New year's intentions for freelance writers

Hi Friend,

Those eyes, though Photo by Andréas BRUN on Unsplash

The days are about to start getting longer (hooray!) and the year is about to end in a 4. That means we’re at that time of year when we set our resolutions for the new year. Or maybe you do because I don’t generally do resolutions.

I don’t enter the year vowing to lose that last 15 pounds or swearing I’ll finally learn a new language. I don’t even like to predict how many books I’ll read in the upcoming year, because life sometimes gets in the way and I always wind up falling short.

While I don’t believe in making personal resolutions, I do believe in setting business intentions and sticking with them. I also believe in celebrating our victories, no matter how insignificant they may seem.

Below is a list of intentions (or resolutions or goals, call them whatever you like) that I think the vast majority of freelancers could stand to make. Note that these aren’t quantitative resolutions. I’m not talking about resolving to make $1 million, have 100,000 social media followers, land 10 new clients, or win an Academy Award for best screenplay. Save those for your business plan. If you make $1 million next year, let me know how you did it.

The intentions below are more about mindset shifts that will build long-term success in your business. If you embrace these, you’ll find it easier to achieve the results mentioned above (*actual results are not guaranteed, but if you win the Academy Award, please mention this newsletter in your acceptance speech). You’ll also find it easier to address challenges in your business.

A quick exercise, first

Before we do that, however, take a few minutes and write down everything good that happened in your business the past year. Remind yourself about the good clients you had, the initiatives you took on, the courses you took, and the programs you finished. Celebrate the things that worked.

Reflect on them. What went well about them? Don’t just say it was luck. You put in effort and it paid off. What was the effort and how did it pay off? By reflecting on what’s worked in the past, you can build for what will work in the future.

Next, reflect on the lessons you learned this past year. What didn’t go as well as you would have liked, and what were the lessons in that? Did you ignore your gut instinct? Did you allow someone to negotiate your price down only to have the project go poorly? How can you prevent similar scenarios in the future?

Once you’ve done your reflections consider whether any of the resolutions below are relevant to you. Promise yourself you’ll embrace them throughout 2024.

I will embrace being uncomfortable

Running your own business requires you to do things that make you uncomfortable (unless you’re one of the few people in the world who is always comfortable). Sending invoices, following up with clients who are late with payments, sending connection requests on LinkedIn and emailing quotes are all uncomfortable activities. As are hearing feedback, meeting clients for the first time, and firing clients. Rejection is deeply uncomfortable. It’s also an unavoidable part of freelancing (and dating, unfortunately).

Discomfort doesn’t magically go away on its own. It goes away when you force yourself to be uncomfortable and then realize the world doesn’t end. Stop waiting to feel confident and comfortable and instead embrace that you will feel uncomfortable. Then do the things that make you uncomfortable.

You can read more of my thoughts on the curse of the comfort zone here.

I will build habits that will set me up for long-term success

It’s easy to slip into bad patterns when you work from home. There’s comfort in being able to set your hours, take breaks whenever you want, and procrastinate as much as possible because those shows on Netflix won’t binge-watch themselves. But doing those things won’t guarantee your success. What you do one day can easily wind up becoming what you do every day for years, if you aren’t mindful.

The habits you put in place now greatly affect who you’ll be in five years. Set reasonable work hours, implement a regular marketing activity, and create a plan for professional development. Don’t think about how effective those habits will be over the next week, think about how effective they’ll be in creating the business you want five years from now.

I will set boundaries around my business, and stick to them

The quickest way to burn out is to do anything for anyone at any time. Successful businesses require boundaries: on your work hours, when you’ll communicate, what you’ll do and how quickly, what you’ll charge, and what you’ll include in your services. Set boundaries and stick to them. I don’t respond to work emails after 5:00 pm or on weekends. I don’t do rush work without charging an additional fee. I no longer create certain types of content. My clients are fine with that and so am I.

You can read more of my thoughts on dealing with unreasonable deadlines (with a bonus Christmas party story) here.

I will view my activities the way a scientist does

If you find yourself taking things personally (no judgment, I do it, too), try viewing everything as an experiment to gather information. This takes the emotion out of trying new initiatives and lowers the personal stakes (which makes it easier to try new things).

If what you try doesn’t work out, view it as a learning experience rather than a failure. After all, you’ve gained important information about your business that will help you move forward (see my experience above). Scientists aren’t necessarily interested in being proven right, they’re interested in gathering data. Become someone who gathers data.

Any time you try something new, do it with the attitude that you’re trying it out to see whether it works so you can either continue with it or refine it. Nervous about posting on LinkedIn? Promise yourself you’ll post for X days to see what happens if you do. Sending out cold emails? Instead of sending them with a goal of 50% success, send them out to analyze the response rate so you can decide if you want to continue cold emailing, try different emailing tactics, or revise your marketing plan to avoid it entirely.

Here are some tips on not taking rejection personally.

Whatever resolutions or intentions you set (or don’t set) I wish you all a restful and restorative end of December, and a successful 2024.

Here’s to your ongoing success,

Heidi