I was part of a wave of journalists who had to flee the failing newspaper business. In 2021, I took a voluntary buyout that didn’t seem that voluntary. Almost every year since 2008, the companies I worked for laid off employees or offered buyouts. It was going to be a matter of time before I was involuntarily shown the door and needed to think about freelancer goal-setting strategies.
It was a painful yet ultimately rewarding decision to transition into full-time freelance writing. I had to find out for myself the answer to, “Can you earn a living freelancing?”
I’d say it’s a resounding, “Yes.” I’ve more than tripled my income since I started freelancing.
There have been many stops and starts and wrong turns in my freelance journey but I’ve managed to achieve a degree of success that has allowed me to create a long-term blueprint for growth. It’s a multilayered plan that includes investing in my business, creating financial efficiencies, and setting financial goals.
To grow your business, you need to set aside time to think about a long-term growth strategy. It’s hard to envision a prosperous future when you’re struggling to get clients in the early phase of freelancing but if you are committed, you’ll get to a point where you can plan for your financial success and establish a healthy freelance money mindset.
4 Things to Think about During Freelancer Goal-Setting
Keep these topics in mind when you set freelance goals and look toward building a sustainable freelance business.
1. Invest in Your Business
This is the first year I’ve been able to commit a sizable budget to investing in my business.
A year ago, I took the step of turning my freelance business into a Limited Liability Corporation. What is an LLC? It’s essentially a business structure that shields owners from any personal liability they might incur.
For me, there was a psychological component to creating an LLC. It created the formal structure I needed to move forward with advancing my business. I wanted to be a business owner instead of a freelance writer. Becoming a business owner helped me frame and strategize for the future. It’s given me an avenue to decide what services I can offer, what services I want to offer, and how I want to grow my business.
As a freelancer, it felt like I was randomly chasing freelance writing jobs. Now, I’m changing my website and my business name so I can reposition from being a freelance writer to running a writing business. Small words that shape how we see ourselves can have big impacts. These are forms of investments.
2. Establish Financial Goals as Part of Freelancer Goal-Setting Strategy
Everyone has bills to pay. Without a regular paycheck, it’s critical for freelancers to know exactly what they need to get through the month. For instance, by the end of my first year I was making around $3,000 per month freelancing. It wasn’t great but I had a ramp that allowed me extra time to build my business because I received a 10-month buyout from my previous job.
Having a financial cushion to start your freelance business is important. Once you’ve established your business, you need to have financial goals that project growth. Pare it down to monthly goals.
Initially, I wanted to make more each month than I did the month before. My goal was $5,000 per month. Financial progress isn’t linear for any business. You have to be prepared for downturns that could result from a lack of work or slow payments from clients.
It’s also important to stash away at least 25% of your income for taxes. (Get more taxes for freelance writers tips.) I pay myself every two weeks and I save at least 20% of my income. At least half of my savings goes toward my retirement.
If business is lean, you’ll have to consider cutting expenses. However, this is a short-term solution that should only be applied as a final resort. You don’t want to live with the stress of constantly having to be frugal.
3. Create Strategies to Achieve Those Freelance Money Goals
There are multiple ways to increase your income. My big break was landing an anchor client. My anchor client accounts for over 80 percent of my revenue. My financial goals are currently $12,000 per month.
Do I hit it every month? No, but it’s not an unreasonable standard at this point in my business. Some freelancers have two or three freelance anchor clients.
These are priority clients. They account for the majority of your revenue and time. My anchor client was a game changer. It allowed me to raise rates for other projects and it created enough security for me to turn down assignments that didn’t seem like a good fit or didn’t pay enough.
Nothing in freelancing lasts forever so I’m operating under the assumption that eventually I’ll lose my anchor client. I view it this way to stay motivated. I must constantly diversify my client list and be ready to pivot, offer new services, and be prepared for downturns.
You should constantly look for different services that could work for you. Some of the highest-paying freelance skills of 2024 include mobile app development, AI Development, Website Development and others.
4. Write Down Skill Goals as Part of Freelancer Goals
What are skill goals? It’s simply learning a new skill that you can translate into a service for your clients. The five highest-paying freelance writing skills of 2024 involve ghostwriting, UX writing, and healthcare writing to name a few. Explore these to see if you have any interest in building upon your innate know-how.
I’m taking a class on premium ghostwriting that focuses on how to write an educational email class. It’s a service that I’ll likely add at some point. It might be adding SEO writing expertise to your portfolio of services. From free to paid classes, there are multiple ways to increase your SEO knowledge and add value to your services. It’s a great skill to incorporate into freelancer goal-setting sessions.
A former journalist who understands story pitches and what makes a good story could add a public relations component to their services. There are clients who will pay you to get publicity for their stories. This can be very lucrative. As your business grows, you’ll have to figure out how to manage it and whether you want to scale it out by adding employees or whether you want to manage it as a solopreneur.
Take Freelancer Goal-Setting Strategies Seriously
Establishing a road map for your financial growth is imperative to make it in freelancing. Devote a half day each week to journaling or writing out your future financial goals. Some key fundamentals for financial growth include setting a monthly goal, planning daily for future revenue goals, making sure you are diversifying your clientele through freelance marketing strategies, putting some money aside every month for taxes and your savings, and learning new skills.
How you follow these freelancer goal-setting fundamentals is up to you but you have to do these tasks to have a chance for sustained success.
