In this series, we are looking at how to set goals and strategies to help you succeed in your writing and freelancing goals for the new year.
The first blog of the year talked about how to figure out your reason for writing—your why. The last blog looked at finding your vision and setting initial goals.
Now let’s start to break down those goals:
How many words do you want to write? How many clients do you need? How many assignments? How much will you need to charge to make it? Don’t forge to add expenses and taxes to your calculations. You will need more than you think to survive. The government will take both taxes and self-employed taxes. Your state and county will have taxes, licensing fees, and other charges. Then you have expenses related to making money—travel, paper, ink for your printer, equipment, research, supplies, internet fees, and more. You are going to have to do the math to figure out how much you need to bring in to have a successful business. That figure should be your financial goal, unless you are pursuing writing as a side hustle. Then put in the figure you would like to earn from that endeavor.
Once you have your financial goal, you can break it down to projects, assignments, etc. that you will need to sell in order to make that amount. This is your work goal.
Then you’ll need to figure out how much time all that will take. Will it allow you enough time to handle the administrative, sales, marketing, and research you will need to do in order to write those pieces?
This is your breakdown. Think of it as a rough schedule to follow. Of course, for a freelancer, that schedule will need to be flexible to accommodate clients and assignments.
But breaking these goals down isn’t enough. You need to turn those figures into action. That’s where strategies and tactics come into the equation.
What exactly will you do to accomplish each goal?
Start by listing each goal and breaking it down into its component parts. For example, if you want to write a novel, you need to break that goal down into smaller chunks. You can’t accomplish huge tasks on a single line item. It’s overwhelming and ineffective. So break it down. How many chapters do you want to write each week/month? How many words per day/week? How will you complete the novel? Break it down into all of its parts—research, drafting chapter by chapter or page by page, editing, proofing, etc. Figure out what you need to do in order to meet your goal of writing a novel in 2022. When do things need to happen by? What do you need to do in order to meet that deadline? What rewards will you give yourself for meeting your goals? What consequences for missing them?
If you want to build your freelance business, start by listing all the ways you can earn money from your writing. If you mostly write blogs, figure out how many blogs you will need to sell to reach your financial goal. If you take on client work, how many clients will you need to reach your goal? List the types of projects you can do and the average rate paid for that type of work. List the services you offer and your rates. Then do the math. What combination of services do you need to sell this year to reach your financial goal? It will likely be a combination of things, unless you specialize in one type of writing.
Once you have your list and potential income figured out, look at timing. How long does this work take you on average? Determine if it is feasible to do the amount of work you will need to reach your goal. If you can’t make the math work, look at your services again. Are there other options for earning money if you expanded your services or charged more? Explore your options carefully. If you can’t make the math work on paper, then you won’t be able to in life. It’s better to fail on paper and make adjustments to your plan than miss payments in the real world.
This is your planning period. Plan. Commit all of your plans and calculations to paper. Look at each element and assign a date to it. When do you need to sell that project by to make your mortgage? How often do you need to land an assignment to keep your pantry full of food? Break your plan down by day, week, month or quarter. Do what works for you and what you hope to accomplish.
Now let’s break it down even further. For each step you need to accomplish, come up with strategies and tactics to achieve those goals. For example, if you have figured out you need to sell four articles a month to survive, plan how you will do that. Does that mean you need to pitch eight articles? 12? When do you need to pitch them? What is the typical turnaround time from pitch to payment? Keep in mind that publishing is notoriously slow in paying. If you are pursuing traditional publishing routes (magazines, etc.), look at whether the publication pays upon acceptance or publishing. Those are two very different pay schedules.
A lot of freelance planning is managing your calendar and sales. When do you need to sell a project to bring the money in when you need it. When you work for yourself, managing the cash flow is critical. You can’t afford to wing it. The best course is to have a cash reserve you can tap into when you run into late payments. Once you get paid, you repay the reserve to keep it whole. This takes time to develop, though, so have a plan for handling late payments or missing payments. The reality is that not every client pays. You have to be prepared to take losses without losing your house or car or the ability to eat.
Once you have a workable plan, hold yourself accountable. Commit to those deadlines. Commit to the strategies and tactics you’ve come up with to reach those goals.
Each item on your plan should have at least three components—what you are trying to accomplish, why you need to accomplish it, and how you plan to do that. You can add in rewards and consequences to keep yourself on track, if you want.
Once you have that in place, you can start to break those steps into strategies and tactics.