The Freelancer's Compass: Setting Goals Without Compromising Your Values

Today, we’ll discuss defining your freelance goals. But first:

Why do we do what we do?

I know, heavy for a Wednesday morning. Happy hump day.?

Without getting overly existential, I think it’s important to ask ourselves this question periodically to:

• Remind us of our purpose?
• Motivate us to stay on track
• Question the track if necessary?
• Adjust accordingly

I believe it’s unfair to ask someone an open question like this without reciprocating — so, why do I freelance for a living??

The freedom and flexibility.?

The control.?

The learning possibilities.

The ceiling (or lack thereof).?

For me, it helps to start with the “why” when setting and monitoring goals. Because if my ambitions contradict one another — or even the underlying reasons for pursuing this occupation in the first place — that’s a problem.

Is it worth jeopardizing one goal to accomplish another? Should I sacrifice my freedom and flexibility to make even more money? Probably not.?

The answer is rarely black and white, but I think a good approach is to lean toward “no” with a healthy willingness to make exceptions under the right circumstances. Consequently, it’s sensible to establish rules and goals.?

Setting Goals? Start With Your Rules

There are a few rules I’ve come to live by (and, as you’ll see, I tend to emphasize freedom and flexibility):?

• Take standard holidays off (not just the big ones) if I’ve averaged $5,000 a month on a rolling three-month basis.
• Don’t work more than 30 hours a week.?
• Don’t work on the weekends.?
• Don’t accept unappealing projects just for the sake of earning more money.

My goals shouldn’t force me to break these rules or violate my reasons for freelancing. With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to goal setting.?

Be Smart With Your SMART Goals

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-oriented. A simple example is an annual income goal, such as earning $100,000 from copywriting projects, because it’s:

• Specific: It’s a straightforward goal that can be reverse-engineered to determine monthly goals as well as rates per project based on the number of projects you can manage.?
• Measurable: It’s easy to track progress.
• Achievable: This is a little subjective, but earning six figures isn’t uncommon in our profession.?
• Relevant: Financial success is very relevant to your business.?
• Time-oriented: 12-month parameters

I’ve set goals for my business every year since I began in 2017. If I’ve learned anything from my experience, it’s that the “less is more” mentality is much more achievable (an easy parameter of SMART to overlook) to direct your time and energy to a handful of goals versus a lengthy list.?

Five is the most I’ll permit myself to strive toward, but even that has proven to push my limits at times. In that vein, it’s useful if goal progress overlaps. For instance, writing LinkedIn posts can help me onboard clients, and onboarding clients can help me reach my income goal.?

To give you some ideas and direction, here are my goals for 2023:

1. 52 newsletters issues: At the moment, I write two newsletters — Pain-Free Freelancing and Due Diligence, which caters to an investing audience. The former just launched last week, but the latter was active from March 2021 until May of this year. Considering I’m building an inventory of posts for this newsletter, 52 should be fairly achievable.?
2. Write a freelancing ebook: I’m in the process of writing an ebook on landing clients without cold pitching.?
3. 150 LinkedIn posts: LinkedIn is my favorite social media platform for business — 52 weeks in a year is roughly three posts per week, which is a good cadence.?
4. Onboard 5 clients: Probably the least out of my control, considering I primarily rely on inbound leads through LinkedIn. But I’ve recently experimented with some cold pitching and have had early success.
5. $120,000 gross income: This one is pretty straightforward, but it’ll probably hinge on my ability to onboard and outsource projects.?

To close, I want to reinforce something that you probably know but may not hear often enough: it’s okay to fail. Falling short of goals isn’t the end of the world. Transparently, I have yet to achieve every goal I’ve set for myself in any given year, yet I’m still here, and I’d say things are going pretty well.?

Happy freelancing,

Carter

P.S. How are your 2023 goals progressing? Have a tip for setting and achieving freelance goals? Hit reply and share your wisdom with the community.