Don’t Set Impossible Income Goals
To achieve success as a freelance writer, or any other career for that matter, you need to set goals. I believe strongly that the proper income goals can go a long way in helping you better your freelance writing career. But of course, you need to know that setting goals based around your income is a delicate matter. In other words, this is not something you should do without thinking long and hard while also considering what is reasonable.
Every so often a member of my freelance writing course will send me updates on their income goals. Not only do they tell me how much they are earning, but they also lend information on their goals and what they are doing to reach them. While some are on target and have not set their sights too high, others are off base and setup for failure.
When it comes to setting freelance writing income goals you need to remember one thing: be reasonable. Yes, you want to reach for the stars so you can earn a solid income and live a good life. But you don’t want to set unrealistic goals that you have no chance of achieving. If you do this you will be setting yourself up for failure, and in turn not giving yourself the chance to become a successful freelance writer.
Your income goals should be based on two factors: 1. what you need to survive. 2. What you think you can achieve at this point in your career. Your income goals can and will change over time. When I started as a freelance writer my first goal was to earn $2k per month. This was not a huge amount of money, but it was enough to pay my bills and to get me on the right path. By my third month I passed this goal, and now have my eyes set on a higher bar. There is nothing wrong with setting small, reasonable, and attainable goals to start. Soon enough you can begin to climb the income ladder as you make more contacts, and realize what it takes to succeed on a higher level.
While it is important to set income goals, you don’t want them to be impossible to reach in a reasonable amount of time.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I am much newer to the world of being a freelance writer then you, but I have seen how setting realistic goals have helped to push me to move forward. I have a set goal of how much money that I want to make every month. I reevaluate my goal at the end of the month to see if I need to raise my goals. This makes me have to think about the steps that I will take in the coming month to get the additional income to make the new goal.
I find this constant goal setting is very helpful to me so that I am always thinking about and taking steps to get to my income goals.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Jennifer – You are so right. With goals in mind you always have something to reach for. No matter how big or small your goals they are all important. And like you said, be sure to reevaluate from time to time.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:51 am
That’s exactly it! We need to set short term and long term goals.
April 18th, 2011 at 8:16 am
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