Note: Hopefully, my new posts this week have helped get you inspired for 2023 and then create a plan to make it happen. Next week, I will go back to my normal one to two posts a week. I am excited for 2023 and know we can all make it a banner year. 

As I added up my income at the end of the year in 2017, I should have felt excited. But I wasn’t. I beat my income goal. But the victory felt hollow. I worked too much and found many of my clients stressful. While the money was great, I needed more from my career. I realized that freelancing gives me the ability to design the exact business that works for me at our current life stage. But I had to actively create a business that matches my vision.

I found a quiet spot and spent some time thinking about how I could set goals that would help me build the business that I found fulfilling and worked with my current stage of life. I ended up setting six new types of goals and have done this exercise every year since that day. I don’t meet all of them every year, but I found that making thoughtful decisions about what I want makes me more likely to get close to my ideal business.

Here are the five types of goals that you should set for 2023 in addition to your income goal:

1. Work/Life Balance Goal

One of the best parts of freelancing is that you can get most of your work done at any time of the day and on any day of the week that you want as long as you meet your deadlines. And while the flexibility is one of the best parts of freelancing, it can also lead you to work all the time and get burned out.

As part of your 2023 goals, set a goal that helps you create the work/life balance that you want. I personally find that it’s better to set something concrete such as I will stop working at 5 pm every night or I will take every Friday off or I won’t work weekends than it is to say I will only work 30 hours a week. My work-life balance goal this year is to go for a hike or kayak at least two weekdays each week throughout the year. When setting your goals, think about what works best for your life and will help you recharge. For example, many writers don’t want to work on the weekends, but I don’t mind and would rather take time off during the week when the hiking trails are less crowded.

2. Bucket List Goal

Is there a brand or publication you REALLY want to write for? You know, one that would make you so excited that you would call your mom and post it on Facebook. Or jump around your kitchen until your dog looks at you like you are crazy. Your bucket list brand or publication doesn’t need to make sense to anyone but yourself. It should give you immense joy at your accomplishment for whatever reason that is important to you. For years my Bucket List client was Microsoft, and I can now proudly say that I crossed it off the list in 2022.

3. Personal Writing Goal

Most of us decided to become freelance writers not simply as a career but because we are writers at heart. While it’s wonderful to be able to do something we love as a business, it’s also easy to forget to do the type of writing that fills our souls and brings us pleasure. By creating a goal for personal writing projects and scheduling time on your calendar to work on these projects, you help stay connected to the type of writing that you find meaningful and satisfying. For my personal writing goal in 2023, I’ve decided to commit to either writing an essay or a journalist story on a topic that I find fulfilling each month. I’ve had this as a goal for several years, but I have been vague and not specific, just saying I want to write more.  I am still working on the details to make myself accountable and find time, but by putting it out into the universe I’m hopeful that this is the year that I actually make more time for personal writing.

4. Do Something New Goal

It’s easy to get burned out if you write blogs on the same topic every single day with little variation. But the good news is that you have many different ways to spice things up. You can start a new type of writing such as emails, video scripts or whitepapers. Or you can add a new niche to give yourself more variety. For your business to grow, you must keep growing your expertise and skills. Think about something that intrigues you and then set a goal to add it to your business. You may love it or it may be a flop. But you won’t know unless you try.

5. Business Improvement Goal

Have you been thinking about starting a blog in your niche? Or maybe you think a newsletter would work well for potential clients likely to hire you. Perhaps your website is desperately in need of a redesign. Think about bigger projects that you want to put into action, but often fall through the crack due to lack of time. My 2023 Business Improvement goal is to finally finish updating my book, which I have been putting off for years. By creating a tangible goal, writing it down, and giving yourself milestones, you are much more likely to actually put your idea in the action and not get to the end of another year just to find it still not done.

6. Productivity Goal

Think about a new habit that you would like to start that will help reduce your stress and make you more productive. Last year my productivity goal was to not write any stories on the same day as the deadline. And it made a huge difference in my stress level. No, I didn’t meet my goal all the time. But I did start working on projects earlier and finishing up as it was due became the exception not my standard.

This year I am focusing on my invoices for my productivity goal. In 2022 I kept finding myself late on creating invoices and then overwhelmed by having to create 2 months of invoices at the same time. My goal for 2023 is to send invoices every Friday and for clients that I invoice monthly then I will create a draft invoice that I add to weekly and then just send it at the end of the month.

Find some time this week and really think about how you want 2023 to play out in your business. And then be sure to write down each of your goals. Some people like to hang up their goals in their office. While others prefer a Word doc that they can look at throughout the year.  It doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that you intentionally create a business that works for you instead of reacting to what happens.

What are your goals this year? Are there any other types of goals that you like to set?