{"id":7520,"date":"2016-04-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=7520"},"modified":"2016-04-11T07:52:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T12:52:04","slug":"tracking-freelance-earnings-march-income-report-from-nicole-dieker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=7520","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Freelance Earnings: March Income Report From Nicole Dieker"},"content":{"rendered":"

My career has changed significantly since this time last year — and my tracking systems need to change as well. This month, let\u2019s look at my<\/span> freelance tracking spreadsheet<\/b> to see how I\u2019m adjusting it as my career evolves.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, the numbers for March:<\/span><\/p>\n

Completed pieces:<\/b> 74<\/span><\/p>\n

Work billed:<\/b> $5,763.08<\/span><\/p>\n

Earnings received: <\/b>$6,307.33<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote a little over 52,000 words in March, with an average per-piece earning of $77. <\/span>However, I don\u2019t think \u201caverage per-piece earning\u201d is a good metric for tracking my work anymore.<\/b><\/p>\n

At this point, my earnings are divided into three categories:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Work performed as a writer and editor at <\/span>The Billfold<\/span><\/a>, which takes about 40 percent of my freelancing time and includes both longer essays and articles as well as a number of short pieces. In March, 65 of my 74 completed pieces were for The Billfold.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Longform research and writing projects that take about 40 percent of my freelancing time. My article <\/span>The Best Online Personal Loans<\/span> at <\/span>The Simple Dollar<\/span><\/a>, for example, took more than 30 hours of research plus writing and revisions.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Shorter pieces (like this one!) for a variety of clients. These take about 10 percent of my freelancing time, with 10 percent of my time left over for admin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    At this point in my career, my work is so disparate that I can\u2019t compare something like The Best Online Personal Loans to a Billfold <\/span>Monday Check-In<\/span><\/a> post. So I want to phase out the idea of per-piece earnings as a metric of success, and look instead at two larger metrics:<\/span><\/p>\n