save, save, save

The lifeblood of a typical freelancer is not consistent or guaranteed. Some weeks, you will be absolutely swamped with projects; other weeks, you may have an empty plate. You need to be aware of this from a financial standpoint.

I encourage you to put as much money as possible toward your savings. This is a standard best practice for anyone seeking financial independence, of course, and for freelancers, it helps tremendously for the periods when income is not consistent.

Having a savings account allows you to keep a clear head and make rational decisions and may save you from saying “yes” to several difficult projects because you need money right now.

If you can get in the habit of saving and not spending frivolously, you will be able to ride the ups and downs of the freelance life a lot more easily.