Year-end checklist for freelancers

Why plan the year-end now

The last weeks of the year are when a freelancer's admin piles up: invoices to send before the holidays, clients slowing down, renewals that all fall in January, and a new year to plan. Left to the last minute, it eats the holidays.

A year-end checklist turns that pile into a short list of tasks spread over November and December. Better still, most of it repeats every year, so you only have to set it up once.

The year-end checklist

Adapt it to your activity and your country's rules. A typical list for a freelancer or a small team:

Money

• Send the last invoices of the year and chase the unpaid ones.
• Gather receipts and expenses for your accountant.
• Check the dates of your tax and social contributions for the new year.

Clients

• Tell clients your holiday dates and what happens to urgent requests.
• Close or hand over the projects that won't continue next year.
• Ask happy clients for a short review or a referral.

Tools and admin

• List the subscriptions, domains and licences that renew in the coming months, and cancel what you no longer use.
• Back up your work and check the backups actually open.
• Update your rates, terms and templates for the new year.

Looking back and ahead

• Review what you delivered this year, and what took more time than it earned.
• Pick the two or three things you want to change next year.

Set it up once in Tasks

The trick is to make each item a task that comes back on its own. If you're new to Tasks, the Tasks guide covers the basics.

1. Add each checklist item as a task with the green + button, and keep the titles short: "Send last invoices of the year", "List renewals", "Back up work".
2. Give the yearly ones a yearly recurrence. When you complete them, the next occurrence is scheduled a year later, counted from the day you complete it. Next November, the list is already there.
3. Use a monthly recurrence for what should not wait for December, such as invoicing or gathering receipts.
4. Flag them, for example "Admin", "Clients" and "Money", so you can work through one area at a time with Filter by flags.
5. Put the detail in the description and attach links: your invoicing tool, your accountant's upload page, your hosting account.

Switch on the daily task report in your Profile if you want an email each day with what you completed and what is due by the end of tomorrow.

Look back on the year

The Completed tasks page lets you look back by day, week or month. Go through the year month by month to see what you actually delivered: it is the best material for a short review, a portfolio update or your next rate increase.

If you already do a weekly review, the year-end review is simply a longer version of it: look back, clean up, plan.

Prepare the first week of January

The end of the year is also the best moment to make the start of the next one easy. Before you stop for the holidays:

1. Write down the first three things to do when you're back, as tasks, so you don't spend January 2 wondering where you left off.
2. Prepare the messages you'll send in January, such as new rates or a check-in with quiet clients, and keep the draft in the task's description.
3. Set up your routines for the new year: a weekly review, a monthly invoicing task and a monthly look at your numbers.
4. Clear the list: complete or delete what is no longer relevant, so the new year starts with only what matters.

When you come back, the Tasks page shows exactly what you planned, late tasks highlighted, and nothing has to be remembered.

With a small team

On the Pro plan, keep the reference version of your year-end checklist in Documents, so everyone works from the same list and you can improve it each year. Use the Needs board to collect next year's ideas and projects, and move them forward once January starts.

Tips

• Start in November. December fills up fast with client deadlines and holidays.
• Spread the list over a few weeks rather than one long admin day.
• Note what you changed in each task's description, so next year's you knows why.
• Remove what no longer applies when a yearly task comes back, instead of rescheduling it forever.

FAQ

When do yearly tasks come back?

A year after the day you complete them. A yearly task completed on December 3 comes back on December 3 the following year.

Can I see everything I did this year?

Yes. The Completed tasks page shows your finished tasks by day, week or month.

Do I need the Pro plan?

No. Tasks, recurrence, flags, the completed tasks page and the daily email are free. Documents and Needs, useful for teams, are part of the Pro plan.