Your First Small Income Goal
When you start out as a freelance writer you should set goals, both big and small. That being said, make sure they are attainable. There is nothing worse than setting goals that you have no chance of reaching anytime in the near future. This does not mean that you should not reach for the stars. But you should be reasonable so that you can reach your goals from time to time, and in turn increase your confidence and self-esteem.
In my opinion, your first small income goal should be one that you can reach within three months. My first income goal as a freelance writer was to earn $2k by my third month. After the first month in which I earned $52, I was a bit discouraged. Fortunately, I continued to move forward and met this goal on time. Three months is plenty long enough to get your footing, draw up a plan, and reach your first goal. But again, you need to make sure that this goal is a small one that you can reach. If I would have set my goal at $10k instead of $2k, I would have failed.
If you continually reach your small income goals you will realize the big picture soon enough. In my case, once I hit $2k/month I began to strive for $3k. Soon enough, my income goals were increasing along with my workload.
I don’t want to make things seem too easy, though. Just because you set an attainable freelance writing goal does not mean that you will definitely reach it. Even now, I set goals that come and go without me reaching them; it is part of being a freelance writer. You need to realize that goals are important, but that reaching them can be difficult. And unfortunately, sometimes you come up short. When this happens, reassess your goals and work harder to achieve success in the future.
The bottom line: start out with one small income goal. Once you reach this goal, continue to set the bar higher.Â
