Note: I apologize for the emails last night with broken links. I was trying to schedule my posts in advance and accidentally posted most of January at the same time. I promise that emails from this point forward will be correct and working. So sorry!

OK, so in addition to saying that I’m finally going to lose those 10 pounds and learn another language, I try to make a few resolutions for my business each year.  And since I have so many smart readers, I wanted to post my resolutions to get any of your ideas and tips on how I can finally cross these items off my list. All four of these resolutions are things I have been working towards for the past few years, but this year I am going to actually take the plunge and publically say that I want to work on each of these areas.

Here are my four resolutions for 2015:

1. Create and Use a (Sort of) Formal System for Tracking Invoices and Income – I’m too embarrassed to publically write about my tracking (or lack of) system for invoices and accounts receivable. But, I will say that I am going to resolve to keep better track of the money side of my income. I always know how much I need to earn each week and month to meet my goals as well as where I am towards that. But I keep the information in my head and don’t have a system that works for me to track invoices sent and checks received. I’ve tried several software programs and a homemade spreadsheet, but nothing seems to be a fit for my brain and work habits. This year I would finally like to come up with an accounting system that works for someone who is not overly detailed organized and finds the math side boring. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear any suggestions of low maintenance ways that you keep track of the business side of things.
2. Add Content Strategy to My Services – I have been considering this for the past year and this year I am making the jump. In addition to continuing to write both journalist articles and content marketing, I am starting to offer content marketing strategy plans as part of my services. I am very excited (and scared) to do this, but my heart says that it is the next logical step for me.
3. Work Only for Clients that are Both High Paying and Meaningful – I made great strides towards this in 2015, but I want to continue doing this in 2015. I have found that I do my best work when I care about the project and my stress level is much lower regardless of the work load. But it can be so easy to take a project simply for the money. I have also found that it can be challenging to find projects that are both meaningful to me and high paying. But I learned this year that they are out there and that it is worth the effort for me to seek them out. My goal in 2015 is to have around 80 percent of my income to come from projects that I find meaningful.
4. Increase My Social Media Presence – Sometimes I feel like the cobbler whose children have no shoes. I have written many articles for small businesses on how to effectively use social media, but my own social media efforts are lacking. Yes, I have accounts that I use sporadically. But I am not using them in the manner needed to gain the “right” new followers and become an influencer in my industries. I feel especially guilty because I know exactly what I need to do in this arena, but I just don’t make the time to do it. So instead of making a vague goal of increase my social media efforts, I am also making an action plan to spend an hour at the beginning of the week to schedule 15 tweets of new content throughout the week. Then I will spend 15 minutes twice a day responding to tweets and posting news worthy information.

Do you have any tips to help me achieve my goals? And most importantly, what are your 2015 freelance writing resolutions?