I think goal setting is important, especially for my freelance writing business. I’ve written several posts about goal setting and the best ways to achieve goals, but this time I’m focusing on what other freelancers have to say.
I’ve perused many of my favorite blogs and chosen the following recent posts for the wide variety of advice they give on goal setting and success for 2016. Enjoy!
Jenn Mattern wants you to take specific actions in 2016 that will allow you to boost your income. Explore what you need to know about pricing, productivity, and plans.
Lori Widmer likes to be practical. She points out the importance of setting clear and measurable goals to achieve long-term objectives — and then taking action to realize those objectives.
Do you want a lot of details about what you need to do boost your writing career in 2016? Then see Carol Tice’s post about creating a detailed plan.
Anne Wayman is actually not a big fan of setting goals. She finds that she often feels bad if she doesn’t meet deadlines. Instead she’s decided to focus on a project approach.
In a post on The Write Life, Shannon Hernandez provides a list of 21 actions large and small that you can take to have a more prosperous 2016.
Susan Payton has excellent suggestions. One I particularly like: committing to produce error-free work.
Laura Spencer loves the specifics. She details nine ways for you to get a handle on your business as you move forward into the New Year.
Your Take
Share one of your top goals for 2016 with us — and also explain why it’s important to you. Or tell us how you feel about goal setting in general.
Tom Mangan says
It’s also important to have a mechanism for tracking your goals – I have an excel spreadsheet that tracks all my hours worked and revenue generated by day, week, month, quarter and year.
I update it every day. That way I always know where I stand from a business standpoint – and it always ensures I’m working on the business and not just chasing gigs that interest me, but might not pay much.
John Soares says
That’s excellent, Tom. I wonder how many other writers do something similar?
Dava Stewart says
2015 was a pivotal year for my business. Following some excellent advice from a fellow freelancer, I began to specialize. My monthly earnings have doubled, and editors are contacting me more often than I am contacting them. So, one big goal is to maintain that momentum.
A second goal is to begin learning about covering conferences, so that I can attend a couple each year. That seems like a lucrative and interesting way to earn money.
John Soares says
Congratulations on your success, Dava. As you likely know, I’m a big proponent of freelancers specializing in niches.
John Soares says
Anne, I really appreciate all the good advice you give to freelance writers.
Neil Spencer says
The first thing I do every morning nowadays is create a list of the things that I must absolutely get done before I can turn off the lights and go to bed at night.
And I just keep on chugging coffee until every item on the list has a checkmark beside it!
I find that keeping myself to this sort of extreme rigidity is the only way I stay consistently productive.
Mel says
Hi John,
This year my husband and I are focussing on building passive incomes for ourselves. He works a long day of about 14+ hours currently in his day job with very long commutes, so it is seriously killing him to keep doing this. At 33, he’s decided that he doesn’t want to live the next 30 years of his life doing the same “rat race” grind everyday. So 2016 is our big year to become entrepreneurs and start up at least one or two niche online businesses.
A tip we would like to give to other writers is, if you find yourself starting at the computer screen with no idea what to say, then get a tape recorder, digital recorder (most phones have one built in now), and just make yourself comfortable on a couch or in bed and just say what ever comes first to your mind and keep going from there. You’ll find some great material that you can then go back to the computer with to write that next chapter. Small tip but it works!
Kind regards,
Mel
PS: If it’s Ok, please can you include a link to one of my recent blog posts on “5 Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book”? I look forward to reading more of your posts.
5 Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book
Akinde Hafiz says
Hi John,
This post immediately put me off my feet to make more strategies on how to get it straight this year, though, we are half way through but I believe that,with great head – ways highlighted above. I will definitely get it right, the glass is half filled, not half empty. I totally subscribe to Lori Widmer and Tom Mangan’s points, really pratical.
Thanks.