As February rudely leaves us wondering where the rest of the month went, it’s time to take stock of what we have achieved and make a plan for the months ahead.

As I explain in a previous article on the importance of progress tracking, at the end of the month I find it helpful to review my creative efforts, check progress on smaller tasks, and make sure my plans and projects moving forward are still relevant to my overall goals. Showing up and doing the work is integral to success, but having defined and achievable goals give that work purpose, and keep you moving forward in the right direction.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned over the last few months working as a freelance writer, and my own creative goals moving forward. Hopefully, these will give you some insight into the path ahead of you, a few tips and tricks you can take away for your own journey, and a little comfort in knowing that you’re not doing this alone. I am right here beside you, rolling a few natural 1s, ticking off those milestones, and finding my way.

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Working with Clients

One major milestone for me this year has been building up experience working with clients. I had a few contracts on the go, mainly sourced from job boards like UpWork, which gave me invaluable insight into working with different types of clients.

When you are new to the world of freelance, every client, no matter how small, will teach you something about the industry and make you better prepared to land your next contract.

Your first few clients are a goldmine of valuable information. Even if the contracts don’t pay brilliantly, they’re worth it, to get a feel of how the freelance world works and help you learn how to interact with clients when the stakes are lower. Every client is important, but refining your pitch and communication tactics on job boards like UpWork can set you up to pitch to larger publications and clients with a few tricks under your belt.

Finding Work on Job boards

There are a myriad of jobs posted every day on freelance writing job boards, such as UpWork and ProBlogger. It can be daunting knowing where to begin and which contracts are right for you. These sites can be great places to find work and get your feet wet, but you can fall into the trap of doing work that doesn’t align with your overall goals.

Here are my main tips for finding work on these type of sites, and making sure you are putting your time into work you want to do:

• Confirm the client’s expectations before accepting the job: Deadline, word count, type of piece, etc. You want to know what you’re agreeing to before you agree to it.
• Know what you want to get out of a contract as well as what the client wants: Do you want your name on the piece so you can put it in your portfolio? What are you hoping to get out of the contract: Future employment, a testimonial, or practice writing?
• Research the client: Look at other work on their site for tone and voice, formatting, layout, general themes etc. Is their blog ghostwritten or do they have author bylines? How much traffic does their site get? Is their site a good fit for your brand as a freelancer? Will their site help you get your name out there?
• Set a rate per word that you are happy with and stick to it. Only work for less if there is a good reason
• Be selective with what you apply for. Applying for a lot of jobs is helpful when you start but only apply for work you actually want to get, otherwise you are just wasting your time.
• Remember, you don’t have to accept every job you get offered. Put your time into projects that will benefit you and don’t be afraid to hold out for the right gig.

Rates

A freelance writer friend of mine gave me some very good advice when I asked her opinion on writing rates:

“Never undersell yourself. If you do, you will end up resenting the work and eventually it’s going to kill your soul. Only quote a rate that you are willing to work for long term, and if that means that you lose out on some clients then that’s fine, because if you’re stuck working for a shitty rate then it’s only going to make you hate the job.”

I am already finding out the truth in this advice.

You’ll find a multitude of work on job boards that offer less than 1¢ a word, and because of the sheer number of posts like this, you can be forgiven for assuming this is an industry standard. That is simply not the case.

I was offered one particular contract last month that was for less than 1¢ a word, which I ended up turning down. Though it felt wrong to turn down work, I know that this rate is just not worth my time, and if I was to accept the contract I wouldn’t enjoy the process and I would end up resenting the work.

Money is not the only incentive. If a project will offer you name recognition, a high-profile client, a post on a high-traffic blog, or get you in the door with a client you really want to work for, then accepting a lower rate can have its merits. Good promotion can be priceless and you need to assess the overall project merits beyond any dollar value before coming to a decision.

However, it takes a certain amount of time to write anything and if you are writing a piece of work for one client, that is time you can’t spend on writing something else. Holding out for a client that is willing to pay you what your time is worth will allow you to put effort into the work you want to be writing. You can spend time on quality instead of quantity, and you won’t be left resenting a contract that takes up your time for very little reward. Feel free to take a few low-paying jobs to get your feet wet, but don’t get trapped in 1¢ a word work. There are real clients out there and they will pay you for your work, you just need to find them.

Be confident when quoting your rates; know your lower limit and be confident turning down work that doesn’t align with it. While you wait for a contract that fits your rates, you can be expanding your portfolio or work on guest posting on popular sites. Guest posting is still technically working for free, but the exposure you receive from certain well-chosen sites will be worth far more than 1¢ a word.

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Time vs Productivity

It should come as no surprise that the more time one puts into a thing, the more rewards one reaps. It’s a common phrase that “you get out what you put in”, and this is certainly true when it comes to creative endeavors and career advancement.

Very few people get a perfect job offer handed to them out of the blue. Most of us need to put in the work, focus our energy and time appropriately, and lay the foundations that potential employers are looking for. It’s less a “fake it till you make it” mentality, and more of a “show them you can do what you want them to hire you to do”.

My focus these last two months has been just that, laying the foundation for what potential writing clients are looking for.

Hits and Misses

February was a productive month in terms of gaining traction on job boards and writing for clients, but it was less productive in other endeavors: such as writing for my own blog and completing training courses. I managed to complete everything I set out for myself in my quarterly plan, pictured here, but these goals didn’t directly relate to a boost in content creation and productivity.

Writing too long a list can be overwhelming, but too few goals (like I had here for march) can give you a false sense of achievement. Make sure you have enough targets to keep you busy throughout the month and keep your work focused, and keep adding things as you work through you list.

Hours

The major difference between January and February was how must time I was able to put into freelance work. In January, I intentionally reduced my regular hours to focus on writing, allowing me to meet significant milestones I had been stalling on for a while. However, as can be assumed, my regular paychecks reflected this reduction in hours. I was making far more progress on writing, but I was also earning less.

For February, I returned to regular work hours, which reduced the amount of time I could focus solely on writing. This is evident in the fact I was able to post 5 articles to my blog in January and only 2 in February. My paycheck, however, was much more reasonable.

Ahh, the age-old conundrum… do you want to create art, or do you want to make money?

Productivity

This change in availability and overall content creation is well demonstrated in the viewing stats for my site.

Though I am not creating my blog specifically to gain views and earn money directly, but rather as a secondary portfolio, the number of people viewing my site is indicative of potential clients being directed to my work. I send a link to my blog during applications, so viewing stats are a pretty good metric to measure how active I am in applying for work, and overall the progress I am making in this creative endeavor.

As you can see, January was the best month so far for views. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this also happens to be my most productive month in terms of content, applying for jobs and sending potential clients links to my site.

February on the other hand was much slower. I was working on quite a few client pieces, so the overall productivity of my writing was on par with January, but none of the finished work ended up on my site. Add this to the fact that, overall, I devoted less time to freelance-related tasks throughout the month, and I think the contrast in productivity and views vs time allotted to freelance goals is pretty evident.

So again, we are left with the dilemma: Do I continue to treat writing as a ‘side project’, fitting it in around my other work when I can, or do I reduce my regular hours to intentionally focus time on the work I want to be doing?

I do not have an answer for this conundrum yet.

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Fitness, Hobbies, and Letting Things Slide

When you’re starting out on a creative career change, you will find any ‘free time’ you previously possessed now taken up with creative pursuits. Creating, learning, marketing, promoting your business, it’s necessary to put in the hours to get your project off the ground.

However, it can be easy to neglect other aspects of your life when you are laser-focused on one goal. Your time has to come from somewhere, so by default, you will be giving up certain other pursuits to work on your creative business, but it’s important not to let everything slip away. Burnout is real, and you want to ensure this career change is sustainable, not just a flash in the pan you give up on in a few months.

The key is to make sure to fit other aspects of your life around your new goals and your new work schedule. You might not be able to spend as much time on other hobbies as you did previously, but don’t let everything fall by the wayside.

Run Forrest Run

One personal struggle for me these past few months has been fitness. My current work doesn’t allow for much physical exercise on the job, and working 12-hour shifts really kills any motivation to workout when you get home. Previously, I had been committing to exercising on days off, but filling my time with writing has meant this exercise schedule has been neglected.

I love writing, and if I could do it all day every day, I would. But there is more to happiness than just doing work you love and creating the art you want to create. Eating healthy, feeling good about your body and being physically active is not only important for health reasons, but also for mental health and self-esteem. Loving the work you do is one aspect of feeling good about your life, but it can’t be the only thing.

The solution is again a matter of priorities. To find the time to fit exercise into your daily routine, even if it feels like all your time is taken up with work these days. I admit, I am the first person to say I’m too tired to run but then happily spend the next 2 hours watching YouTube or playing games. I know I can find 20 minutes somewhere in my day, it’s just a case of committing to the idea and holding myself accountable if I don’t.

If you’re like me, and your fitness regime is the first thing to go when work takes over, try to put a workout back into your daily schedule. Find the time to make it part of your day, and see it as part of your creative process to make this career change a sustainable reality.

Relationships

The same is true for other activities. Most of my personal writing time comes from my days off, which I would previously spend playing boardgames with my partner, calling my family, or snowboarding with friends. As I am spending more time working and less time socializing, I can feel these relationships suffering as they are moved to the bottom of my priority list.

Being cognizant about maintaining your relationships. You might not be able to spend as much time as you previously did with loved ones, but make sure you still carve out some time in your week to devote to the people that matter. It can be easy to lock yourself away for days, trying to complete your ever-growing list of tasks, but working every night till 11 pm is not sustainable and time spent away from the computer is necessary for all aspects of your life.

Remember: Work is important, but so is everything else.

Relax and unwind

Writing has always been a relaxing hobby for me, a way to unwind and vent frustrations in the form of fiction. And I have actually found myself writing more fiction in these last few months. I assumed that spending all day writing non-fiction articles for work would make me less likely to write fiction when I’m finished, but I’ve found myself inspired many times to open old unfinished works and pick up where I left off.

Perhaps it’s the art of finishing a piece of work that sparks the motivation to finish something else, but whatever it is, I am grateful that writing non-fiction for work hasn’t diminished my desire to write fiction during my time off.

I have noticed, however, that I am spending far less time reading. With less time off in general, there is less time for all types of hobbies, but reading in particular is something I don’t want to let slip. I am a firm believer that to write well one needs to read, and the more you read the more influence you have to draw from for your own work. Not only do I write about SFF fiction and therefore need to keep on top of new releases in the genre, but I have a collection of books on writing that will no doubt benefit my process and style… if I actually read them and don’t just let them pile up on my desk.

This reminds me of a recent quote from voice actor Robbie Daymond, that got me thinking about my time and what I choose to spend it on:

“I’m precious with the media that I watch, because I feel that my time is precious these days”

Overall, all these issues come down to priorities. There is enough time in the day, and especially enough time in the week, to complete all the things I’ve been neglecting recently. You just need to be cognizant of your time and what you devote it to. Letting your fitness regime or reading habits slip can be okay for a few weeks, but if you want to create a sustainable working routine and a career you can keep doing for years, you need to find a way to incorporate these things back into your new daily schedule.

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Training, Training, and More Training

Any creative journey can benefit from a little education now and again, be it in the form of YouTube videos, instructional books, SkillShare courses, or online classes. When you are transitioning into any new career, the internet is truly your friend, and there are hundreds of avenues to pursue to learn new skills, hone old ones, and find out about the career you are hoping to break into.

One tough decision I made this month was to postpone the UBC novel writing course I intended to start at the end of February. I still very much intend to take this course, but I decided to postpone until July for a few reasons.

Firstly, I feel I am just starting to gain some momentum with clients and work opportunities. As much as I want to write fiction, it will take a long time to write the novel I plan to write, and if I try to split my attention between writing for clients and writing for myself, I will end up doing an inferior job of both. It’s better to do one thing well, that two things poorly.

Secondly, there is the potential of a geographical move in my future, and want to coincide this move with transitioning into writing full-time. I know it’s a big step, and not one I can force, but if I focus my efforts over the next few months on freelance, then I will have a much clearer understanding if doing this full-time will be a possibility this year. My novel remains on the list of future projects, but for the next few months, it is taking a backseat.

Almost the same day I decided to postpone the UBC course, Masterclass came out with yet another inspiring writing course that makes me want to give them all my money. The most recent course to catch my eye was: Joyce Carol Oates Teaches the Art of the Short Story. Though I am not familiar with this particular writer, her course looks inspiring, and it joins N. K. Jemisin and Amy Tan on a long list of courses I want to take from Masterclass and almost convinced me to cough up the $100+ and sign up again.

Anything that motivates you to write whilst teaching you about the craft is a brilliant investment of your time and money. Masterclass also has the benefit of being self-guided, so you are not restricted to a timeline, and can be completed at any point throughout the year. A subscription also includes access to all the other courses, including a very interesting series where Neil Gaiman talks about the influence of Tolkien! Who doesn’t want to watch that?

If you think this sounds like I am trying to convince myself that it’s worth the money… you’d be right. I am a sucker for a good online course. Don’t be surprised if a Masterclass review shows up on this blog in a couple of months… it’s calling to me.

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Moving forward… and moving

So, considering I have completed my tasks for march already, and I have learned quite a few things about how I would like to fill my schedule in the coming months, let’s create a new monthly plan moving forward that incorporates these new priorities.

Normally, my monthly goals are split into quarterly blocks, but the direction I want to take this project in depends on finding out how well guest posting goes and comparing the results to contracts from job boards. Therefore I have only written two months of targets, with the subsequent month’s direction to be determined after I have some results to work with.

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Staying on track with your creative plan and keeping motivated can be hard work. Especially when it takes a while to start seeing tangible results. Taking the time to assess where you’re at and what you’ve achieved so far can really help to boost your motivation for the work ahead, and keep you making progress towards your end goals.

As I said when I started this project, I want to be open and honest about my own journey and the steps I take to become a full-time freelance writer. The advice I give is from the trenches, working alongside you, learning through trial and error, through experience and mistakes.

The process of writing these progress reports helps me plot out my goals and see where my own project is going, so thank you for indulging me. Hopefully, some of the insights into my goals can help you with creating your own, and shine a little light on the road ahead for both of us.

So, good luck for the month to come. I will see you at the end with a coffee and a smile, and we can compare notes again, and see where we’ve ended up.

Until then, keep making good art.