My So-Called Freelance Life - Michelle Goodman [5]
Just like our 9-to-5 counterparts, we freelancers should always be moving toward something, be it more money, more free time, bigger and better clients, or those dream projects that are so much fun to work on that we can’t stop pinching ourselves. Operate like a reactive robot-for-hire who gobbles up every gig lobbed her way and you grow stagnant, stale. Instead, you need to give yourself a promotion every now and then. Because if you don’t, who will?
I’m not saying you should aspire to be the next mommy millionaire or overnight YouTube sensation. In fact, I sincerely doubt the glass ceiling is the sole reason only 3 percent of the 10.4 million women-owned businesses in the United States pull in $1 million or more in annual revenue. (For comparison, 6 percent of male-owned businesses clear the million-dollar mark.) I’m saying that one size does not fit all self-employed people. Not all of us want to be the next big thing. Some of us just want enough cash to keep a roof over our head (and a few new pairs of shoes in the closet). And some of us just want enough downtime to devote to our creative habits or kids.
I’ll leave it up to you to define—in writing—how you’ll know when you’ve truly arrived as a creative professional for hire: four-hour workweek, six-figure income, ten employees on your payroll, twenty Fortune 500 clients in your portfolio, front page of the business section, home page of Digg, opening night at Sundance, top billing at Madison Square Garden, New York Times best sellers list. . . . It’s your freelance career, so it’s your call.
Do Try This at Home: Business Plan To Go
Ready to roll up your sleeves? It’s time to write your own Business Plan To Go. It can be all of a paragraph or two. All you need to do is list at least three of your freelance goals for the next year. Bonus points if you also outline your game plan—your to-do’s—for reaching each one. And none of this vague “I will publish a best-selling graphic novel/pull in six figures with my catering business/win three Grammys” crud. Yes, ambition is a beautiful thing, but you still need a roadmap if you want to arrive.
Think tangible, realistic, bite-size pieces. Here’s an example:
DEVELOP AND WORK ON MY IDEA FOR A GRAPHIC NOVEL THIS YEAR.
Game plan:
Put myself on a weekly illustration schedule, starting January 15. Start with thirty-minute sessions first thing in the morning on Wednesdays and Fridays, and see if I can increase the session length and/or amount by March. Aim for a rough sketch of at least one panel per session.
Sign up for that cartoon-publishing class at my local media center.
Read blogs by and interviews with my illustrator/cartoonist heroines to see how they got their start.
Here’s another:
TRICK OUT MY LIST OF GREEN PUBLICITY CLIENTS.
Game plan:
Revise online portfolio to reflect what experience I do have publicizing sustainable businesses and products.
Start blogging about green businesses, products, and consumer tips to boost my street cred.
Join the planning committee for my local home improvement and garden show to get my name out there.
Print up new business cards and introduce myself to all the green businesses in town.
Give each item in your plan a start date and a deadline. Break down the steps into bite-size pieces you can tackle each month, week, or day, and give them deadlines too. Set up whatever reward system you need to prod yourself along (vino! cupcakes! John Cusack movie night!). If you can’t wrap your