How do you track your freelance writing income? Hopefully, you have an answer to this question. If you simply collect your payments and go about your business, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. The fact of the matter is that you need to have a good system in place that allows you to track, manage, and organize all of the income that you earn from your freelance writing career.
You do not need to do anything special when it comes to tracking your freelance writing income. Although my system is far from advanced, it works just fine month in and month out.
1. I have a separate folder in my email account where I store emails from PayPal that state when and how much I was paid. It is important to store these emails in a separate folder so that you can find them quickly if need be. Of course, you could simply rely on your actual PayPal account for these records, but I prefer to have something for myself as well.
2. Once I receive a PayPal payment, I head to my account and print out the invoice. This says how much money I received, when the funds entered my account, and who the money came from. From here, I keep the paid invoices in a folder labeled “Received Payments.†I do the same thing with payments that are made by check, wire transfer, etc.
3. I keep two Excel spreadsheets: one that shows money that is owed and the other for money that I have received. At the end of each month I simply add up the money that I have received, and mark down the total; this is my freelance writing income for that particular month. At the end of the year I add the totals for all 12 months, and that is my income for the year.
Are there better ways to track income? I am sure there are. In fact, I know that there are many software programs that are much more advanced than my method. But with that being said, I have had good luck with this way of doing things for many years; changing now does not make that much sense to me.
When it comes down to it, you need to track every freelance writing dollar that you make. This will not only allow you to keep close tabs on how much you are earning, but it will also help big time when tax season rolls around. Remember, there is no end of the year pay stub that will show how much money you earned.Â
It does not matter how you track and organize your freelance writing income as long as you are accurately doing so.
I recently had a long conversation with an aspiring freelance writer. Although we talked about many aspects of the industry, the conversation kept coming back to whether or not making “real†freelance writing income was a realistic goal. Even though I make a solid living this way, some people still have a hard time believing that they can join me in doing so.
In my opinion, as long as you have above average writing skills and the will to succeed, you can make it to the top as a freelance writer. I never tell people that it will be easy or that they will earn tens of thousands of dollars in their first year, but it is more than possible.
Time after time I hear of aspiring freelance writers who quit chasing their dream for the same reason: too many people told them that it was a bad idea, so they simply put this career path “on hold.†Of course, they never come back to it, and end up working for somebody else the rest of their life. It is very important that you do not fall into this trap. If you do, it is safe to say that a career in freelance writing is going to elude you. Remember, there are always going to be people telling you that working for yourself is a bad idea. They will tell you everything that is wrong with being a freelance writer, but nothing from the positive side.
To build a successful freelance writing career, it is important to set small goals while closely tracking your progress. For instance, your month one goal may be to earn $100. After you reach this mark, set another reasonable goal and move on from there. Taking small steps and hitting your goals along the way will make the process simpler.
In short, if you want to be a freelance writer you need two things: good writing skills and the ability to stay dedicated to your career no matter what others are saying. With these points in mind, begin setting goals and working towards achieving success.
Generally speaking, if you can increase your freelance writing workload you can also increase your income. In other words, more work equals more money. This is not always the case, as I have mentioned before, but it is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind.
Consider these three tips for increasing your freelance writing workload.
1. A large number of my freelance writing jobs come from current clients passing my name along to others. Make sure that you are the type of writer that people will want to refer. Getting jobs this way is a huge benefit because you do not have to spend time on marketing. Instead, the interested party comes to you.
2. Put together a resume and samples that prospective clients will want to see. Too many freelance writers make the mistake of including their favorite pieces in their portfolio, as opposed to those that will help them to garner new projects. Remember, your freelance writing portfolio will change from time to time. Once you find samples that seem to be working, stick with them for a while. Soon enough you will have confidence in your resume and portfolio.
3. Simply put, be good at what you do. This holds true no matter what type of freelancer you are. If you are not churning out good work, you are not going to succeed. Sure, you may trick a few people with sub-par work, but sooner or later you are going to hit a wall and your career will come to a grinding halt. Additionally, bad work never turns into referrals. If you are going to take the time to become a freelance writer, you might as well take the time to produce quality content.Â
These are three simple tips to keep in mind if you are interested in increasing your freelance writing workload. When you do more work, there is a good chance that you will see a positive increase in your monthly income.Â
