My 2015 Freelance Writing Goals – Success or Fail?

I’ve been a freelance writer for a little over a year and I recently posted my goals for my business.

I’m pretty private with my goals. My husband is the only one who knows my business goals and personal goals. I’m definitely not a blabber.

But, this past summer I was ecstatic to take my business to the next level and I wanted to include my readers in on my journey.

I also teach goal setting in my course for new bloggers and aspiring writers and I know they’re benefiting from this accountability.

This is what Kate, a course participant said about it:

This course has ABSOLUTELY helped me! (And continues to help.) In fact, I’ve been trying to set guidelines for myself as a work-at-home freelance writer and one of them is committing myself to a daily schedule. Elna’s course has been the cornerstone in helping me stick to that schedule.

Thanks Kate! I have a great bunch of course participants and they are killing it with their tenacity and go get ’em attitude.

So, to help you become motivated and to kick start your freelance writing career off on the right foot, let’s recap my mid-year goals and see how I did.

My Mid-Year Goals Recap

1. Write Shorter Content, But Highly Niched

Can you tell I love to blog?

Not only do I blog on my own free time on ElnaCain, but I also contribute to FreelancerFAQs regularly. I also provide free content to Tweak Your Biz, LifeStyleBody and I recently I started to contribute to:

Not Now Mommy’s Busy – Corina Ramos’ awesome site for those interested in making money from home
Alegriasmuse – Jessica Adam’s fabulous site for creative entrepreneurs

But, earlier this year I had to scale down my content on this blog to make room for a bigger project (at the time I wasn’t sure if I was going to write an eBook or course).

So, I made the decision to pare down my blog posts and focus on a highly niched topic. I can say that I did follow through on this goal!

Now, not every post is under 1,000 words, but it is more niched and I can tell that my readers value my content. It definitely aligns with my lead magnet (free email course), making every piece of content relatable.

I will continue to write in this vein and provide targeted posts for my audience.

2. Include Copywriting Services

Back in July I was slowly learning about copywriting. I had mentioned I wanted to purchase some copywriting courses and I did. It helped me with my sales page so I’m happy.

I also alluded to creating a separate copywriting services website, but I’ve decided to go in a different direction with this.

For now, I am including copywriting services, but have yet to update my Hire Me page. I am happy to say that I landed my first copywriting client (who is also a current client of mine) and she gave me a huge project (multiple landing page copy and service page copy).

I quickly learned that conversion webcopy is my absolute fav and can’t wait to land more copywriting clients. At the moment, though, it isn’t a priority yet (I’m not actively pitching my copywriting services).

3. Offer Coaching

This goal I can say was an instant success! I launched my coaching services for freelance writers back in August of this year and to date I have eight coaching students and have a few more lined up for this month and the New Year.

I’m over the moon that I’m helping these writers out and will continue to offer my coaching to anyone wanting to learn how to be a successful freelance writer.

If this stay-at-home mom without a journalist degree can replace her full-time income as a teacher working part-time as a freelance writer, then I know you and anyone else can too.

4. Start a Big Project

In July I set my goal to create an eBook or course for new freelance writers. I wasn’t sure what the format was going to be or if I was going to niche my product for just moms interested in freelance writing.

It ended up being an online course for bloggers and new writers and I launched it on November 16th of this year. I had originally set my anticipated launch for back-to-school (September) but I failed at meeting that goal (client work and family yo!).

It’s been about a month since this course has been up and running and I currently have 23 students enrolled. I had set a goal to sell at least 20 courses by the New Year and I’ve exceeded that so I’m excited and happy about that!

My goal now is to work at selling at least 1 course a day. But I need many pieces to come together before that happens.

I had also mentioned starting a community for freelance writers, and for now I have the private Facebook group for my course participants and I will see how this fares and if there’s a need for something more.

How Did You Fare?

Yay! I accomplished a lot in only 6 months!

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in such a short amount of time. I’m gearing up for 2016 and will share with you some huge goals I have for my freelance writing business (I can’t wait to share them with you!).

Did you set freelance writing goals this year? How did you do? I want to hear all about them!

14 Comments

Hi Elna, Great post I must say. It has shown that when you got the passion, you can do everything. If you were able to do it with a family to look after and two cute twins, I am sure anybody should do it. Your goals are pretty aligned in the right path and I am happy you’ve achieved quite a number of goals. Wishing you a even better and productive year 2016. Thank you -SwadhinReply to Swadhin

Thanks Swadhin! Yes my holiday was pretty stressful but totally fun and memorable. The look on my children’s faces to see their toys! Priceless. But, I’m now officially back to work. I wok up to over 30 emails and have been working ever since! I hope you enjoyed your holidays.Reply to Elna

Awesome post and awesome year, Elna – well done! You definitely put some challenging goals mid-year and it’s admirable you achieved all of them. Wishing you an even awesome-er year in 2016, even though there’s no such word ha-ha DianaReply to Diana

Thanks Diana! So happy I decided to publicize my goals. I’m a pretty private person and I don’t like to spill the beans on everything so to speak. But, I felt making my goals known to my readers would actually help me accomplish them. And, at any luck, my readers can hold me accountable! I have much bigger goals for 2016 and I’m hoping I can make some headway and cross them off my list next year! Thanks for stopping by and having a great New Year.Reply to Elna

Great goals here lovely lady! Keep up the great work on setting goals and reaching high. Don’t forget to live unstoppable!Reply to Rhonda

Thanks Rhonda! Glad you stopped by and I hope you have a glorious holiday!Reply to Elna

Hi Elna, Wow– that’s impressive, and with twins to boot. I always love reading your blog posts, as they’re so inspiring. I really need to write out some goals for the upcoming year. I know if I actually write them down I’ll have a better chance of sticking to them. Thanks for your encouraging words. -FionaReply to Fiona

Fiona! Thanks so much for your comment. I never know if what I’m writing really connects with others. So, it’s great to get that feedback from you. Good to hear you are itching to set some goals and crush them in 2016! I have 2016 goals post and can’t wait to share it with everyone. They’re bigger goals but I have more time to work on them. And do write them down – in fact, write a blog post about it!Reply to Elna

Hi Elna, Congrats. Glad to know you’re happy. You’ve truly accomplished a lot. Writing may seem easy, but it’s not. That’s how I see it. As part of your success, you’ve been able to send me about 5 great resources to help me improve my writing. Though I’m still managing to get to your level. The one I enjoyed most is ‘The Ultimate Guide On How to Write The Perfect Blog Post For Your Client’. In it, you simplified some points well enough for me to understand them. Counting on you. Keep the good work up. FrancisReply to Francis

Thanks Francis, I’m truly happy to hear that my exclusive freebies for my subscribers are helping with your freelance writing business. Did you know that The Ultimate Guide on How to Write a Blog Post for Your Client is only a snapshot of the lessons I provide in my Write Your Way to Your First $1k course? My course goes into much greater depth (also with video) to really show you the proper way, not only how to write a post for your client, but also how to submit your post. If you want to boost your business, perhaps consider enrolling in my course! I hope you enjoyed my free email course and thanks for leaving a comment! I love hearing from my subscribers.Reply to Elna

Great to see you’ve had such a successful year, Elna! Goal setting has definitely made a difference for me, in terms of motivation and accountability. I’ve surpassed my initial pitch and landed-gig goals… and am in the green on my side-hustle profit/loss statement going into the New Year! Now, I need to set new ones… and it’s time for them to get more challenging. 🙂Reply to Jessica

Jessica, That’s fantastic that you’ve surpassed your initial goals for your freelance side-hustle! I knew you have that go get ’em attitude to just get things done! I know 2016 will be the year for your freelance writing business. Why not start making some income goals?Reply to Elna

HI Elna, Congrats on actually making it on so many levels! Well done. On wards and up wards for the New Year. I know you will make it on whatever you put your mind to . And please, keep those relatable and actionable blogs coming. I have learned a ton from them and just got myself my first customer too with it. So thanks and best of luck!Reply to Mariken

Hey Mariken! Thanks so much for your kind words. Glad you enjoy my blogs. I try to infuse some action and motivation with my posts. The teacher in me always wants to make sure you all are learning something! I love blogging so I don’t think I’ll stop anytime soon. While I do enjoy writing about blogging topics and being a WAHM, I know my audience appreciates freelance writing content so I’ll keep doing that! Thanks again and enjoy your holiday!Reply to Elna