Browse the All Freelance Writing collection of goals and planning articles below.
You’ll find posts on setting meaningful business goals, planning income and workload, staying focused on the right priorities, and making progress without mistaking random activity for real momentum.
This category is for freelance writers who want to work more deliberately, whether that means mapping out the next quarter or simply making better day-to-day decisions.
Not long ago I was contacted by Michelle Nickolaisen, asking if I’d like to review The Freelancer Planner. Of course I said “yes.” Planners? Organization? Schedules? She clearly knew the way to this freelancer’s heart. Total organization junkie over here. Michelle sent over a review copy of the downloadable version of her planner. This is a six-page .pdf planner (minus the cover page) that you can print
Scrivener is a wonderful tool for writers. You can use it to write a novel or nonfiction book. You can use it to format your writing as an e-book. You can even use Scrivener for blogging. That said, Scrivener can also be a complicated tool to use. I doubt I even know half of what it can do. It’s one of those tools that you
Freelance writing is largely about the big picture. As you gain experience and build your professional reputation and visibility over time, you earn more money and freelancing becomes a more stable income source. That said, the big picture doesn’t motivate everybody. Sometimes you need to see changes now to convince yourself to even stick with this freelancing thing. If that sounds like you, you’re in
Setting goals, tracking your progress, and adapting when necessary are all important parts of running a business. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a freelance writer, an author trying to sell books, or a blogger trying to make money from your blogs. Goals are vital to your success. Now that we’re in April, it’s a good time to check in on any goals you might
When you’re just getting started as a freelance writer, the issue of rates can be a tricky one. How much should you charge? Should you bill hourly, per word, per project, or under some other rate structure? Should rates vary depending on the type of project? Today’s reader question is along these lines. This new freelancer, who asked not to be named so we’ll simply
When you work as a freelancer, sometimes you’ll struggle to reach your goals. But one of the most destructive things you can do when that happens is make excuses. Yet freelance writers makes excuses all the time to justify their lack of success in one area or another. After all, that’s easier than taking responsibility and making changes. Today let’s look at some of those
If you want to move beyond low paying freelance writing jobs, you need a solid marketing strategy. Where many writers go wrong is putting all of their attention on marketing tactics — using social networks, guest posting, or writing query letters for example. While tactics are important, you can never use them to their full potential if you don’t have an underlying strategy and marketing message. That’s
Do you suffer from the common blogging problem of never feeling like you have enough time to write? Do you type slower than you’d like? Do you wish there was a secret to faster blogging? There isn’t just one thing. But here’s something that might help: Let your computer (or phone or tablet) do your “writing” for you. How? Give voice-to-text apps a try. Let me
In a comment on a recent post about successful e-book sales also leading to thousands of dollars in freelance writing gigs, I responded to a comment from Amandah Blackwell. And in my response, I basically said that freelancers should treat their own projects as they would treat a client’s project, and that they should treat clients’ projects as if they were their own. Today I’d
If you’ve ever felt stuck in your freelance writing career, you might have considered working with a coach or mentor. Maybe you’ve already signed on with one. A good coach can be instrumental in helping you build or grow your freelance writing business. But the wrong coach has the potential to hold you back. I’ve seen this far too many times over the years. For
Is your goal to finally make a living writing? Whether you’re ready to quit your day job to earn a living as a writer full-time or you’re looking to increase your existing writing income, the opportunities are practically endless. If you aren’t sure where to start, or if you’re worried that there aren’t enough potential writing gigs to go around, consider this. Just about everything
The New Year is a great time to tackle a new writing challenge. So why not start with a 30 day marketing challenge? The goal of this challenge is to do something to market your writing every day for 30 days. That could mean promoting your freelance writing services. It could mean book marketing. Or it might involve marketing your blog. Here’s a free tracker
Before the holidays we talked about preparing to take time away from writing or blogging and how you can set yourself up for success on your return to work. Well, today is that day for me — my first work day of 2015. And getting back into the swing of things has been both exciting and challenging I had a rougher start than I’d like
The New Year will be here before you know it, and there’s no time like the present to prepare for it. Recently I shared three things to do this December to close out the current year. For this week’s quick tips, let’s expand upon that with some easy things you can do now that will have you ready to hit the ground running after the
The year is almost over, and that means it’s time to evaluate progress and set goals for the New Year. So today I’d like to share an example with a follow-up from my previous progress check-in and also some new goals for my writing business in 2015. 2014 Year-End Check-In This year was very good in some ways. But in others I didn’t come close
The end of the year is right around the corner. Are you ready? While you might be itching to take some time off over the holidays, December can also be a busy time for work. Freelance clients often order more to use up the current year’s budget. You’re probably at the end of the fiscal year for your writing or publishing business. And it’s time to
October marks the start of my favorite time of year: when we hop from one holiday to the next. It kicks off with Halloween and continues straight through New Year’s Day. There’s decorating. Shopping. Family time. And a crazy work schedule. Fall and the beginning of winter are probably my most hectic time of the year as a freelance writer-blogger-publisher, largely because I have so
This morning I received the following question from Susan Brewer: “How important is it to have a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing in order to launch a writing job as a freelance writer? Or, I should say, “How helpful,” is it?” I told her the short answers are “not at all,” and “it depends what you want to do with it.” But let’s dig a
Are you tired of competing with countless other bloggers for every advertised gig you find? Do you wish you could reliably earn $100, $200, $500, or even more per article as a freelance blogger? If you’re looking to build a more stable and higher-paying freelance blogging career, you can. Opportunities are practically endless, if you know how to look and how to make yourself stand out. Consider giving
For this week’s free resource for writers, I’m giving you an action plan template loosely based on my own action plan format (though mine are usually scribbled out on 5×8″ index cards). Here’s a bit of background on what an action plan is and how you can use this template. What is an Action Plan? We talk a lot about setting and reaching your goals
Let’s welcome Michael Kwan, freelance writer and author of Beyond the Margins: An Indispensable Guide for First-Time Freelance Writers, Designers, and Other Work-From-Home Professionals. Michael sent me a copy of the e-book for review, and he graciously took the time to answer some of my questions. Beyond the Margins focuses on beginning freelancers and offers a well-rounded look at the choices to be made and the work involved in building a successful
As a freelance writer do you ever feel like you aren’t working to your full potential — that you could get more work done if you could just eliminate some distractions and improve your productivity a bit? Fortunately there are plenty of time management tools that can help you do that. Today I’d like to share some of my favorite types of time management tools
This post was originally published on June 20, 2009. But I wanted to share it again today (and update it a bit) as the issue of blogging pay rates is hotter than ever as more and more freelance bloggers come onto the scene. As some background, this was originally written in response to Kevin Muldoon’s post, Bloggers Need to be Realistic About Blogging Rates. It
It’s common for clients to overstep when hiring freelance writers these days. Writers are expected to wear multiple hats, and clients are rarely willing to pay more for these added services. The Northeast Ohio Media Group’s “zero-tolerance policy” on typos is an insane example; writers are expected to have their spouses edit their work after copyeditors were dismissed. Blog owners are an even more common example, expecting
In the comments on a previous post about loving your work, Anne Wayman mentioned that she wanted to try to turn some of her marketing into a game. That’s something I try to do with my daily work as much as possible too. So I thought it might be fun to look at gamification and how you can gamify your freelance writing work. Gamification doesn’t have to
A while back I mentioned that I was giving Scrivener a try. My hope was to use that writing software during last year’s NaNoWriMo instead of a standard word processor. That didn’t happen. I was still uncomfortable with the software at the time, and I worried it would slow me down. I’m still a Scrivener beginner by a long shot, but I’m finally putting it
Your blog’s content strategy is about more than the type of content you plan to write. It also includes your blog post schedule — when you post, and how often you post. Should you post daily? Just on weekdays? Once per week? Monthly? There’s no right answer to cover all blogs. You have to find the right post frequency and schedule for your blog. Picking Your Blog Post
There are many reasons to start a blog. One popular reason is to make money. When you do that, you treat your blog as a business model in its own right. Many people try to earn money from their blogs. Some succeed. Others fail. And much of that comes down to your strategy, your niche specialty, and the plan you come up with to monetize
Are you confident that you set the right freelance writing rates? Are they really helping you reach all of your financial goals? Or did you find out through trial and error that there were some factors you forgot to consider? Alicia Rades brought this topic up recently. She wanted to know how she can figure out what she should be making to reach her goals and meet her
What are your goals for your freelance writing website? To be clear, we’re talking about your professional site — the one designed to attract clients, not your site or blog targeting other writers. Chances are that you’re hoping to attract not only clients, but the right clients. You know, they’re the ones who have a need in your specialty area and an adequate budget to hire a