Setting Goals to Grow Your Freelance Writing Business

Starting out you may set small goals for your freelance writing business. You could say that your goal is to send query letters to ten magazines and websites this year and sell seven articles (again, to start out). Or you could set a monetary goal of increasing your freelance writing rates per word from 50 cents per word to 75 cents per word. Another goal for a beginning freelance writer may be to earn $5,000 your first year.

I think setting goals is a great exercise to keep you focused and working toward something. It's easy to get sidetracked if you don't have a destination in mind.

Another great goal is to aspire to landing assignments in certain publications. If you're just starting out, it's easy to disqualify yourself from pitching large magazines. It can be intimidating. But if that's what your heart is set on, go for it!

I’ve read stories about beginning writers who sold their very first article to a major newsstand glossy like Glamour and haven’t looked back to the low-paying, “pay-your-dues” publications. Alas, I was not one of those writers. As I’ve said, I made only $25 for my first article.

But it didn’t take long for me to want more — money and prestige. I figured if a magazine is willing to pay me $25, I could find one that will pay me $50 or $100 or $1,000! And I did. Once I built up confidence in my ability, I was ready to move on to greener pastures.

The bottom line is this: Don’t stay stuck writing for low paying markets that pay wages like $10 (or less!) per article. Once you have some clips in your porfolio, move on to higher paying pubs.