How to Set and Meet Income Goals as a Freelancer

If you’ve decided to become a freelance writer, one of the most important things you must do to ensure success is set income goals for yourself. Remember when you’re setting goals you have to take care of your taxes, so you’ll have to figure that in there, in addition to any business expenses. In this article, I’ll explain how to set and meet income goals as a freelancer.

Think About How Much You Need to Make Per Month

Consider things like your business and regular living expenses, and remember you’ll have to set money aside for taxes. Break that number down into a weekly goal and a daily goal. If it seems too difficult, find ways to reduce some of your expenses.

Tips for achieving income goals

Learn how to refuse

Every time you’re offered an assignment, evaluate the assignment objectively, determine if the assignment will assist you in meeting your objectives, and accept or reject it. That might require you to say yes to writing about a subject you don’t like and must endure. That might mean declining a low-paying " visibility opportunity."

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take part in projects you are passionate about. It is possible and you should do it. Don't count them towards your income goals. Even if they contribute, don’t rely on them if you want to achieve your income goals, or reconsider whether they are yours or an exercise in vanity.

It’s a good idea to determine how much you need to charge based on your base income requirements and how many hours you work. If you’re putting in 30 hours weekly and only writing for 20 hours (80 hours a month) you need to make $4,000 monthly, your hourly rate should be $50 per hour. You won't meet your income target if you don't earn it every time.

Don’t overload your schedule with so much $20-per-hour work that you never get a chance to wait for the $100-per-hour work to appear.

Market often.

If you work 30 hours weekly and spend 20 hours writing, your only chance to make money is to spend the 20 hours writing. It's hard for most writers because they have to plan, think ahead, and work efficiently.

Nevertheless, this allows a steady flow of work to fill your day. The ideal scenario is to fill up the net two weeks 20 hours ahead of time to focus on the future. As you can imagine, this is hard at first but gets better with more experience.

Make sure you've got repeat clients and income.

Content marketers and corporate writers have an easier time finding recurring sources of income than journalists and magazine writers. If you’re a magazine writer or a journalist, your only chance to generate recurring income comes from pitching frequently.

If you’re a magazine writer, after completing an assignment for a client, pitch them again. Without a schedule, you'll get more consistent work than you otherwise would.

The earliest days are often the most challenging with content marketing and corporate clients, because you need to fill up your time. During this time, encourage volume, and consider lowering your rates.

When you've done good work, raising your rates is an option, but establishing a steady clientele is a priority since it is the income you can rely on, schedule, and build upon.

It's hard for writers to set and achieve income goals because either they don't set realistic goals or they are too distracted to monitor their progress other the month.

Mastering these two things will allow you to achieve whatever income goals you have today and in the future.

Those are the basics of setting and achieving income goals as a freelancer. Once you’ve decided how much you need to make every month, you can examine different opportunities more critically and decide if they’re worth pursuing. Remember when meeting your income goals, you want to focus on projects that will bring in the most income, and spend less time on passion projects. If you can spend more time on income-producing projects, you’ll have a better chance of meeting your income goals.