[Contest Ended] Challenge: Set Your 2017 Goals and Be Entered to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card
This contest has ended and is no longer accepting entries.
Happy New Year! This week I am offering — to everyone who posts their 2017 goals here by 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 — the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Keep reading this post for details on how to get in on the action. I heard many writers tell me that 2016 was their best year ever so this week, I am having to guest posters share how they did it to give you ideas and inspiration.
This weekend, I sat down to set my goals for 2017, and I really struggled. I used to strive for six figures. Or to write for top brands. And for years I wanted to add content strategy to the mix. Through hard work, I’ve accomplished all these goals, and so I find myself asking, “What now?” In many ways, I am finding that setting goals after having achieved some success is harder than when I was first starting out.
But no matter what stage of your career you are in, it’s important to both set and actually write down your goals. Then keep them in a place where you can find them (maybe it’s just me, but things get lost in my computer). Every year when I open up my goal document sometime in the middle of summer, I am always shocked to realize that I have forgotten half of my goals. Yet if they are written down, then my goals will still take on a higher level of importance.
2017 goal-setting challenge
If you need some help setting your goals, I am hosting this drawing to offer you some incentive. The prize is a $25 Amazon gift card. To be entered in the drawing, post your 2017 goals as a comment to this post by 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. You will get an additional entry in the drawing for each time you reply to another reader and give tips or ideas on how they can achieve their own goals. Note that you do not have to share your income goal if you do not want to and can simply leave that one out or put an X.
7 questions to help you set your goals
In case you are struggling, I came up with some questions to help you get started. These are just some ideas, so feel free to make up whatever goals are meaningful and important to you. The only wrong response is not setting goals.
1. What income do you want or need to earn in 2017?
I personally think it’s essential to have an income goal each year and then break it down into how much you need to earn each week and month to reach that goal. Here is a post on how to set your income goal, and then another one on how to break that goal into smaller goals to make sure you stay on track. Even though both of these posts are from 2014, the advice is still exactly the same as what I would tell you today.
2. What specific times or days would you prefer not to work?
After talking with a lot of writers about work/life balance, I think the best approach is not to say that you will work only X hours, but instead to block out certain times of the day that you do not want to work. It’s very easy to let work creep into your entire life, because it is always sitting there. One writer friend likes to take off Thursdays, while another writer I know likes to take Fridays off. Other writers don’t want to work weekends, while I personally like to work a few hours to catch up on Saturday or Sunday. I am going to try not to work after dinner as much as possible.
3. What accomplishment would make you jump around in your kitchen in celebration?
Maybe it’s writing for a certain client or publication, finally getting to a certain hourly rate, or perhaps it’s something different altogether. Think of what would make you so happy that you would want to celebrate. I am really hoping that I am not the only one who has a dance party for one (OK, three, if you count the dogs) when something amazing happens.
4. Is there something outside of writing that you would like to achieve?
Have you been thinking about teaching or coaching? Or maybe something totally different, like starting a second business or a nonprofit? Whatever you have been thinking about doing, add it to your goals.
5. What can you do to make your business run more smoothly?
Many writers, including me, did not plan to run a business, and they often struggle with the business aspects of freelance writing. Consider any areas, such as bookkeeping, taxes, website design, etc., where you think you fall short.
6. Is there a personal writing project that you want to start or finish?
Most of us didn’t get into writing to do B2B content marketing. Think about writing that would make you happy, and make a plan to do more of it this year. Maybe it’s writing personal essays or working on a novel. It could even be pitching more feature stories or profiles on meaningful topics to consumer publications. Whatever type of writing fills your soul, make time to do more of it in 2017.
7. Is there anything else that you would like to accomplish in 2017?
It doesn’t matter what it is or whether it makes sense to anyone else. If it is meaningful to you, write it down and include it in your goals.
Jennifer’s 2017 goals
In the spirit of accountability, and maybe to spark someone else’s response, I am going to share my own goals. This year, I would like to:
1. Earn six figures. I didn’t achieve this mark this year. However, considering that I did not work for three months this summer due to health issues and only worked part-time for two additional months, I am proud of my income. Based on earning over $10,000 per month for five of the seven months in 2017 that I worked full-time, and coming close to that mark the other two months, I feel confident I would have passed the six-figure mark without taking medical leave.
2. Finish my book. I have over 60 pages sitting on my hard drive about how to become a successful freelance content marketing writer. It has been there for two years. And it’s not helping anyone by sitting on my computer. My goal is to publish it in some form this year, even it’s just a self-published e-book. I can’t figure out whether it’s time or fear that’s holding me back. Probably a little of both.
3. Work as little as possible on weekday evenings. My kids will be gone from home in a few short years. And until then, I want to spend as much time with them as possible. I don’t mind working a few hours on the weekend while they are busy with activities or friends. But I would like to stop working on weeknight evenings as much as possible.
4. Continue focusing on being an influencer in the content marketing community. I definitely made progress on this goal this year, but I want to continue working on it. I would like to speak at a few conferences and be a guest on some more podcasts. This always gets pushed to the bottom of my list, and this year I want to make it a priority.
5. Start a blog for content marketing professionals. I have been wanting to do this for years, but didn’t know where to start. I now have an angle and the blog set up and ready to go. All I need is to start writing some posts. My goal (and I’m committed to it now that it’s in writing) is to launch it by Feb. 1.
6. Figure out an invoice tracking system that works for me. Longtime readers are probably laughing because I have been posting this as a goal every year since 2013. But maybe, just maybe, this will be the year I figure it out. I finally knocked off the “becoming less lame on Twitter” goal that had been cluttering my list for years, so maybe this is the year I finally conquer bookkeeping.
7. Make time for writing that I enjoy. I did a terrible job of this in 2016 and hope to do a better job in 2017. I need to spend some time making this goal more concrete and planning out exactly how to do it.
What are your goals for 2017? Post here to get an entry into the contest for the $25 Amazon gift card. And remember, you get an additional entry for every helpful comment you post to another reader.
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My goals for 2017:
1. Build up my content marketing client base.
2. Pitch more regularly. Not just every work day, but make it a morning start-the-work-day priority.
3. Aim for a salary equal to my spouse’s.
4. Build my website and add a regular security blog to it.
5. Find time each evening to work on fun writing.
These are fantastic goals! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the post, Jennifer. 2016 was a great year for me, but as an 19-year freelancing veteran, I know that the peaks are always followed by valleys. My main goal in 2017 is to position myself well so that when the next slowdown comes, I’ll be ready for it.
My other goals for 2017 are:
1. Work with more CM agencies. Several potential clients that I sent LOIs to in 2016 told me they work only with agencies and not individual freelancers. I connected with a couple of CM agencies and have done some interesting work with them. I’d like to build on that in 2017 because I think it will open up opportunities that aren’t available to me as a solo writer.
2. Do more sponsored content work for newspapers. I am a journalist by training, and I love newspapers. in 2016 I started writing sponsored content for a newspaper in my area, and I am enjoying it very much. I’d like to do more of that in 2017.
3. Move beyond health. I have focused on health throughout my freelance career and have had success with it. Although I’m still interested in health and will continue writing about it, I want to branch out in a new direction. In 2016 I started dipping my toes into a new specialty area–small business–and I would like to expand that in 2017.
4. Make better use of LinkedIn. In late 2016, as part of my strategy to build a presence in the world of small business, I published an article on Small Business Saturday on LinkedIn. It’s the first time I published on LinkedIn and I was surprised by the response–many people invited me to connect with them as a result of it, and I believe my profile is coming up more often now in searches because of the article. Although I have made use of LinkedIn in the past, I realize there’s a lot more I can do with it, especially as I work to establish myself in a new specialty area.
5. Stop being lame with Twitter. See everything Jennifer has written about that. I know it’s something I should do, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. This year I will.
Hi Alice!
I wear intrigued by your idea of creating sponsored work for newspapers. As a former journalist myself, I certainly miss working with them and this seems like a great way of keeping that connection. How does it work exactly?
Many thanks!
My goals for 2017? Figure out how to write enough sales copy to earn a good living – while writing the sequel to my first middle-grade novel, “The Mirror of Doom,” and two non-fiction books at the same time.
Without losing my mind.
My plan is to go to bed an hour earlier so that I can wake up an hour earlier – and use that time to dedicate to my book writing. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
Baby steps, right?
Hi Deanna,
Love the goal about going to bed earlier to wake up earlier. I am guilty of just making a goal to get up earlier without replacing the sleep. Then it just turns out terribly. Well, mainly for people who have to deal with me because I am grouchy.
When you say you want to write more sales copy, do you mean copy writing or are you talking about content marketing? There is plenty of work in content marketing writing to earn a good living. And especially if you add in some copywriting.
Hi Deanna!
I started waking at 5am because it was the only time I had to myself before my kids woke. Of course my 22 month old has cottoned on and decided to wake at 5.30am so that got shot to pieces One book I really gained a lot from was the Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs by Hal Elrod.
You can write a book in an hour a day! As you get further into it, you’ll likely find yourself giving it more time still. Good luck!
Great goals! I think all of them will definitely help you with your overall goal of being ready when the next slowdown hits.
I totally agree with you about cm agencies. I get the majority of work through them and find I can earn a higher rate through them because they handle some of the tasks I would do if I were working direct.
LOL about twitter! I have a post coming up in a few weeks from a reader about using Twitter that should be helpful.
That’s very interesting about publishing on LinkedIn. I have never done that. I get work through LinkedIn from people finding my profile, but I might try what you suggested. Great idea.
Hi Jennifer!
CM agencies are also on my list of goals and I wondered if there was a specific method of connecting with them? Do we use your LOI? And would I begin by focussing on those agencies within my city or rather those that focus on the niches I write within?
Many thanks!
Yes, use LOI’s and customize your LOI based on the agency. I would recommend targeting both local agencies and those in your niche – both are great options. I have found that sometimes even small agencies have a big client or two. Here is a post on finding agencies https://www.jennifergregorywriter.com/2016/01/11/6-new-places-to-find-content-marketing-agencies/ that might help
My goals are to:
1. Set up my own website. I already have an online portfolio on a third-party site and I have active social media accounts, but I need my own site, too.
2. Start charging $1/word to new clients. My current clients pay less than this, but I want to keep raising the rates I quote for new projects so that when I take on additional work, it’ll be more profitable.
3. Write a 100,000-word first draft of a novel. Right now I have an idea for a story and 1,000 words written. I’m hoping to work on this five days a week for a short time each day.
4. Write more reported stories on academic research in addition to my ghostwriting and content writing.
Great goals! I was like you and got by without a real site for about four years, but saw a big difference in my business once I had my own site. I thought it didn’t matter, but it does. My first site was very basic and it worked fine. Then I upgraded to a more custom site last year after my income increased.
That’s awesome about your novel!
Love your goal about charging more. Have you considered making your goal an hourly rate not a per word rate? I recommend at least $100 per hour as a comparable rate to $1 per word. I’m not talking about charging an hourly rate, but charging a project rate instead that is based on the hourly rate you want to earn (note, you don’t share this with your client) So for example, if you think something will take you 4 hours and your base hourly rate is $100 then you want to charge no less than $400. I usually add in some padding so I would up it to $500 or so depending on the project.
I have found that charging an hourly rate doesn’t insure you a good income. For example, I had a great client that paid me $1.75 per word. I wrote a 1000 word story so I earned $1750. However, the story ended up taking about 10 interviews and had multiple revisions as well as fact checking requirements. I spent over 30 hours. So I ended up earning $58 an hour.
This fall I worked on a project that paid $300 for a 500 word blog post. Which on paper looks low paying. However, the project required no interviews and was on a topic that I knew very well. The client also had almost no revisions. Over Thanksgiving I wrote 6 of these stories and earned $1800. I spent 4 hours total, making my hourly rate turn out to be $450.
I have considered aiming for an hourly rate, but I find it’s easier to plan out my schedule in terms of how many words I’ll write per day or per week. Thus, I tend to think in terms of how much I’ll earn per word. Of course, if I expect a project to take lots of extra time, I would have to adjust the per word rate for that, but that would be a less usual situation for me.
Makes perfect sense. One of the best parts of freelancing is that we can all work and run our business in a way that works best with our brains, personality and strengths.
And that is awesome that your projects are typically the same amount of work for the length. Mine vary WILDLY. I could have a 1000 word post mainly from web research or a 1000 words from 3 interviews that is highly technical that will take 3 times as long. But if yours are pretty similar then I can see how the per word works, especially since you factor in the time factor.
My goals for 2017:
1. Make time for creative writing (essays and fiction)
2. Publish at least one essay
3. Use Mondays for marketing and administrative tasks
4. Make the same or more money than I did in 2016
5. Read daily
6. Find another anchor client or two in niches I enjoy
7. Work smarter so I have more free time for my kids and creative pursuits
I love your goals. they are specific, meaningful and trackable. I really like the one about reading every day and marketing on Mondays.
OMG, Jennifer, just sign up for FreshBooks. Don’t even think about this problem anymore – just do it and BAM, you’ve accomplished your New Year’s resolution. Invoicing and accounting problem solved.
It is the easiest thing in the world, very intuitive, and it changed my life dramatically when I started using it. Take it from me, who can’t add two columns of numbers together more than once and get the same answer. It keeps track of invoicing and everything else. SUPER EASY.
Check it out at my affiliate link: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=725350&U=1305226&M=52946&urllink=
ROFL! I knew as soon as I posted this that you would tell me again to do Freshbooks. You tell me every year and every year I ignore you :>) But since I apparently am not solving this problem on my own, I will listen to you. I am going to sign up tomorrow. Now seems like the perfect time to do it.
Jennifer
My 2017 Goals
1. BIGGER, BETTER: Boost $ and add new clients.
2. RAISE QUALITY of writing. (A top goal every year)
3. FOCUS: B2B/B2C in my specialties: Health/Medical Content Writing; Fashion/Retail and Marketing/Branding/Packaging/Display.
4. ADD MARKETS: Add 2 + markets. Write and provide content strategy for hospitals and CM agencies.
5. ADD WEB: A fashion or retail site or two.
6. Get a NEW REGULAR GIG, contributing editor and consistent gigs.
7. BECOME A RETAIL CONSULTANT. Monetize my skill: Help retailers market better and hone their merchandise to sell higher volume.
8. MAINTAIN OFF THE CUFF BLOG. One item month minimum.
9. PROMOTE my website and hone the home page copy till it has a clearer focus and reflects my wit. www. MicheleMode.com, check it out 😉
9. LIFE BALANCE. Not work after 8 p.m. most days. Take my dream trip.
These are great! I love how specific and actionable they are!
Okay. I have a question. I have read for years that the way to increase your income is to step up your marketing. What if you market as much as humanly possible and you still don’t get the assignments you need to increase your income?
HI Heather, I don’t think that the way to increase your income is to market as much as humanely possible. I think it is to market to the specific clients that need your specific skills and expertise. And to turn those clients into long term clients so you aren’t having to spend too much time marketing.
Do you mean by not getting the assignments you want, that you aren’t getting gigs or that they aren’t high paying enough? If you give me some more information, I can help you more. Or I am happy to help you on the phone if there is a specific question or challenge you are having.
Yes, I’m not getting high enough paying work. A call might be a good idea.
Thank you.
Email me at JenniferGregory@nc.rr.com and we can set up a time to talk. Happy to help you.
I suggest doing more networking. I think people are more likely to hire based on a personal recommendation or some personal interaction with a writer. Also, this depends on the type of writing you do, but if you can pitch publications or blogs in your niche and write for them, that will draw more attention to your work. In other words, I would work on developing better clips and recommendations to back up your marketing claims.
This a million times! Great advice Sarah. We have a guest post on Friday that touches on this. I get most of my work from people finding me, connections I make or personal recommendations. I do think that there is a place for the LOI, but I’m starting to place it more in the category of job boards than I used to. The advice to publish in blogs or mags in your niche is spot on. I have gotten several great clients who found me because they saw my work on a big tech site.
Hi Sarah!
When you suggest pitching to blogs or mags in my niche, would these be free articles I’d be writing? Or do I pitch the idea and then if they accept, put forward my going rate? Cheers! Kim
Just in case Sarah doesn’t see this, I thought I”d respond. Sarah please chime in if you see this though.
No, these wouldn’t be free articles. You look for paying pubs in your niche. I would also suggest associations in your niche since most have publications and many hire freelancers. Does that help? It is the same as pitching any publication or magazine, just that you are doing it strategically.
Some great goals here. (don’t include me in the drawing since I just won the last one.) Mine for 2017:
–Build up at least four anchor clients that are providing work regularly.
–Use time more efficiently
–Continue to build a heavy marketing plan, making at least 30-60 contacts per month.
Love the four anchor clients goal. I think that is perfect.
What do you mean by use time more efficiently? That might be a good one to be very concrete on.
And I will not put you in the drawing :>) that was kind of you.
I tend to get easily distracted and end up wasting too much time. I need to focus directly on the tasks I set out to do each day. I’ve been better about it the last three months but I can improve…
Hi Jennifer! I’m a long time stalker and first time commenter but felt 2017 was a good time to get out there 🙂 Following are some goals I’m looking to set although these haven’t been finalised as yet:
1. Earn at least $3k per month which will confirm that this is indeed a viable means of earning an income for me!
2. To do the above, I plan on getting my name out there through guest blogging, finding online sites that are within my niche that I could pitch to and by sponsored content for newspapers (thanks for the tip Alice)! I never thought to use my journalism background in that way, so shall need to do some research as to how it’s done 😉
3. Build collaborations with other key service providers such as designers and offer to recommend clients that would suit their business for the same in return (is there a term or this??).
4. Establish a Mastermind group that encompasses a handful of other content and copy writers where we can bounce ideas off each other and create avenues for potential recommendations.
5. Set up systems that will allow me to focus on what’s important (getting clients) rather than tearing my hair out with figuring out how to run my business.
So glad you posted! We are a very friendly bunch so please post more! And if you have anything specific you want to read about, please let me know.
Great goals! Are you currently working a full-time job? I think your goal of 3K is a good start. I would also add networking to your list, both with other writers and with marketing professionals in your area. In my area there is an American Marketing Association chapter with events and a bunch of meet ups.
Hi Kimberly, looking for members for that mastermind group of yours???
Haha, if you see this post, drop an email to apolloslamp@gmail.com
Cheers 🙂
[…] if you have not entered in the 2017 Goal Setting Challenge, check out my post from Monday and post your goals in the comments. Every writer who posts goals by Friday at 9 pm EST will be […]
I haven’t read through all the goals yet, but mine will likely reflect others’ (and Jennifer’s).
1) Make $70,000.
2) Work productively six to eight hours a day. Actually do work in that time.
3) Work as little as possible nights and weekends
4) Take at least two weeks totally off work (not even doing any small projects).
5) Finish (or make a great deal of headway!!!) on my novel.
6) Write eight essays and make every attempt to sell them.
7) Set up better web site.
Now to figure out how to make these suckers SMART, as, sigh, is all the rage.
These are fantastic. I love that you put a number on the essays.
1. Make $X, a round figure a good bit above what I made last year. It may not be doable, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility, either.
2. Find CM clients in my new niche. (Got a nine-page, double-spaced list of companies. Beyond that, here’s how .…)
3. Research them and their people, write effective LOIs, follow up, repeat. (Started.)
4. Find related items online and repost them on Twitter and LinkedIn three times every week, thus showing my expertise and building my following. (Jan. 2 and 4 so far.)
5. Write and post original pieces on LinkedIn, further showing my expertise in this area and maybe attracting business.
6. Meanwhile, write case studies as a volunteer for a local nonprofit, helping it and adding to my case-study portfolio. (Met with the CMO last week.)
7. Raise my rate with at least one editing client. (Did so in November for the first time, and everyone’s happy.)
8. Early to bed, early to rise makes a gal happy, wealthy, and wise. (This was a goal last year, and things improved. But there’s room to do a lot better, especially when a good book is involved.)
That is absolutely amazing that you have a 9 page list of potential clients. How did you find the clients in your niche?
I was studying an industry magazine and found in it a list of people (complete with company names) who had become credentialed. Gold mine.
That is awesome! Great example of how reading industry mags can pay off, big time!
My Goals
1. Cold pitch five companies per day or 25 per week.
2. Get at least two decent retainer clients.
3. Replace my two lowest paying clients.
4. Make between $50-75k
Love your very specific goals. I especially like your goal of dropping your lowest paying clients. I have found that you almost always have to drop them first then a better client shows up.
When you say decent, do you mean paywise or hour wise, for the retainer clients? Do you know the range of both you are looking for?
1. What income do you want or need to earn in 2017?
I want to make $2000 consistently by the end of 2017.
2. What specific times or days would you prefer not to work?
I want to stop work after 6 pm. And take one day off a week. One week off every three months.
3. What accomplishment would make you jump around in your kitchen in celebration?
I plan to celebrate every acceptance and every paycheck. And I’ll consider every pitch that I send as a mini-achievement, even if it’s rejected.
4. Is there something outside of writing that you would like to achieve?
Daily meditation practice, exercise, and sketching.
And learn swimming.
5. What can you do to make your business run more smoothly?
Relaunch my blog. I’ve put it off for too long!
And yes, update accounts every month.
6. Is there a personal writing project that you want to start or finish?
I plan to write flash fiction and poetry + humor. And cartoons.
7. Is there anything else that you would like to accomplish in 2017?
My main goal = show up and write 1000 words daily.
Stretch goals: I also want to do 100 pushups at a stretch by the end of the year and still my mind for two minutes.
And touch my toes without bending my knees. {:-)
I love your goals! Very concrete and meaningful to you. Great job!
Hi Jennifer:
Thanks for the prodding. I love the idea of putting my vague goals for 2017 in writing. Here is mine:
1) Income goal: about $4,000 a month
2) Finish website
3) Start blog
4) Get three new clients
5) Establish work hours, and stick to them
6) Workout 5 days a week
7) Never work during school vacations
8) Limit weekends and weeknight work
9) Read 3 work/business related books (any suggestions for content marketing and/or health writing?)
I love how specific your goals and think it’s great you included personal goals of working out. I also like how you broke out the income by month. I find it much easier to track if I know how much I want to earn each month.
3 work/business related books:
1. Freelance Medical Writing: Make a 6-Figure Income and Work From Home Using Your Scientific/Medical Background. Kindle Edition (6 books) by Emma Hitt Nichols
2. Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson
3. Content Rules by Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman
Thanks, Jennifer. I love the questions you posed. Here are my big goals for 2017:
1. Earn at least 6 figures through a combination of information products and freelance writing.
2. Expand my book marketing email list by 20 percent.
3. Maintain a safe, steady freelance writing base income.
4. Work less on evenings and weekends.
Cheers,
Sandy
Thanks for posting Sandy!! Glad you liked the questions. Love the quantifiable goal of increasing list by 20 percent. Can you elaborate for others what you mean by information products?
Hey Jen, information products are digital products — ebooks, online courses, teleseminars, etc. I’ve co-presented on the topic at the ASJA conference a couple of times because it’s a great fit for writers. I’ve created quite a few (http://buildbookbuzz.com/shop/) but my favorite is my daily book marketing tip series. Authors subscribe to it for $.99 and they get a short book marketing tip in their inbox every day for an entire year. It was fun (but time-consuming!) to create.
Sandy
Awesome post, Jennifer!
1. Keep income at/above 2016.
2. Replace lowest paying client with 1 – 2 other strong CM agency clients that follow an X articles per month model.
3. Add one expanded niche to my areas of focus.
4. Launch project related to CM strategy.
5. Streamline a key back office area of my business (revenue tracking/tax prep)
6. Experiment with different schedules to maximize income, keep time at desk reasonable
7. Hit the gym 4 days a week!
These are great goals. I might just copy yours Liz :>) I like the idea of experimenting with different schedules to find the one that works best for you.
A book I’ve found helpful has been Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss (look for the most up-to-date edition, as it talks about web marketing). It’s for business consultants, but a lot of the networking and keep reaching out and re-touching them advice applies to freelancers.
Also, I’ve found the lists of companies that set up at the expos at conferences in my field helpful for a list of reaching out to corporations that might need white papers or other types of corporate writing.
Jean, that is a GREAT idea. LOVE it. Have you gotten work this way? If so, would you be interested in writing a guest post in Feb on this topic. I pay $50 for guest posts as an honorarium.
My goal is to sell the first novel in the mystery series my husband and I write.
That’s a great goal! I know you have been working hard on that novel. Crossing my fingers and toes for you.
Income: Big and bold and much above the last few years
Work more consistently and efficiently on weekdays and not on weekends.
Finish the nonfiction book proposal and three sample chapters an agent requested (I’m ashamed to say how many months ago) and complete two more book proposals.
Teach/speak at more regional and national writing conferences and other events.
Target higher paying clients and market myself more.
Publication in larger periodicals.
Continue posting each week on the blog I started last fall – Forward Motion.
Learn how to better utilize LinkedIn and Twitter.
And the perennial goal: lose weight (This will be on the list until I am a skinny old woman!)
Great Goals! I like how you included speaking at conferences. Do you have any specific ones you are targeting?
Yes!
Thank you for sharing your goals Jennifer! I am still working on mine so I am not commenting for the giveaway. I can come up with things I would like to accomplish but I struggle with defining the HOW, so I’m working on that before making anything final.
I use Quickbooks Online (Simple Start) and it’s really easy for bookkeeping. I did have to have an accountant show me how to reconcile my accounts but otherwise it has been time-saver for me and gives a professional appearance to my invoices.
I look forward to you continuing to be a content marketing influencer in 2017!
I entered you in the giveaway for your helpful suggestion to me about accounting programs, since everyone who gave a helpful suggestion got an entry.
Yeah, I agree with you that the How is often the hardest part. I And I know for me that I usually find the right answer with the how by doing things wrong at least a few times.
Thank you for doing this, Jennifer.
My goals:
1. Make $75,000 freelancing, a stretch from 2016.
2. Join all the appropriate professional groups and use the resources they offer.
3. Market more effectively. Every single client I have has come as a result of a referral, which is great, but too random for comfort.
4. Explore content marketing agencies. This one scares me. I don’t know why.
5. Push to meet some of my journalistic goals, writing for top newspapers and magazines. 2015 I snagged The Washington Post, 2016 zip.
6. Finish my novel.
7. Get at least one short story published in a great literary journal. (Either of those last two would make me jump around my kitchen.)
8. Begin to address branding difficulties that may arise on both sides from combining content marketing writing with literary ambitions.
9. New content marketing website?
Delia,
Love your goals, especially finishing your novel.
Most all of my clients in 2016 came from a referral or my networking. I’m hearing this more and more.
What scares you about agencies? I get most of my work from agencies and often find I earn a higher rate through agencies than direct. Plus agencies have multiple clients so it’s easy to get more work with zero marketing as well as get new niches.
You mentioned difficulties combining literary and content marketing. What issues are you having? I’m always very interested in hearing about this topic since it’s a concern that many readers have.
The process of seeking agency work seems complex and overwhelming, harder to target and more competitive than contacting the person who hires for a website, for example. I feel like I don’t know where to begin. But I hear what you’re saying, which is why it seems worth figuring out. It is one of my goals this year.
As to writing content and fiction, I believe you and others often speak of the importance of approaching clients with super-specific niches. So here I am — and maybe other people who do both feel this way — coming at potential clients/agents/publishers with this other aspect hanging out that’s 180 degrees around from what they’re likely to hire me to do, on both sides. I’d like to present a tidier profile, I guess.
Delia, Thanks for clarifying! It’s exactly the same process for the most part. You find the person that handles editorial, write a LOI explaining your expertises and then follow up. I honestly think that marketing to agencies is important because they have many clients and you can often get ongoing work with several clients.
I personally think it’s totally fine to have very different super specific niches. The trick is that when you approach someone that you write your LOI to frame all of your experience based on what they are likely to need. So if you are marketing yourself to a bank, you include your financial services experience, but leave out the fact that you have write about teeth whitening. I don’t worry about having different niches on my website. Most people just care that you are knowledgable in their topic, not that you also know other stuff. When I have told clients about my odd other niches, they think it’s fascinating, not a negative.
Thanks, Jennifer. I’m glad you mentioned your website, because that is the aspect of my presentation I have been most concerned about.
Delia, one way to handle it is to separate your niches out on your Portfolio online so that clients only look at the sections they are interested in. Put each niche on a separate webpage. You can see how I do it on my site at https://www.jennifergregorywriter.com/published-articles/
For 2017 my income goal is very ambitious: six figures writing marketing content materials for health and wellness companies and organizations that offer science-based products and services.
My current process focus is to prospect daily via warm email prospecting, LinkedIn, and/or Upwork. My client mix goal is to secure 2-4 anchor clients.
My daily routine goal is to start every day with this ritual to bring focus:review my plan for the day and meditate.
Hi Corrina,
I LOVE your mission statement at the top and how you very specifically defined your target clients. That is awesome and really helps find clients that are likely to hire you.
Have you found high paying work through Upwork? I have typically heard that this site is lower paying and bidding, so wanted to see your personal experience.
I do have a comment on Upwork. I’ve been prospecting for only a few months so far. I will say there is both a large contingent of people looking for writers that are inexpensive and writers (particularly overseas) that are offering to write at those fees.
I personally have found some that are willing to pay a little more.
People tell me that you can connect with clients that pay rates closer to what I’ve heard Jennifer talk about (using the example of $1 per word/$100 per hour or equivalent rates for projects).
I’ve written a swath of articles in the 500-1000 word range for much less money. I’ve accepted earning less because I’m building experience rapidly. There’s a big difference in what I’m able to write now v.s. a few months ago.
Now I’m operating on faith that you can work the Upwork system to get decent, or even generous paying clients. But it seems pretty clear that there is a lot of people in that marketplace that undervalue writing, and that can have a psychological effect on the how the writer *I.E. Me* values their own writing.
It’s also worth pointing out that the fee structure Upwork has set up takes a big bite. Yes they help connect you to clients, yes they take most of the book keeping / billing work out of your hands, but they charge the freelancer 20% of your revenues off the top for every new client (the fees soften as contracts become long term ones). It also costs the freelancer credits to bid on jobs (and getting more credits is a thing they charge for).
I’m continuing to go after work through them. It’s a good environment to sharpen my skills in because there’s money on the line, and clients with a deadline.
I’ve purchased an information product that gives advice on navigating Upwork, claiming you can earn six figures there. Assuming these claims are true, I can say from my own experience that I’m probably years away from that goal.
I’m also keenly aware that if I earn $100k on Upwork, they will take up-to 20% of those revenues, and that doesn’t begin to talk about any of the writing related expenses I’ll also have to shell out.
Contrasting that to taking on your own clients, or getting in with one of these content marketing firms I’m hearing people here talking about, it seems fairly obvious that there are other avenues i’m going to have to look at to earn the living that I want to.
Hi Joshua, I totally understand the appeal of Upwork. However, I strongly recommend moving towards finding your own clients for all the reasons you mentioned here. While yes, there are some higher paying clients, the majority are not. And for the time you are spending on Upwork, you could be looking for other clients with a much higher probability of paying more.
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