30-Day Confidence-Building Challenge: Confidence and cash

I asked many of my favorite freelancers to tell me how their professional confidence grew. Katrina Ramser-Parrish, a friend of this blog and of this blogger, shared the following:

For me, my professional confidence grew when I said 'no' to a particular freelance job offering payment far less than what I felt was acceptable or what I was looking for. It was a very nerve-wracking, face-to-face situation with about four employees from the owner to the head editor (and just one of me).

When the team dropped the price for the long-term assignment they had just spent an hour describing to me, I countered with a number that doubled the amount. Complete radio silence followed. They stared at me like I had horns growing out of my head. Instead of recoiling or stammering -- my former negotiating behaviors -- I realized something wonderful:

We both had different ideas about my worth. And that is was nothing to be embarrassed about. Or that anyone had the right to convince me of different or make me feel bad because I wanted more.

I really needed that job, too! But it set the bar for me and I went on to land great assignments with great clients at the price I wanted. It is nothing for me now to say 'no' -- it just means a match isn't there.

Sounds easier said than done, doesn't it? It doesn't have to be.

The point is that your professional confidence can only grow in accordance with how much you believe your work is worth. When I started freelancing, I was earning 15 cents a word on publication and was happy to have it. But if I had stayed there, I wouldn't be happy or confident in my work now. It was taking the risk to query a $1/word publication (then a $1.50/word and then a $2/word publication) that built my professional confidence.

Having work builds confidence--but not if you're shortchanging yourself. It becomes an unpleasant negative feedback loop: You work for less, you feel more hurried, you do sloppier work, you feel worse about it. And when you get the check, you feel even more discouraged.

The good news is you have the power to interrupt that cycle at any time. You have the power. Take it.

Photo by bigburpsx3.

30-Day Economic Stability Challenge: Ways to save

Janine Adams, who was kind enough to write some guest posts during last year's organizing challenge and whose blog is quickly becoming one of my favorites, had a great post last week emotional reasons people don't declutter. As someone who used to be allergic to saving money, I'd say they apply to saving, as well.

Here are the bugaboos Janine lists:

• I don’t know what I’m going to find in there. What if there’s bad news? Fear
• I don’t know where to start. Overwhelm
• Why do I have to be the one who has to do this. Why doesn’t my husband [partner, child, roommate] help me? Resentment
• I don’t want the process to dredge up old emotions. Avoidance
• I might need this thing some day. Fear of regret
• I spent good money on this item, I’d better keep it. Guilt
• What if the organizing system I set up doesn’t work? Perfectionism

OK so maybe not all apply, but I'd say most do. Fear, overwhelm, avoidance, guilt, fear of regret, perfectionism are all a part of saving problem in my experience. And I don't think I'm alone. Let's face it: we are not a country of savers. In 2005, American savings rates went into the red for the first time since the Great Depression. Cumulative American Consumer debt rose to $904 billion in 2007--an increase of 6 percent over just the year before, according to the Federal Reserve. The savings rate has gone up recently, but it's still at a measly 3.6 percent.

So how do we now buck that trend? How do we start saving?

Katrina offered one idea last week when she suggested we send a third of all our income into an untouchable savings account. But there are a few other ways I want to share, just to give you options and ways to start saving, even if you aren't doing it perfectly.

The 10 percent trick
In this method, you take the first 10 percent of every dollar that comes in and put it automatically into a savings account. You can do this by automating a withdrawal from your checking account to a high-interest online savings account, or you can transfer money every time a check comes in.

Add it to your spending plan
Recently I lamented to a self-employed friend that I have a hard time saving money. What she told me really stuck with me. She said, "I started out putting aside just $5 a month. I know it seems like nothing, but now I have $35,000 in savings." My spending plan includes a line for $20 in savings every month. It's not $5, and it's not 30 percent of my income, but it's something, and that's the whole point.

Do 50/40/10
For the past two years, one of the ways that's helped me save is to look at the money I earn above and beyond my monthly spending plan and divide it this way:

• 50 percent goes to savings;
• 40 percent goes to accruals;
• 10 percent goes to fun.

This has worked incredibly well for me because it really encourages me to earn more than I need to live on. Not only does money go into savings, but I also get to spend some of it right away--and that rewards me for increasing my income in a tangible way.

Designate a check for savings
I'm an impatient type. Saving $20 is the responsible thing to do, but when I've wanted something right away, it's worked better for me to just designate one incoming check toward an accrual category. Over that past year, that's allowed me to take three trips and pay for holiday presents. Of course, this assumes a decent income, but if you're making plenty of money without having much savings to speak of, this is a way to jump-start your new savings habit.

How do you fit savings into your spending plan?

Photo by nieve44/La Luz.

30-Day Economic Stability Challenge: Budget vs. spending plan

In my experience personally and with other writers, one of the hardest things to do is keep track of our spending--which makes all the other tools useless. After all, we can't work toward putting 30 percent of out income toward cashflow or savings if we don't know how much we're making.

I know. I spent years drafting budgets in Excel, only to abandon them almost immediately. For me, a budget is like a diet--all about what you should be cutting out instead of what you get to eat. So a key to my financial solvency is to draft and follow a spending plan every month.

I'm not the first to talk about this. Lots of other bloggers and financial minds have covered this topic. And clearly I don't know what will work for you. But for me, a spending plan is the answer because I'll do it--and I won't do a budget. I've been keeping a spending plan and tracking my spending for about two and a half years now, and it's contributed greatly to my serenity by showing me where I'm spending my money and what I value. Plus, knowing how much I need to make based on spending gives me the motivation to earn more because I know what I'm getting for the money.

Here's what I love about a spending plan:

• It acknowledges that money is emotional. If I just look at a budget, I can see where I should spend my money--what would get me to one goal the fastest--but my experience with money is that I never have just one goal. Each financial decision is a juggling of a lot of wants, needs and guilt and desire. A budget doesn't have room for that. A spending plan gives me breathing room.
  
• It lets you have the things you love. A budget might tell you that the $4 frapaccino you buy every week on the way to a specific meeting is frivolous. But maybe that $4 coffee drink fills you with such joy and happiness, it's one of the bright spots of your week. If so, a spending plan lets you keep it while a budget would tell you to forgo it for some other, greater end. I do that with expensive hair products. I could get $4 shampoo at the grocery store, but my spending plan includes a considerable amount of money for the salon version because it's my one big splurge a month. I don't get my nails done, I don't shop at Bloomingdales. I treat my hair to a spa every time I wash it. It's worth it to me.
• It stops you from having a power struggle with yourself. I don't know about you, but a budget always made me feel like I was doing something wrong. If I were budgeting, I'd spend that money where I was supposed to (that diet thing again), but feel mad, resentful and guilty about not getting to have the fancy conditioner. Now that energy is freed up to earn the extra money I need to afford the fancy conditioner.
  
• It lets you want things. My spending plan also includes a number of so-called accruals--that is, things I can't afford now but that I want. Before using a spending plan, I always treated those things as luxuries, not realizing that some were literally necessary and others brought me joy. Now I can have accruals for things like a new computer as well as new boots. I don't have to do it right. I can just do it.
  
• It helps me prioritize. The great truism of money is that you can have anything you want but you can't have everything you want--at least not all at once. So I've had to sit down and figure out which thing I want first, or most. If it's a matter of saving for a computer or an ergonomic chair, a spending plan lets me put both on the list but then helps me see that I get to have one first. Which do I prefer?

Obviously, your mileage may vary. For those without such an emotional connection to money, a budget I'm sure would be fine.

Recently I sat down with a writer friend and helped him create a spending plan. He'd never had one because he thought he first had to increase his income. While increasing income is a noble goal, creating the spending plan actually gave him joy. He got to see that even on his small income, he could put a little away for reserves and even have some things he really wanted but didn't think he could afford, like accessories for his bike. It was great to watch the spending plan create some space and breathing room in him.

Tomorrow, I'll share how to create a spending plan.

Photo by Jeff Keen.

30-Day Economic Stability Challenge: Proving you're worth more money

After this week's post on increasing income, I realized I'd left off a few obvious ones that require you to put on your business cap.

They're all about negotiating with your clients.

So, here are some bonus short-term income tips:

Tip #1: Have regular clients? Ask for a raise.
Freelancer Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen responded to this weeks post with her own experience:

"Another possibility is asking your low-paying gigs to up the ante a bit," she wrote. "I did that once, and it went over like a dream! Perfectly."

It can seem insane to suggest such a thing in this economy, but I suggest that it's not. If you're going to do it, however, you'll also have to convince your client you're worth it. Look at your track record with them:

• Have you turned in every story on time?
• Have you turned them in early?
• Have you met word count and story specifications regularly?
  
• Has your editor sent you emails of praise?
  

Show your editor that you are the perfect person for the job and that you deserve it. In biz parlance, that's called "added value." Linda Formichelli at The Renegade Writer Blog had a fabulous post on added value this week. I highly suggest you check it out. In it, she shares five ways you can add value, including working quickly, knowing your stuff, bringing expert or "real person" sources to the table or thinking graphically.

But those aren't the only ways to add value. This is an opportunity for you to assess your strengths for your client. It will definitely build your relationship and you may get a raise in the bargain.

Tip #2: Ask for checks early.

Again, sounds crazy, right? Right now we're getting checks later and later--not sooner. But I'll tell you something: I did it in February and my client sent me a check a week early. Easy peasy.

There are rules to this, however:

Use this infrequently. If you come to your client every month or every time you have a check coming and plead for a rush order, you'll look like a bad financial manager, not a professional writer. Save this for when you think you absolutely need it.

Ask the right person. As Kristine Hansen mentioned in her guest post on collections, your editor doesn't handle your checks; the Accounts Payable person does. So don't hassle your editor. Instead, ask for the Accounts Payable department. You don't even have to get your editor involved. I've just called the main number and asked for the AP department directly.

Don't take it personally. Asking for your money early can feel like begging for money, but it's not. It's just that--your money. When I first started managing the financial side of the business, I was terrified to call accounts payable, in part because I thought as a writer, I shouldn't care about money. Now when I make those calls, I don't do it as a writer; I do it as a business person. AP gets calls all day long about checks. That's what they do. It's normal for them. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

Have you tried either of these techniques? How have they worked for you?

Photo by Daquella manera.

30-Day Economic Stability Challenge: Three Ways to Increase Your Income This Month

In a pinch?

So often on freelance boards, writers pose the hopeful question: What do you do to bring in more money this month? We aren't talking about raising your income in the long run. Sometimes, you just need money now.

There are a few options, but proceed with caution: These suggestions are not a replacement for a business plan or a marketing plan. You will not last as a freelancer if you try to use these suggestions to keep your business afloat. They are stop-gap measures, and as such take you away from the focus you've created with your plan. As writer Merydith Willoughby replied when I posted this question on LinkedIn:

Writing has to be considered a business: You will have to make your mark in the particular genre you write in, be excellent in your field and work your butt off to make links, contacts, etc. Once you've achieved all that, yes you can achieve your goal. It takes time, hard work, years, stamina and patience and a willingness to always improve what you are doing. Other than that, yep - it's easy.

The other bad news is that there aren't many options that both pay well and pay quickly. Usually you get one or the other. What's that old saying? "I can do it quickly, I can do it well or I can do it cheaply. Choose two." The same usually goes for freelance writing, only instead of choosing between cheap and fast, you're choosing between well-paying and fast.

Having said that, here's what my LinkedIn colleagues had to say:

Option #1: Low-paying but regular clients

In Six Figure Freelancing, one of the things Kelly James-Enger impresses upon new freelancers is that it's important to just get a stream of money coming in. For her, it was writing for hospitals. For me, it was doing movie reviews and advertorial. Sure, they paid terribly and took up a bunch of my time, but I like movies, and they paid a week after I turned in the reviews.

This is what freelancer (and full disclosure: friend) Vanessa Richardson does. "[My way of making money quickly from writing] is writing a lot of blog entries for this AOL website that pays little but at least pays on time."

Finding these can be relatively simple. Low-paying work is available on Craigslist, MediaBistro and elsewhere. The key is to keep it a small part of your income stream and your time commitment so you don't fall into the trap I did: Spending so much time doing low-paying work you don't have time to query higher-paying markets. If you've managed this, I'd love to hear about it.

Option #2: Tutoring

If you're a decent editor and can get your hands on a Chicago Manual of Style or other style guide, you can post signs around local universities, advertising your editing skills for students needing help with their essays. You won't make $1/word rates, probably, but you will make a decent amount to fill the gaps.

Or, go more global with your teaching. Rob Duncan, keynote speaker and self-described "innovation catalyst" suggests you "teach others how to write through college night courses, seminars, the Learning Annex, webinars or paid speaking gigs. Plug your nose, and sell the dream!"

Option #3: Editing Resumes and Cover Letters

The same goes for this idea. Dave Gardner, a writer and editor with 27 years experience has a lot of practice "getting new jobs after others go south." This is one of the ways he does it.

"I've been helping folks with their resumes and cover letters," he says. "The economy makes resumes and cover letters something a lot of folks need. They need them now, they pay quickly, and they appreciate what you've done for them. It just takes a little advertising (a flyer at the local unemployment office and at the temp agencies works well) and networking when out and about."

Option #4: Selling a Story a Minute (Almost)

Outgoing? Like strangers? This idea might be for you--emphasis on might.

"There used to be a guy in Chicago who would set up his manual typewriter on a street corner and write a 2-minute novel about your life," says writer Bob Rosenbaum. "He'd ask you about five questions and then bang out two paragraphs about you with a beginning, middle and end. All for whatever amount you wanted to put into his typewriter case."

What I didn't include
You may have noticed that I didn't include those freelance boards where you compete with other writers to land short-term assignments. That's because I consider them both not writing and not useful to any kind of freelance writing business model. Think about it: It's about stringing keywords together to lure eyes to ads, not writing. And for the pleasure of doing work that isn't fulfilling, you'll get to compete with other freelancers, drive down the price, and usually pay some kind of monthly fee. That's not worth it, and I'm willing to bet you deserve better.

Have other writing-related ways to make quick cash? Share them in the comments.

Photo by zzzack.

30-Day Economic Stability Challenge: How I increased my income in nine months

It wasn't that long ago that I was working nights and weekends and still not earning enough to live on. But it doesn't have to be that way. Over a period of nine months, I went to work to change the kind of work I was doing to increase my pay, decrease my work hours and make freelancing sustainable for me.

Since we've been talking about the scary parts of finance so far--the savings, the mindset, and all the things you should have in place before you start freelancing, etc., I want to spend today talking about the good stuff: What happens when all your work pays off.

But it was work. To wit:

Meet with a consistent group.
I met monthly for a year with the same two self-employed people who constantly were urging me to move away from the movie reviews that paid me $50 a pop and the articles that paid 15 cents a word on publication. They did it gently, and kept at it until I was frustrated enough and bleary-eyed enough to listen. Then we talked about how to do it.

You don't have to have a group in place, but the key is to look for a mentor or two and set up regular meetings with the understanding that you're there to get help.

"Don't think about next month, think about November."
This was the best single piece of advice I got during that time, and it was my guiding mantra. Every time I worried about decreased income from not doing as many movie reviews, or spending time querying instead of time watching movies to review, I focused on bringing my income up in six or nine months instead of how I was going to get through next month's bills.


Focus your marketing.
I didn't have a specific income goal. The goal was simply "more than I'm earning now," which was what I needed. But I knew how I wanted to get there: I identified that I wanted to write for publications that paid $1/word on acceptance or more. Sure, it was easier to keep querying the low-paying markets that I knew were desperate for writers (guess why they were so desperate...). But I couldn't cling to them if I wanted to really make this my career. So I queried higher paying markets. I looked eagle-eyed for job ads and applied for every one I could find.

And when I got the assignment, I had to be willing to say no or negotiate if the pay was too low.

Take a class.
It was around this time that I took Erik Sherman's Planning Your Writing Business class. It taught me how to create an hourly rate. It taught me how many queries I should send a month, and how much I needed to make a day, a week and a month to support myself, including taxes. I also learned what my hourly rate needed to be.

Ask for help.
During those nine months, I often felt like I was coming out of my skin. I wasn't earning enough. I was selling old clothes and shoes and books online to make end's meet, and sometimes they still didn't. When an eroneous charge was made to my checking account, I'd call my friend in tears, because I didn't have those extra $10 to spare. But my friend always said the same thing: You will get through this. Focus on November. I know you feel like you're going to be homeless, but you won't. You will make it through.

And I did. It was amazing and a serious faith-building exercise.

Take good care of yourself.
Those serenity practices I told you about the other day? Yeah. I did those in spades. I took the advice of a dear friend who said, "You should meditate once a day, unless you're really stressed. Then, meditate twice a day." I poured my nervous self into downward dog and into my journal and into the ears of some very kind friends. And I didn't use a credit card to relieve the pressure. I just worked hard and kept forcused on November.

The outcome
I won't lie: That kind of hard work isn't for the faint of heart. I had to keep doing the low-paying work long enough to keep supporting myself--barely--but also do the additional work of seeking out and doing higher-paying assignments. I was stressed, I was scared and I wasn't convinced it would work. It might have been the hardest I'd ever worked in my life.

But when November rolled around, my income for that month was double what it had been the February before. And it kept coming up. When I'd go to my business meeting with my mentors, I often had a look of incredulity on my face. I couldn't believe it. It worked. I could take a little pressure off. I could maybe go on a vacation and I could trust that my rent would clear and I could be the one to treat my sweetie to a meal for once.

I won't say that it's been an even course. It certainly hasn't. But that focus taught me both that I never want to go back to working the way I used to, and that I had the capacity to work hard and earn a decent income. There's a saying I've heard that goes, "You can act your way into right thinking but you can't think your way into right acting." This experience proved it. I was doing low-paying work because I didn't have the confidence to do more. But by doing the hard work, I earned that confidence.

What's the hard work you need to do today?

Photo by CamponeZ.

30-Day Marketing Challenge: Contract bottom lines

Yesterday I shared my bottom line for the number of queries I send a week. Today, I'll talk about why I have bottom lines for how much I earn and contract terms.

In my first year freelancing, I regularly took assignments that paid 10 cents a word, on publication--and I was happy to get it. I was thrilled to see my name in a magazine I'd read for years, even though I often found myself in the odd position of occasionally receiving a check for $50 and wondering what it was for. It might even buy a dinner out--but it didn't pay my bills and it left me having to churn out tons of work--and tons of queries to make ends meet.

So it shouldn't be surprised that my other marketing bottom line goes like this: Those three queries go to markets paying $1/word or more on acceptance. Period.

If I'm only going to send three queries a week, I need to make them count. Spending them on a publication that isn't going to meet my financial needs is a waste of time. I'm pretty adamant about this because I remember clearly what it was like to work nights and weekends and still barely be able to afford my rent. I don't want to go back there--and I don't want you to suffer the same fate.

Does that mean I never query lower-paying markets? Of course not. But I don't count those queries toward my weekly total. The practical reality of it, then, becomes that I accept assignments that pay less than $1/word, but I don't spend my precious marketing minutes trying to get that work. And I don't accept pay on publication work. Ever.

Limiting my querying to what I consider higher-paying markets makes my marketing life so much more serene. Suddenly, my marketing decisions aren't personal. They're professional. Just like me.

And limiting my querying to pay-on-acceptance brings me one step closer to having a guaranteed income--as guaranteed as it can be in this economy. Pay on publication is essentially an interest-free loan to your client, with no guarantee of payment. Especially in this economic climate, publications can go out of business between the time your work is accepted and the time your story is slated to run. If that happens, you're out money and a clip. I don't know about you but I'm not rich enough to provide a mini-bailout to my clients in the form of contract terms.

The payoff of this system is I don't feel like the victim of my marketing anymore. I mean, really: If you have to query, do you want to make it any harder on yourself than you have to? I don't. Bottom lines make sure it isn't.

Bottom lines eliminate from my work life the kind of unnecessary drama that comes with financial panic. I have more energy and attention to spend on my work, I'm more able to show up for my clients and have time to do the last-minute edits that are an inevitable part of this business.

I can spend my days full of gratitude for my work instead of resentment.

Just like in yesterday's post, your terms may vary. You might not get out of bed for less than $2 a word (and if that's the case, I want to buy you coffee and pick your brain). Or, you might feel that 50 cents a word is a fine fee. Whatever it is, the key is to know it and live by it.

How good are you at sticking to your marketing bottom lines? What stands in your way?

30-Day Biz Planning Challenge: 2008 Modules

Yesterday's post laid out a few modules for you to choose from when you start working on a business plan. But wait--there's more! Today, we're focusing on modules that help analyze your 2008 work, with more to come tommorow.

Remember: You can start anywhere. I've suggested an order, but please don't let it stop you. Pick one, do it, and go back to work.

Favorite Clients
List all your clients, then rank them from one to five, with five being "I never want to get an email from them again" and one being, "I want to marry this publication and have lots of zine babies."

You'll use this module as you get to the next section, planning for 2009. You can't know where you're going till you know where you've been.

Client Health
This is a new module I'm thinking of adding to my biz plan this year: In it, I'll look up news on my client's health and see how they're doing. That way, when I get to planning for 2009, I'll have a sense of where I need to take my marketing efforts.

Work Breakdown
Equip yourself with a pen and piece of paper and scan back through your articles for 2008. Make some lists.

• Types of assignments you did: ie, reviews, service pieces, departments, shorts, features, essays, etc.
• Coverage areas: ie, health, real estate, technology, green lifestyle.
  

Whatever it is, list the type of work or beat, and then put hash marks next to each type every time you come across it. Had a year where you felt weighed down by work, irritated? It may be because you were doing types of work that don't feed you anymore. Or it could be that you're no longer excited by a coverage area.

Source of Clients
This is one of my favorite modules, and one that was really eye-opening when I added it last year. Take that list of all your clients and then think back to how you started working for them. This will show you what kind of marketing works for you: Networking, cold calling/pitching, referrals, etc.

Spending Breakdown
To know how much you need to earn next year, you first have to have a baseline of spending from which to start. A quick spin through your online bank account or accounting software may be enough. Or, if you're anal like me, you'll want to go back through a month's worth of spending and write down every penny to see what you really spend. Divide it by "business" and "personal."

I can hear you now: We had unexpected expenses this year. I shouldn't count them. Count everything. You'll always have some unexpected or unusual spending. It's the nature of the beast. Just make a category for "Unexpected." And be sure to include how much you spent on taxes.

30-Day Biz Planning Challenge: Checking On Progress

Day 3's goal: Reflect back.

Yesterday I wrote about what I hoped having a business plan would have done for me this year. Did it work?

My general sense is yes. I've had an incredibly abundant year. You wouldn't know by looking at my business we were in a recession this year. My income is near the highest it's ever been--whether working for myself or for someone else full-time. Plus, I've had time to do a lot of the things I love and take care of myself.

But the goal of a business plan is not to plan based on my general sense. It's to be concrete and see what worked. It's an inventory.

So let's get to brass tacks. In last year's biz plan cheat sheet, I listed six goals: an income goal, a time goal, target markets, outgoing clients, major new expenditures, and marketing goals.

Here's how they played out (with some generalities to protect a teensy bit of my privacy):

Income Goal:
Set at: A third more than my 2007 income.
Why: Calculated what I needed to live on plus goals for the year.
Result: I didn't hit the mark, but I will have increased my income by more than $10,000 this year if my projections for December are accurate.

Time Goal:
Set at: Spend five hours a week on querying. Record work hours by task (income work, non-income work, querying, and networking).
Why: To keep my business growing and break into target markets; to know how I'm spending my work time.
Result: Mostly successful. I didn't do it perfectly, but I did record my time from March through the end of the year. Aside from two weeks where I spent nine and 10 hours, respectively, querying, I didn't hit the five-hour-a-week goal.

Target Markets:
Set at: Five consumer pubs and about 20 custom publications.
Why: To do more of the work I love, to earn a sustainable income and be able to use my business to support a rich, full life.
Result: Some progress. Of the five publications, I dropped one, queried another four times, and have another publication considering a story idea after building a relationship with the editor through regular querying. The other two, I've queried only sporadically. Of the custom publications, I queried only a few.

Outgoing Clients:
Set at: Three clients who were no longer fitting in my business model.
Why: Either because of pay limitations or because my professional interests changed.
Result: Imperfect. I parted on pretty good terms with one, did one final story for the second and, for the third, I'm working on a story for right now. But I did drastically cut back with all three.

Major New Expenses:
Set at: Some personal (vacations, saving for Xmas without using a credit card, and moving); some professional (health expenses, computer repairs and an ergonomic office chair).
Why: To have a rich full life that clears my mind for great work, and to work more productively and healthfully.
Result: Mostly good. I saved enough for Xmas presents without having to go into debt and I did get to take vacations. I also saved enough money to start going to the chiropractor and see a nutritionist, which are huge for me. I'll be buying the office chair this month. The only down side? I still haven't moved.

Marketing Goals:
Set at: Send three queries a week to higher-paying markets. Do no query markets paying less than $1/word.
Why: To increase my income, do more features and write the stories that I want to write.
Result: I'm happy to say that I did this fairly consistently. There were some weeks when I didn't query at all, of course. And some weeks I queried more than the requisite three.

Now, does it mean the plan wasn't successful just because I didn't achieve all my goals? Not to me. The point of planning to guide myself in the direction I want to head--not to reach the destination. It's to help me track what that path might look like and give me some concrete steps to take to get there. I don't believe I would have accomplished what I did without the plan.

Do you have goals for those five categories? How did you do compared to what you'd hoped to accomplish this year?

Serenity Tip: Managing Cashflow

The biggest shock to my system when I started freelancing more than two and a half years ago was the weeks between checks. I couldn't believe it. How would I survive!

This continues to be a big struggle for most self-employed people--and figuring out a sane way to handle it also means finding a way towards serenity with something that's far from serene. When it works, though, you have the stability and serenity to know that your business will support you even when the cash isn't flowing.

The number one change I made was to stop using credit cards.

I think I've mentioned this in this space before. For me, as a nascent freelancer, managing a high debt load wasn't a good business risk. Sure, I have plenty of experience running up credit card debt. I bought sweaters in college that are probably still the most expensive garments I've ever owned because of the sheer amount of interest I paid for them. But I didn't want to do that to myself this time.

So I set up a system where I borrow from myself instead of friends, family or Mastercard.

Here's how it works:

1. Aim to bring in more money than you need to live on every month.

I know, when you're just starting out, paying your bills can be a radical concept. But just aim for it.

2. When you have additional income, split it 50-40-10.

That is:

50 percent goes to a "cashflow" account, designed to fill in the holes while you wait for Client X to cough up your cash. Eventually, this account should be able to give you a regular paycheck on the 1st and the 15th of each month. You know, like a job.

40 percent goes to accruals. That can be savings you don't touch. But it can also go towards categories like "vacation," "computer repair," "office equipment," "continuing education," and more. This money should be divided between your personal needs and your professional ones. Don't skimp on personal care with this. Figure out what's most important and put a little money in both. For instance, if you're Christian, how about a "Christmas" category?

10 percent goes to fun. Yes, that's right: frivolous, silly, extravagant fun. Take your sweetie to dinner. Buy yourself those boots. Put fresh flowers in your office every week. Buy that beautiful but unnecessary soft leather binder for your day planner. The point is to reward yourself for earning more money than you need to live on. It's a motivator.

Now, there are lots of ways to do this. I have friends who take 10 percent off the top of everything they bring in and pay it into a savings account or accrual accounts. The idea is to pay themselves first, instead of letting money just pass through them to their creditors.

Do whatever works for you. But remember: That money isn't "extra"--as friends have reminded me. It's absolutely necessary for your business to support you long term.

Enjoy it.

Serenity Tip: Patience

First, an expansion on yesterday's post on income goals:

Erik Sherman has a great post on when not to focus on monthly goals. His basic advice for finding serenity with your income is to look at the long haul:

Ultimately, the important thing is what you average over a quarter and, then, the year, and not every single month taken absolutely on its own. One reason is that it's difficult to turn around a significant amount that drops out of a month, as by the time you make the sale and start work, generally you will find your deadline into at least the next month. And if the amount is small, it's probably not worth diverting your attention from where your business is going overall.

What I love about Erik's suggestion here is that you need to have a balance between short-term cash flow and long-term goals.

This is where vision comes in. As you're growing your business, I've found it helpful to be mindful of both--but to focus on the latter. My mantra starting in about February of last year was "Focus on November."

What that meant was--sure, I could worry about my income this month. But if I wanted to really change my income picture in the long run, I needed to focus on increasing my income significantly in the next nine months. That meant changing my whole approach to work. I needed to privilege time working on marketing over some of my quick-paying but low-income assignments, and I needed to just hold tight and stomach the slow months.

And guess what happened? In November, my income doubled.

It was a gift. And I continue to be grateful for it. I show that gratitude by being a good steward of my cashflow by continuing that focus.

So if you're stressed about your income, and not meeting your income goals, try to practice patience. Income changes can come with glacial speed--and it may seem that way especially because your electric bill is due, like, today. But they will come, if you continue to do the work.

How do you practice patience? My best attempts include calling my fellow self-employed friends, being honest, meditating and exercising. You know, do the work and then practice the 1 percent rule.

Finding the Right Support

I was speaking to another self-employed person yesterday and she voiced a common problem:

I don't have any colleagues. I've tried web bulletin boards, but there's mostly a lot of gossiping there.

If you're a sole proprietor, you may be feeling this way, too. As self-employed people interested in growing our knowledge and expertise in our field, we need to have other professional people against whom to bounce our thoughts. In an office, you can swivel over to the person in the next cube and ask their opinion. We don't have that.

But we can.

I have created a web of support for myself that looks like this:

--Every day, I call a friend (not self-employed and not in my field, but similarly interested in increasing her income) and report what's challenging me and what I've accomplished.

--Twice a week, I meet with two people in my field. On one day, we get together at a coffee shop and just work. On the second day, we debrief.

--Once a month, I meet with two friends who are self-employed (though not in my field) to talk about my financial goals and to craft the next steps to help me achieve them.

--Once a month, I'm starting to attend a writers' group set up by someone else. We get together and talk about our blocks to marketing.

What this means is that every day, at any given time, I know I have someone to call or meet with to help me tackle the hardest things on my to-do list, or with whom to debrief after I've done them. It helps me keep my center when I start ruminating over things I can't control. And the constant opportunity to be honest about what's getting to me--there's a huge learning curve in becoming self-employed, after all--helps clear out the clutter so it doesn't affect my sleep.

It also relieves me of the loneliness I can feel when I'm working at home. After all, I'm a social person. I also like a lot of support.

Finding people you trust can be harder. Here are my tips:

* Talk to everyone.

Just like networking, finding a good support system requires you to meet and talk to a lot of people about what you need. Tell people what you do for a living, go to networking events in your field and say that you're looking for a work buddy.

* Check your gut.

Like my friend said, some people are just not right for the job of support. So ask yourself:
--Is this person negative?
--Do they complain?
--Are they judgmental or gossipy about others?
--Are they honest about how their work affects them or do they hide the truth behind a list of accomplishments?

Once you answer these questions, you'll know if you want to spend two days a week with this person. You've gotta feel safe in order to really feel supported.

* Wait a day.

Don't commit to anything when you first meet someone. Whether you are immediately attracted to their charm or wit or whatever, give yourself a day to think about it. Let it settle in.

If after all that, the person seems right to you, arrange times and figure out what you want to get out of the group.

And finally:

* Set an intention for the group.

My intention is always to keep myself sane. It's not to become best friends (though of course I appreciate them and am grateful to them in a very deep way) with my colleagues. It's not to make the most money I possibly can. It's to learn how to keep my center as things change and to make my freelancing sustainable by increasing my income.