Here’s how to meet that goal.

When I first started freelancing, back in 2003, my only goal was to earn some extra money to help make ends meet. I was a single mom of four and I was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul every single month.

In fact, there were some months, I had to borrow from my mom after paying Paul so I could put food on the table.

I know what it’s like to be broke month after month. I know what that stress is like. There were weeks where even though I was working full-time, I had enough money for diapers OR tampons and I needed both. No one should have to live under that kind of stress.

But today, I have a freelance writing income that I can increase or decrease to meet MY schedule and needs. It took me many years to work my way out of poverty and build a system that I could manipulate reliably.

I didn’t know what I was doing in the beginning and those willing to tell me, were charging more than I could afford to invest then. The courses I did take told me what to do but didn’t really tell me how to do it. So I had to teach myself through free tutorials, loads of research, and trial and error. I’ve done pretty well on my own the last few years, my system works pretty well, but I was growing bored with freelance writing. I wanted to write on topics that meant something to me and would help others trying to learn freelance writing.

Last year I joined the Ninja Writers Club offered by

Shaunta Grimes

. In February of this year, thanks to a little nudging — okay maybe a gentle shove, by that awesome community of writers, I began offering calls on SEO and basic tech help topics for writers and small business owners.

I’ve discovered my sweet spot is where technology, writing, and teaching intersect.

But there is something you can do that will make it go so much faster for you than it did for me.

And I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it.

Set your annual income goal

The first thing you need to do is set an annual goal for yourself. Decide how much money you want or need to earn from your writing. If you have a side job or even a full-time job right now, this might mean how much MORE do you need to earn from your writing? Or maybe the amount you need to earn to replace your income from your outside job.

I do suggest you keep your job until you’ve proven to yourself you can consistently earn the money you need to replace it. It’s a good idea to give yourself a deadline. This is what kicked my motivation into gear. I want to replace my small inheritance income before it runs out in about two and a half years.

But whatever the amount is for the year, write that down. For this example, maybe it’s $30,000 for a whole year. Maybe it’s more or less, whatever amount meets your needs.

Divide your annual amount by 12 months. For example, $30,000 divided by 12 equals $2,500 per month. That’s the amount you need to earn every month to meet the goal. Write that down.

Now take your monthly goal, ($2,500 for our example) and figure out what it would take to meet that goal.

If you are getting paid hourly, let’s say $15 per hour, ($2,500/15) you’d have to work 40 hours every week. But if you increase that hourly rate to $25 per hour ($2,500/25), now you only have to work 25 hours every week to meet your goal. Use this formula to set your hourly rate.

There are many freelancers who make $50 or more per hour depending on the industry and their experience level.

In fact, over the last few years, I had gotten lax about making a goal. But I wrote what I needed to earn each week on my planner back in December of 2019 and it really motivated me to keep going.

Project rate

Most experts will recommend that you price your work by the project. If you want to price by the project, you can still use an hourly formula to figure out exactly how many projects you need to complete each month to meet your goal.

If you are new to freelancing, use an hourly rate and estimate the amount of time needed for the project and then double it because it will take you twice as long as you think in the beginning.

For experienced freelancers who have been working hourly in the past, figure out the average rate for your projects in the past. For my hourly jobs early on, it averaged to about $250 each although I can do them much faster now which means I make more per hour.

Divide your monthly goal by your average project rate to get the number of projects per month. So, to earn $2,500 a month or $30,000 annually, you’d need to do 10 projects a month at $250 per project. I recommend aiming for at least one more project per week than you need to make sure you meet your goal. After all, you may want to take a week’s vacation!

That’s more than doable for most experienced freelancers, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. You need 10 clients to pay you $250 per month. Or if you’re more experienced, you need five clients to pay you $500 per project monthly.

Diversify in whatever way works

If ten projects a month still seems like a lot, you can also use multiple writing related activities and diversify your income streams like I and many other writers do. For me right now, this means writing on Medium, offering live tech calls, private coaching, and the occasional freelance writing project. In the future I’ve planned two courses, a book, and a growing Freelance Filter YouTube channel.

If you are a freelance writer or blogger, there are many magazines and websites that will pay $200 to $1,000 per blog post or article, depending on your experience.

Or maybe you’d rather have a part-time steady virtual writing job, blog on Medium, and do only one or two freelance projects a week.

If you are new, you may have to do more work at those lower rates to meet your goal but as you gain experience and build your portfolio, your plan may change a bit.

Once you gain experience in freelance writing and are confident in your abilities, you can create packages and clients will pay you for 3 to 6 months of work at a time or even for the entire year.

In fact, it’s not at all unusual for freelance writers, especially copywriters and ghostwriters to sell $3,000-$10,000 packages. So that would mean you would need to sell 3 to 6 packages each year to make an annual income of $30,000. Some freelancers target larger businesses and do monthly packages which earn them a six figure income. Or if you write fiction, you could get picked up by a publisher and sell your novel for several thousand dollars.

If you aren’t tracking these things yet, there’s a great invoicing program called Harpoon (not an affiliate link) which includes a feature that lets you project your annual income and track where you are toward meeting your goal based on your planned projects and paid invoices.

Whatever you decide to do, having an annual goal and knowing exactly what you need to aim for each month and each week will help you get there.

Ready to find more freelance writing jobs? Get my free Market Mondays newsletter every week. It’s chock full of links to writing jobs and other markets that pay writers and my best tips and tricks for freelance writers.

Meg Stewart has been freelancing for nearly two decades. She’s a multi-passionate skill hoarder and the intersection of freelance writing, technology, and teaching is her sweet spot. Freelance Filter was founded to help writers get paid and help solopreneurs do business better. Meg and her family, (along with two dogs, two cats, and two leopard geckos), live in Northeast Ohio.

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