{"id":4399,"date":"2015-10-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=4399"},"modified":"2022-10-28T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T20:10:14","slug":"tracking-freelance-earnings-september-income-report-from-nicole-dieker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=4399","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Freelance Earnings: September Income Report From Nicole Dieker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you have a plan for what you\u2019ll do when your next big project ends? Doing a little bit of advance work in preparation for a project\u2019s end or a client\u2019s departure will help ensure that<\/span> losing a gig doesn\u2019t also mean losing money.<\/b><\/p>\n

I closed out a big project this month — one that provided almost 25 percent of my monthly income. Because I had planned ahead, I was able to ride out the income drop and secure new work to take the project\u2019s place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we get into that, here are September\u2019s numbers:<\/span><\/p>\n

Completed Pieces: <\/b>71<\/span><\/p>\n

Work Billed:<\/b> $6,983.35<\/span><\/p>\n

Earnings Received:<\/b> $6,137.81<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote a little over 50,000 words in September, with an average per-piece earning of $98.36. My highest earning piece was $1,002, and my lowest earning piece was $35. <\/span><\/p>\n

I really, really wanted to beat $7,000 this month. I kept hoping I could fit in one more piece to push me over the $7K mark, but it didn\u2019t happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Planning for a project\u2019s end<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n


\n<\/span>This month, I wrote the last column in my <\/span>Ask A Freelancer<\/span><\/a> series. I delivered weekly freelancing advice at <\/span>The Freelancer<\/span><\/a> for just over a year, and the project brought in just under 25 percent of my monthly income. <\/span><\/p>\n

I began preparing for the end of Ask A Freelancer in July. So far, all of the columns I\u2019ve written have lasted for about a year, and although my editors had not yet said anything about Ask A Freelancer ending, I suspected it would close out sometime in its second year. That meant I needed a plan to keep from <\/span>losing 25 percent of my income overnight.<\/b><\/p>\n

I could have structured the plan as \u201cfind one new big client who is willing to pay me an equivalent amount,\u201d but that seemed difficult and overwhelming. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, I thought of it this way: I<\/strong><\/span>f Ask A Freelancer ends, I will need to write one new piece every week. <\/b>(One piece that pays roughly what I would have earned for Ask A Freelancer, of course.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, I made a list of <\/span>all the clients I could contact and ask for one new piece.<\/b> As soon as my editors and I started talking about closing out Ask A Freelancer, I began to reach out to my list of clients to ask them for additional work. Some of the clients said no, but enough said yes that I was able to fill in the <\/span>income gap<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also received <\/span>a few new job offers<\/b> after we formally announced the end of Ask A Freelancer. It was pretty clear that some editors saw, \u201cThis is the last Ask A Freelancer column\u201d and thought, \u201cI wonder if Nicole has more time available to write for us?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

On a related note: Look forward to my new column, Pitch Fix, coming to The Write Life this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was also a good time for me to start <\/span>pitching new clients<\/b>, and I chose to focus on major magazines. I\u2019ve done print magazine work before, but getting my byline in a popular, recognized publication would be a significant step up in my career. I\u2019ll let you know what happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thinking ahead to 2016<\/span><\/h2>\n

We are officially in the last quarter of 2015, which means I\u2019m doing a lot of <\/span>thinking about next year.<\/b><\/p>\n

Nobody can predict the future, but here\u2019s what I anticipate will happen in 2016:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. This November, I\u2019ll begin to reach out to my current clients and ask about the possibility of <\/span>renegotiating rates<\/b>. Some clients will be open to a <\/span>rate increase<\/span><\/a>, and some will tell me it isn\u2019t in their budget. Still, it\u2019s important to ask — and it will help me <\/span>bring in a little more money for 2016.<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

2. At some point, probably before the summer, I might end up <\/span>losing a client.<\/b> This\u2019ll be due to budget adjustments or — worst-case scenario — a publication shutting down. I need to start preparing for another 25 percent income drop, because it will happen eventually.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Also likely before the summer, I\u2019ll<\/span> land my next big client. <\/b>Either the client will reach out to me directly, I\u2019ll cold-pitch the client, or I\u2019ll ask one of my current clients to refer me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll need to work on <\/span>pitching and asking for referrals<\/a>,<\/b> because I can\u2019t sit around waiting to be asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. My novel <\/span>The Biographies of Ordinary People<\/span><\/i> will continue to <\/span>gain readers and subscribers<\/b> via <\/span>Patreon<\/span><\/a>. Right now my subscribers are growing slowly but steadily; if I want more rapid growth, I\u2019ll have to <\/span>figure out how to promote my novel.<\/b><\/p>\n

So far my best promotion strategy is social media, and at this point my social network is well aware of the project. I need to think of additional ways to share this project with people, such as <\/span>writing guest posts<\/span><\/a> for other writing sites. <\/span><\/p>\n

5. Now that I\u2019m earning enough to save 10 percent of my income, I also need to start thinking about <\/span>long-term investments. <\/b>Do I fund an IRA, a Roth IRA or a SEP IRA? It might be worth talking to my CPA or another financial advisor.<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s for sure: I\u2019m still going to be discussing money and freelancing with as many people as possible, because <\/span>sharing this information helps us all get smarter about our own businesses.<\/b><\/p>\n

Do you have a plan for what you\u2019ll do if one of your big projects comes to an end? What do you predict will happen to your freelancing career in 2016?<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smart freelancing means planning ahead to avoid income gaps. Plus: Are you looking ahead to 2016?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":4403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,401,169,400],"class_list":["post-4399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freelancing","tag-freelancing-2","tag-income-gap","tag-income-report","tag-raising-freelance-rates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}