I am sitting in bed with my laptop right now, desperately fighting the urge to take a nap, as I have an essay revision due today. The perfect time for our monthly goal meetup? Maybe it’ll get me in the writing mood.
My November goals:
1. Keep up the pace with my certification program.
Last month, I had completed the first eight chapters in my career coaching certification textbook. By this point, I’ve made it through 22 chapters, and only have four more to go! After those are done, I can take the final exam and move forward with my practicum! Wheee! I’m also taking weekly teleclasses (two thus far), and they’re really getting me pumped up to start practicing. I’m nerdtastically excited about all of this.
2. Do some market research, draw up a budget, and set some freelance rates that truly reflect my self-worth.
I did some market research. I drew up a budget. But neither of these really helped me to figure out what my rates should be. Then I was approached with a big project opportunity, and was forced to come up with a flat rate by the end of the day. I looked for input from my fellow FLXers and UPODers, and ended up signing a contract in which I’d end up making more money than I’d ever made on a single project before! It felt like a major turning point for me.
3. Send out some darn pitches, for the love of god!
I think I sent out one. But that still counts, right? On the article front, I’m still tying up my wine tour piece for Inside Jersey, and an essay that may very well run in the New York Post, and — due to a sudden influx of other new work (a part-time assistant editorship at YourTango, a copy editing project for Oxford University Press, and a new copywriting project that is still hush-hush) — I haven’t felt compelled to pursue new assignments for the moment.
4. Keep up the pace with Lemondrop.
Fail. The low pay and even lower blogging frequency for this particular gig already had me wondering whether it was worth the effort. Then they decided to change their entire editorial process, so I think I’m going to step back for awhile and see what happens.
5. Keep up the pace with Freelancedom.
This was another fail…or it became one once I began commuting into the city three days a week for a job with no downtime. This blog is really important to me, though, so I’d like to figure out a way to get back on track…perhaps by stockpiling posts over the weekend?
6. Call up my psychopharmacologist and discuss the possibility of going back on my meds.
I took care of this at the very beginning of the month, and have been taking a low dosage of Lexapro ever since. The mood swings have definitely leveled out.
So what are my big plans for next month?
- Finish my career coaching textbook and take the final exam.
- Draw up three web copywriting packages and promote them to CCI coaches, as a means of bringing in additional supplemental income.
- Design a new web platform that incorporates my blogging, copywriting, mag writing, copy editing/proofreading, and coaching, and then design matching business cards.
- Write the intro for that flippin’ wine piece and get it off my plate.
- Rock my new copywriting project. That means a minimum of procrastination, missy.
- Brainstorm some brilliant but low-cost xmas gifts for the fam. The time between now and then is going to flyyyy…
Related: November Monthly Goal Meetup
Hey Steph, isn’t it nice to make progress? I totally understand trying to figure out your rate. I know for me, people have always told me to sell my artwork. Except I wasn’t sure if they were just being nice or it really was something someone would value. I’m giving it a go this weekend, and I’m still going back and forth over pricing.
Good luck doing a total design with everything (and it sounds like you mean everything) having the same design. It’s fun thinking of little ways to bring design elements through different mediums.
The time between now and then IS going to fly, it’s scary! It looks like you’ve got a lot of ambitious to-dos this month too, and I don’t know about you but I’m just hoping that all the x-mas present shopping and holiday time with the family doesn’t deter me too much from reaching my goals this month.
And good luck with your career coaching exam!
I think you managed to get a LOT done in November. Bravo! I’m sort of exhausted, just reading your list, in fact. 🙂
I’m so happy to read this post today. I just began a new system of goal-writing-down in the morning after speaking with a very successful writer who encouraged me to write down my goals so I was very clear about them and where I wanted to go from here. For me, I’ve developed a kind of things-to-do-just-for-today list and another list that is more mid- to long-term efforts I need to take. Each morning I evaluate what I was able to do and what needs to be done. I create a new list daily; some of the things are leftover things from the day before, others are new.