Advancing my Career in 2008
In terms of income and advancing my career, 2007 was quite good to me. Of course, there is always room for improvement. Even though my freelance writing income was solid and steady for all 12 months of this year, I am hoping to take things to the next level in 2008. I plan on doing this in three ways:
1. Although I am happy with the progression of freelance writing career, I want to turn things up a bit. I plan on doing this by sending out at least 3-5 query letters per week. To go along with, I am also going to contact several businesses every week to attempt to sell my services. Simply put, the more contacts I make the more income I will earn.
2. I love writing, but am also interested in breaking into other areas of business as well. To get this started, I will be doing business under a new name effective January 1, 2008. I decided to start my own company as a way of expanding my offerings, and of course to keep things legal and safe.
3. Forming partnerships is a great way to increase business. I have done this extensively during the past few months of 2007, and plan on continuing this well into next year. By setting up partnerships I will be able to obtain new work without always having to do all of the marketing on my own.
At this time, there is nothing I would change about my freelance writing career. But with that being said, I want to expand into other ventures, increase my monthly income, and begin to move my new business forward.
What goals have you set for 2008? If you have yet to do this, get started right away. In my opinion, having goals will help you to stay on track from day one the new year!
December 5th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I think you should put together an Ebook on freelance writing. I’m sure it would be a popular buy if priced and marketed correctly.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Great entry Chris! In particular, I’ve found #3 on your list to be true.
Through my venue blog I’ve become connected with a few businesses and opportunities and the relationships that are there have been and continue to be invaluable to me.
gigi
December 6th, 2007 at 2:21 am
I’m just in the process of writing up my strategy for 2008, and like you I’m mapping out how many days a week I’ll devote to querying, marketing, etc. I bought an agenda, the kind that has the whole month on each page, and I’ve started using it to keep track of my query emails. That way I can keep track of when to follow up. I know there are versions of such things on my computer, but I prefer the page in front of me and being able to flip through the months.
I’ve also heard Jerry Seinfeld’s model for success: he has the same type of calendar, and uses it to mark off the days he completes his tasks. He sees how long he can hold a running streak of X’s for.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Chad - I have given that a lot of thought; we are on the same page. In fact, look for a post on this in the near future!
Gigi - Making contacts is so important. I am glad that you have found that networking can help in many ways.
Amanda - That is awesome advice! I never heard of Seinfeld’s model, but I like it a lot!
December 16th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
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