What’s on the iPod: All At Once by The Airborne Toxic Event
Exhale……
Hear that? That’s the sound of a huge chunk of my work being completed. Amen. More is expected by the end of the week, but for now, I can breathe again.
Time again for me to revisit my monthly earnings goal. Not long ago I raised my monthly expectations, so to speak. It worked – since then, I’ve surpassed my goal more often than not, which makes me think it’s time to raise those expectations again.
Maybe it’s the part of freelancing that we writers overlook too often. For me, it’s essential. I have to know what it is I plan to earn. Without it, I’m spitting into the wind.
I suspect it’s the same for you, too. For me, I figure annually, monthly, and hourly. By now I know what I want to make hourly. The practice becomes easier for me because all that’s left is figuring out how much each month I intend to bring in.
Everyone has her own version of goal setting, but here’s mine. You can use it verbatim or modify it to suit you.
1. Decide how much money you want to earn. Seriously. Get a number in your head. Write it down. Don’t be shy – this is a goal, even if it’s a six-figure goal.
2. Figure out how much per hour you need to make in order to reach that goal. Like I said, I plan also how much per month I need to earn, but that’s up to you. Just decide over the course of the next 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days what your billing rate needs to be so that you can reach that goal without killing yourself in the process.
3. Set monthly benchmarks. This is easier for me because I don’t have time to watch my earnings spreadsheet every week. And for me, checking in weekly is just too much fussing. I set a monthly goal, which makes it easy to run through the invoices to see if I’ve reached it. Most of us know what we’ve earned in a month. We should.
4. Amend client connections to help meet those benchmarks. If you’re consistently missing your earnings goals, think about where your work has come from and how often you’re marketing. Are you looking in the same old places? Are you expanding into new areas or looking for clients in different industries or at new publications? And marketing — are you remembering to market every day and follow up every week?
5. Search for more (and better) revenue sources. Start with existing clients. It’s okay to raise your rates once in a while, you know. If you charge them $50 an hour and everyone else is charging $100 an hour, what, are you crazy? Raise your rates! Yes, you may lose a client or two, but I’ve found that higher rates doesn’t just scare off the low-price shoppers – it brings in the serious buyers.
How do you set goals that really work for you?
Part of it is seeking out assignments I really want, rather than just looking at the numbers. I've regretted plenty of assignments that seemed to be well=paid, but the negatives involved made the money not worth it.
Amen to that, Devon. Had a few of those myself. One in particular was paying $2/word, but the incompetence of the editor and the multiple, unnecessary rounds of edits made it a nightmare.
I'm in the same camp with Devon on this one. But I've also been sending a lot of LOIs out in recent weeks. I need to replace the chronic late-payer soon. They're screwing up my ability to plan and stick to a budget.
A friend just landed a sweet side gig writing press releases for a PR/Marketing firm one of her former colleagues works at. She basically named her price. I'm happy for her, but maybe a little bit jealous, of course.
Tracking time and income and expense help me see where I am re goals and you know what? It's time to do some more goal setting.
I need to do everyone of these steps. I feel like I have just kind of been swimming along for the past two years since I had my daughter–cramming in any work when I can. Thanks for the advice.