It’s no big secret that being a freelancer can be quite tough. You don’t really have the job security anymore and you have to hustle for every cent you make.
So why make it more difficult on yourself by not having realistic freelance goals? And here I want to really focus on the word realistic. Not just goals in general, but the ones that you can actually reach in a given time frame with adequate resources.
For example, becoming president of the United States (while apparently more reachable now than before) is still not one of the most realistic freelance goals out there.
However, becoming the most sought-after web designer for small businesses in Scranton, PA, is more realistic.
We’ll look today at the 2 most important things you need to consider in order to set your realistic freelance goals today.
1 Make specific freelance goals
I, as much as anyone else, want to be successful. I wouldn’t mind being rich or popular. However, those can’t be my goals.
“I want to become rich” isn’t a great goal, nor is, “I want to be, like, really popular.”
Those are weak, vague goals with no measurable aspects. How do you know once you’ve become rich? Is a millionaire rich? Or do you mean Bill Gates money?
And popular – was the most popular kid in high school the most popular kid in the city, state or country? They’re not specific, not measurable and therefore not attainable.
Instead, try to get as specific as possible. A better goal would be, “I want to earn $100,000 per year in revenue by 2022.” Great: we have a specific goal and a time-frame.
2 Have long-term and short-term goals
OK, now that you have your specific and realistic freelance goals (as specific as you can make them), you should get some short-term goals as well.
Optimally, your short-term goals should be the tiny steps that lead to the big goal.
For example, let’s stay with my example of becoming the #1 web designer for small businesses in Scranton. My long-term goal is to have a turnover of $100,000 by 2022.
In order to do that, I really have to break that down to yearly, quarterly, monthly and even weekly goals.
My first goal for this month is to build up my portfolio by offering free or heavily discounted web design services. That way, I can show potential clients later that I have real-life experience building a Scranton small business website.
After that, my next goal is to get some leads by sending outreach emails, calling up businesses, or attending small business events.
And then I continue creating my short-term goals on my way to my long-term goal(s).
Set your realistic freelance goals, starting today
A I said before, being a freelancer can be hard, especially in the beginning. But that won’t get any better by your not having realistic freelance goals.
They should be specific and have a good mixture of long-term and short-term. That way, you can really work on getting closer to your overall goals.
Good luck!
