We’re halfway through the month, how’s everyone doing? I like to do a little mid month analysis to see how I compare to other months. By scrutinizing my accounts each month and doing comparison to previous months and quarters I can see where I need to step up my game. Also, if I’m doing worse I know I need to hustle and find more clients. If I’m doing better, I can pat myself on a job well done.
I also like to set goals. When I was freelancing full time, I set a goal each January to earn $10,000 more than the previous year. It was difficult sometimes, but I always reached my goal. Your goals don’t have to be ambitious -maybe each month you want to earn $100 than the month before, but goals help to keep you on track and are terrific motivation.
Do you set goals?
Leads…
- Gameday MD Hiring Game Recappers – $20/article
- Online Magazine Seeks Editors/Writers/Interns – Detroit
- Freelance Writer – Rolling Meadows IL
- Freelance Writer for Various Central NJ Newspapers (Event coverage, etc.)
- Content Writer – Toronto – $15/hour
- Proofreader for REsumes/Cover Letter - Inland Empire – $20/hour
- Resume Writers – $30 – $45/project
- Frugal Living Writer - .05/word
- Technical Web Writer -Chatsworth CA
- Article Writers - $15/article
- Grant Writer - San Diego
- Technical Writer – Atlanta – Contract
- Foreign Language Content Analysis - Austin
- MMORPGs Guide Writer – $1,000 – $2,000
- Writers for Self Improvement Books
- Online Content Editor – $25/article
- Music Writer Wanted - $15/press release
- Write/Format Resume to Perfection
- Grant Proposal Writer
- TV/Film Writers Needed - NYC
- Freelance Writers for Various Beats - Brooklyn
- Script Writing - Phoenix
- Business Plan/Website Content/Brochures – $15/hour
- Press Release Writer
- Web 2.0 Site Looking for REviewers
- Business Plan Wanted
Good luck – hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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I like this one best:
Frugal Living Writer – .05/word
hmmmm……
I’m flat from last month, which was dreadful, but I have a few promising irons in the fire. Assessing mid-month wouldn’t be encouraging today so I think I’ll put it off until next week ….
Have a great weekend, everyone!
I was LOLing at the same thing, hazel.
Mid month for me means I get to relax. I finished my Guide Prep Monday and have un-winding from that while I start building my Examiner site. I’m not making a fortune, but I’m consistently in the running for the most hits.
Yesterday was rougher than normal. I always have my kids from 3:30 ’til around 7:30 when mom gets home, but yesterday I had a teacher’s kid and a neighbor’s kid over as well. It paid off though, cuz when I dropped off the teacher’s kid, she cooked me dinner and we had a drink and made plans for the river next weekend. Unusual for a “school night”, but very relaxing.
I have a hard time with setting goals as far as my personal life goes. When it comes to work, I am more productive. My goals right now are to have a couple of projects going for me each month to earn some extra money, but as my boss(Co-Founder of Vois.com/my friend) advised me, I need to handle one project at a time so right now it’s getting my website created for my clothing line. aye aye aye.
Quick comment on the MMORPG one, which is a pretty specific niche but: the company in reference is not, in fact, Zorro Entertainment as listed. The company behind it is actually Killer Guides, over at http://www.killerguides.com. The 1000-2000 dollars is misleading in that they make it sound as if it’s up-front money…it’s not.
However, if your guides are successful, you *can* make that much. I’ve done 3 guides for them, and 2 of them paid off in the thousands. The third one I only made my flat-payment, as the game is somewhat of a bomb and nobody wanted to buy the guide.
They actually pay 400-600 USD for the guide (400 is min, 600 is max) and depending on the rating of your guide + sales, you get commission.
Just an FYI for people going “wow, cool, 2 grand to write a game guide”. No…it’s 400-600 to write the guide, then “potential” to earn up to a couple thousand in commission.
The frugal living one is right up my alley. But then again, I’m a whore for the dirty work.
hey, just wanted to say thanks: i landed a job from one of the postings earlier in the week and am starting on it next week.
Honestly, I’m happy to be busy. I don’t care if I’m earning more or less compared to other months. I look at the situations of people around me and count my blessings.
My brother works for IBM and they’ve asked their salaried employees to take 20 days off this summer for 35% pay to help reduce their budget. So you get extra time off, but with a decreased salary. My husband’s employer just eliminated third shift completely putting another 13 people out a job – a company that used to have 200+ workers is down to 50. My friend had to lay-off her assistant and is now doing the job of two people for the same salary, which means she’s now working seven days a week to keep up and is quickly burning out. My husband’s friend who was laid off back in the winter was finally offered a job at $9.50 an hour–He’s a machinist. His daughters’ daycare charges them $350 a week for the infant and toddler. Add in gas and taxes and he’d be paying to work. He passed. That’s the only offer he’s had.
I’m just thankful for what we do have, even if I do know it could be pulled out from under us at any given moment.
Anne, what kind of machining does your hubby’s friend do, and where is he? There’s some work here in San Diego, but the cost of living here is a bit steep.
I usually make weekly goals as opposed to monthly. At the beginning of the week, I try to figure out a workable amount of money that I want to make and work toward that goal. I also try to balance in applying/landing new workn. When I first started, I made a goal of bringing in new work each week. Then once I got steadily busy, I shifted my priorities toward maximizing income. As things fluctuate, I strive to keep a balance between the two.
I shoot for about 1200-1500 USD a month. I have no need for anything beyond that, and I have no desire to work more than 4 hours or so a day. Other than that, I don’t have any goals. I take work as it comes in, and I stay busy when I want. If I need some time off, I take it.
Anne…you are one of the few people I know of who posts on these community sites who “gets it”. I think this is because you have to deal with it first-hand. Your posts are always about being grateful for the work you get, rather than bitching about someone else doing the work for X amount lower than you, or how other people are bastardizing the industry by being willing to work for pennies in comparison to others. When the entire world is suffering, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty in order to make it through. I find your posts here to be extremely motivational, and I just want you to know that I am rooting for you, every time. There are quite a few writers on this particular board who could stand to learn a lesson from you.
So a big hug from this side of the world. I’m glad you get it
On that note, I actually made a post a few days ago called “The Little Things, Part II” over on my blog that deals exactly with the topic of being grateful for what you have, rather than complaining about what your neighbor is doing, or worrying about what other people are making. The only thing that matters is your own family, and you should be grateful for every single thing, no matter how little or insignificant it might seem.
Setting goals is key for me. I am delighted when I make them. Have a great weekend everyone.
That frugal living post jumped out at me, too, and I did LOL. “Hey, write an article and you’ll have enough for a week’s worth of groceries!” Clearly, this is not my area of expertise, as much as I wish it was! Just can’t seem to get the grocery bill under $50/week (family of 4). I guess I need to subscribe. I would actually love to read that stuff.
My immediate goal is to find a consistent gig. I am very grateful for the work I have, with clients who have treated me well for over a decade. I just need to generate more income right now since my husband’s work said no OT last Dec., and that is killing us–like a 20% pay cut you can’t ever make up. To top it off, just before they cut his OT, I bought him a newer car so bills got a little higher just as the income dropped. It is panic time around here and although my regular clients are throwing everything they can at me right now, I can’t just sit around hoping that one of them needs a 20-hour annual report written or some other lengthy job. It would be great to know I had something more dependable and solid lined up. I apply to a lot of things and don’t hear back. I’m still trying to find my way around, but was hoping I could’ve landed something by now. It doesn’t have to be my dream job. Just a job! I’m almost done with my professional web site and am eager to launch that as another marketing tool. And just trying to write every day and keep looking for more, but some days it’s hard to maintain the pace.
For the year, I always try to out-earn the year before, but I don’t set a specific goal. I’ve been able to do it all but two of the past 12 years, and those were each years in which I delivered a child, so it was still “productive,” just not monetarily. Not a bad tradeoff!
Good luck to everyone out there, and it can be lonely as a freelancer, so if no one has said this to you lately, I hope you ALL have a great day!
OMG!!!
I just got notice from About.com that they are going to hire me! Finally! It only took me three tries.
I might as well go home early, since I’m prolly gonna be completely worthless for the rest of the day.
I don’t find it especially useful to set goals, except those I can reach on my own behalf. There’s no way to know when a client is going to actually pick up the phone, return a draft, or pay an invoice – so I don’t kick myself if a check doesn’t arrive on the day I’d expected it!
Instead, I set goals like -
Blog each morning on About.com and Examiner.com
Apply for as many gigs per day as there are appropriate gigs to apply for
Update my professional website
Finish a book chapter
Send out a query
And so forth.
Lisa (www.lisarudy.com)
Hey Ann,
My husband also works for IBM, fortunately, it is only at the volunteer stage and his work load makes it necessary for him to not have to do this. Hopefully your brother will also be this lucky and glad to hear that he has survived all those recent layoffs.
As to my own freelancing self… I started doing this is 2006 and that year I was just amazed by the money I made. The next year, I nearly doubled the money my profits. Last year, things went down and I made about 20 grand less. For 2009, I am figuring that I will make about 50% of what I made last year. At least this year I don’t have an employee and I have outsourced very little.
This is also a year in which my clients (K-12 publishers and vendors) are extending their pay terms (to 60 days) and not even meeting those. I am truly grateful for work, but I am even more grateful when I receive payment.
The good news, my client that is not K-12 pays quickly and I also have 3 bylines for their respectable publication.
mel
The ‘Web 2.0′ e-mail link is dead, and the ad requires that one write a sample for them first. Perhaps a scam to get free content?
@Matt – I’m in Vermont and his wife has a good job so relocating isn’t an option for them. However, if my husband lost his job, I know we’ll leave the state. There just are not enough higher paying jobs here, especially in Exar/Cable manufacturing which is what all these guys have known for 30+ years.
@T.W – Thanks. My mom grew up in England, one of five daughters of a North Sea fisherman, and one thing she made sure we realized growing up is that we have it lucky. They had food on the table because of his fishing, but apart from that. They grew up in a two bedroom flat with one bathroom. In all, the flat was approximately 900 square feet of living space. Five girls with one bathroom, you can only imagine what it would have been like. Anytime we complained, she remind us that we have it pretty damn good.
@Melissa – He has survived the layoffs which is a good thing. His department took a big hit with the last one. Five of the ten went. But he’s young enough, divorced and able to pack up and move if necessary. He’s also lucky in that his house is one of the houses the airport wants to buy up. So when he has to move, he already has a buyer. The deal those people were given is outstanding. House will sell for the better of two appraised values, they pay moving costs and they’ll match the rate of the homeowner’s current mortgage. So my brother just refinanced for 4.75 percent. I kind of wish now that I’d looked more at the homes near the airport too!
It’s funny that goals should be the topic, as I was just telling my husband that I really feel myself needing to set some kind of schedule instead of floundering around madly trying to keep up. So I’ve set a weekly schedule for myself, and am hoping for the best. Unfortunately, my time is not always my own because of my other job, which I love and which still involves a bit of writing.
With regard to writers who are upset that some of us accept jobs for lower pay than we should: some of us are just starting as freelancers, which doesn’t make us bad and weak writers. It just makes us less experienced freelancers. I personally take anything I can get, which hasn’t been much, unfortunately, in order to get experience and build a resume. I cannot afford to quibble over payment until I have a more substantial resume.
Good luck to all suffering from lay-offs. Hubby and I are in the same sort of boat, since his 10-yr-old recruiting business failed due to the economy. (And because it was his own business, he’s not eligible for unemployment!) Hang in there!
Beth
Whoa…what happened in my comment? Suddenly two of the words have links that I didn’t create? ?????
Hello all. It sounds like many of you have had some success with the freelance writing thing. In looking at the links posted, many of them are from Craigslist which makes me a little leary–especially since some of the ads have been removed or flagged for removal. Also, based on all the recent scans attributed to Craigslist, I feel weird submitting my resume with ALL my contact and history information to companies or people who use that site. How have you guys dealt with this? Have you found it to be a problem?
Michael
Michael,
If you use a little common sense you shouldn’t have any trouble on craigslist. For example, my resume doesn’t have any contact info in it except for an emails addy, and I don’t send it until I’ve made initial contact with a potential client, unless I already know the reputation of the company in question.
Also, I took a look at your site. Interesting layout. You have lots of pictures that you seem to have taken yourself, in your bathroom. Funny stuff. Do you write comedy? (I haven’t read any of your stories)
HTH, Matt