Financial Goals

WildScribe

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Some people set goals of so many queries per month, or so many articles written, and that works. Do any of you set financial goals (for example, "I want to make $2000 this month")?

If so, how do you keep count? Do you count checks actually coming in? (In which case you can work for months before having a good month goal wise.) Do you count checks owed to you? (In which case you have to worry about non-payment or not being paid 'on time'.)

How do you count?
 

CatMuse33

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I set financial goals. I HAVE to (not want to) make $2K per month to meet my expenses (I live in NY, I have cut every corner I can, please no lectures from anyone on simpler living)...

Beyond that, my goal every month for 2010 is $5000. I am very close for January.

I count only money that came IN that month. If it's in my paypal account, it counts, even if I haven't transferred it yet. Same for uncashed checks. But money owed doesn't pay the bills.

The trick with freelancing is regularity...to create that steady stream of income so you can meet your goals each month. If you're just starting out, yes, you may have a few months of not meeting your goals. For those who find this disheartening, you can always count both money earned and money collected. :) Or find quicker paying clients.

HOpe this helps!
Dawn
 

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My goals are to make $100 a day freelance writing, working a five day week. That meets my living expense and gives me a little breathing room – Cat, I don’t live in NY and am glad I don’t expense wise! All other monies received such as magazine articles or other is lagniappe.

SS
 

WildScribe

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When I was doing a lot of web content and could count on nearly instant payments, I counted how much I actually brought in per month. Since I started magazine writing, it is so much harder when I can work full days and not expect a check for 6 months or more. What am I earning this month? Heck, I don't know, let me go through my archives. Sheesh.
 

Bushrat

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My goal/actual yearly income is a minimum of $5,000.-, which I make with my column. This year, I want to concentrate on building up my photo library to have a better stock of pictures to illustrate articles with, so I'm not doing any querying this year.
In general, making another $2,000.-/year with articles is my goal.
It's all easy to keep track of because I have no other income :)
 

Skyraven

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I don't have a financial goal other than to make more money writing than the previous year. I work full-time outside of the home and have an online part-time writing job which is helping me meet that goal. My goal this year is to break into magazine writing and by doing that, I WILL be making more money writing in 2010 than I did in 2009. :)
 

Button

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My goals are to make $100 a day freelance writing, working a five day week. That meets my living expense and gives me a little breathing room – Cat, I don’t live in NY and am glad I don’t expense wise! All other monies received such as magazine articles or other is lagniappe.

SS


I wonder if I'm the only other person here who understood that word. :)

Geaux cher! Who Dat!
 

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I'm on another forum where writers are, and we do a daily writing goal thing.

Here's an example:

Daily Goals:
$30 T2
$5 Title QA
$21 DS Tips

Weekly: $118.62 / $175.00 (Sunday to Saturday based on my main job's work week)

Monthly:
$818.92 / $800
$150.90 from DS
$580.00 from T2

We all contribute our own individual based on how much we'd like to be paid per month or day, and then check back with how we did. Many just have a money goal and will say, "$60" and then report back as they progress.

It kind of keeps some people with goals in mind to get things done.
 

Cate

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I count checks cashed in that month and my financial goals are always simple--to make more in the New Year than I did last year. Vague--but it works well for me and so far, so good!:)
 

Domoviye

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I'm just starting out as a part-time freelancer. Do you guys have any suggestions on what would be a good goal for the first few months?
 

WildScribe

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I'm just starting out as a part-time freelancer. Do you guys have any suggestions on what would be a good goal for the first few months?

Make your goal in terms of jobs applied for or queries sent, not money. At least until you start to figure things out.
 

Domoviye

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Make your goal in terms of jobs applied for or queries sent, not money. At least until you start to figure things out.
Fair enough. Guess I have a long way to go before I get the thousands of dollars a week I'm hoping for. :cry:
Thanks for the prompt response.
 

CatMuse33

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I agree w/ WildScribe at this point in your career, Domoviye. One writer on this forum sets a goal to query X number of dollars per week, no rollover. So, in other words, you could QUERY for the amount you ultimately want to earn ($1000/week maybe?) So if you send 4 queries to magazines who typically pay $250, you're done. :) And if they all say yes, you've also hit your financial goal. :)
 

WildScribe

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I agree w/ WildScribe at this point in your career, Domoviye. One writer on this forum sets a goal to query X number of dollars per week, no rollover. So, in other words, you could QUERY for the amount you ultimately want to earn ($1000/week maybe?) So if you send 4 queries to magazines who typically pay $250, you're done. :) And if they all say yes, you've also hit your financial goal. :)

That could work, but I would say overshoot... query double the number of dollars you want to make, at least. It's hard, but you're just plain not going to get every acceptance.

I think it took me a year to get to a bit over $1000 a month, but I was writing web content and it wasn't really a sustainable pace anyway. Magazine writing is harder, but slower. I'm not sure what your specific interest is.
 

Domoviye

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Thanks guys, I really like that idea. I've been procrastinating a bit trying to get things organized, this will help me get over it.
And I don't really expect to get a 1000 a week not for a long while anyways. Thats why I'm keeping my day jobs. If I get 1000 a month in the next couple of months I'll be thrilled.
Cheers
 

Heather.R.

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I have to make 1200 per month to survive, as long as I'm over that I'm happy. I do however, only count the jobs I have projected for the month and not how much I've actually made. But, the money comes in eventually.
 

CatMuse33

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How does that work from a budgeting for your bills standpoint, Heather? Does it always work out? (I hope that's not too personal of a question, but I'm curious...) I guess it would so long as you're always over that goal.
BTW, for a "newbie freelancer" attaining that goal is phenomenal! (And inspirational to others...) Congrats on that!
Dawn
 

WildScribe

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How does that work from a budgeting for your bills standpoint, Heather? Does it always work out? (I hope that's not too personal of a question, but I'm curious...) I guess it would so long as you're always over that goal.
BTW, for a "newbie freelancer" attaining that goal is phenomenal! (And inspirational to others...) Congrats on that!
Dawn

Agreed. You must do a lot of work that pays fast?
 

NewKidOldKid

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I need $1500 a month to pay all my bills and live comfortably. I have met the goal every single month for the past year. I'm usually over. It takes some time to get there but eventually things even out.
 

WildScribe

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I wasn't worried about things evening out, just wondering how other people keep their books. :)
 

Heather.R.

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How does that work from a budgeting for your bills standpoint, Heather? Does it always work out? (I hope that's not too personal of a question, but I'm curious...) I guess it would so long as you're always over that goal.
BTW, for a "newbie freelancer" attaining that goal is phenomenal! (And inspirational to others...) Congrats on that!
Dawn

Thanks!!

I live in constant fear, haha. Kidding, sort of.
I am very new to this and very new to working to get my bills paid on time... it's something I am always working on.
I try to make sure I have enough for rent first, then my bills, then put the rest aside for food, clothes and whatever else I need. Anything else is gravy, and I try to save enough for a month in advance so I can worry a bit less. So far, it is working out fine and bills are paid on time. I have to remember that some things I invoice for at the end of the month, but the cheque might not come until the 6th of the next month...so that money can't be counted on for rent, which is due the 1st of each month... so it gets saved for the next month's rent, and so on.

If it came down to it, my bf could probably cover a bit of a bill or rent for me until I get paid, but we definitely both don't make enough for that to happen each time. I'm still figuring it out as I go, trying to get more and more work so I can save for my bills a little better.

ETA: managing when I get paid is a project I'm working on. The worst part of freelancing for me is not having a steady paycheck, so I try my best to have work done and get paid by the middle and the end of each month to ease up on myself a bit more. It's a work in progress!
 
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Heather.R.

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I wasn't worried about things evening out, just wondering how other people keep their books. :)

I have a spreadsheet and calendar system, where I list all the projected pay for each month and make it a goal to reach a certain number. Then on my computer calendar I mark when I should be paid for each project and how much money I'll have mid-month and at the end of the month, and these amounts are budgeted strictly.
 

Heather.R.

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Agreed. You must do a lot of work that pays fast?

Sorry for all the posts!

I do a lot of work, yes, but I still manage to not be over stressed. It doesn't pay after a period of months like magazines, but it's far less rewarding as a writer. That said, I'm enjoying it :) Typically I get paid at the end of the month or soon after project completion.

To break it down:

98% of my work is from Kijiji or Craigslist. I have a really well-worded ad I post for writing services that gets a lot of hits, so I repost it about once a month (prior, I was posting a generic ad and not getting any hits... I took the time to research what a good cover letter should be, and implemented that into my ad). From there, word of mouth spreads, etc. I am constantly replying to any ad I find looking for writers.

1/3 of my income is regular blogging work I invoice for at the end of the month, about 8 blog postings per week. Sometimes I do other things for these clients, like web site writing, etc. Because I am a regular, some of the clients are kind enough to credit me for one blog per month or so, which I can use on my portfolio.

1/3 of my income is repeat clients, but the work is sporadic. Like web writing companies that subcontract out to me, or throw me assignments.

The other 1/3 of my income is one-time jobs like resume writing, editing, web site writing, business plans, etc... but these all have potential to turn into repeat business :) Some of these are also large projects, for example right now I'm in the middle of writing up to 100 articles for a construction company... and this has led to a few web site writing jobs and possible future twitter/facebook account management.

It's writing, and sometimes my name goes on it... it's good for now, but eventually I'd like to branch out into magazine freelancing, newspaper freelancing, etc. I am super jealous of you magazine writers, and journalistic-writing is my background.
 

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My goal for year one was $1 and I made that. My goal for year two was $1000 and I made that. My goal for this year is $2000. I count money deposited into my freelance account.
 

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I use an excel spreadsheet each month - I show my projected income and next to it my actual income. That way I can see how well my projections work out. In the projected income I actually have two categories... contracted for and likely. That likely are those clients who haven't signed yet but I feel are apt to.

Does that make sense?

I find those projections also help me manage my time, although that wasn't why I developed the system... just a bonus.