Looking Ahead On The Month Of January 2018

A new year and a new month to start something great. 

 

This post is my checkpoint to set and share my goals for the month. What do I hope to accomplish over the next several weeks?

 

When I began my weekday blogging challenge in August, I started and ended each month looking forward and looking back on the writing challenge. When I entered November I broadened it to include all aspects of my life. 

 

This powerful monthly checkpoint allows me to discover, share, and ultimately help move forward on my aspirations and personal growth opportunities. By sharing it, it’ll give you a peek into my life and hopefully inspire you in your journey. 

 

So, what are my plans for this month? 

In reflecting on launching my first book and doing the weekday blogging challenge, I came to realize how time-consuming it was to juggle them both. My conclusion was that I need to simplify and get more focused this year. Like a targeted magnifying glass, my focused efforts will have a stronger effect in building a digital footprint. 

 

My focus needs to be on writing here on this blog while also contributing towards writing my next book. Both Path Of The Freelancer and my next book for entrepreneurs provide me with the opportunity to earn a passive income and build a library for future potential. I’m laying the foundation for a future career as a writer. 

 

With a stronger focus here on the blog and growing a digital footprint, I can expect I’ll have more exposure and leverage to help each future project have a larger degree of success. I’ve now got a baseline with my first book and now I can measure my next against it. As long as I make progress at each launch, I’ll be content. 

 

So, what does this mean for Path Of The Freelancer? It means I need to position it as a strong static resource in my quiver of content arrows. I’ve already taken several steps to change the website to be evergreen (timeless) and organized for those who discover it. As a result, I won’t be adding new content to that website or making changes. It’ll stand strong how it is and continue to be a terrific resource for new and active freelancers. I’ve also shut down the twitter and Facebook group. The Facebook page has been updated to be my new author page. 

 

By making Path Of The Freelancer static, I won’t need to invest in sustaining it. This will free up time for me to focus here on this blog exclusively. 

 

While much of the work is completed, my goal is to have all elements ready for this new direction by month’s end. 

The other day I was talking with a friend about my hourly rate (which is currently $90/hour). He asked why I charge as low as I do when others who do similar consulting work charge much more. 

 

In my marketing company we billed at $150/hour so when I started freelancing I wanted to make it a no-brainer to hire me. I believed it would be easy to sell my services at $75/hour when I was selling them for twice that amount. With a higher rate comes a different level of expectation and a need for clarification. Not only was it a no-brainer for clients to hire me, it also meant I could operate with some level of ambiguity while I discovered where and how best to position and offer my freelancing services. 

 

Each year that’s passed has given me the experience and insight to get more focused and organized around my offering. It creates a strong foundation for me to deliver for my customers and communicate clearly for prospective and active customers. 

 

With this new level of understanding and an annual climbing hourly rate, I want to update my services page. And, I’ve already begun the process. I want business owners to understand the problems I solve, the solutions I offer, how I’ve helped others, and how we’ll work together.  I'm now providing stronger value than our company did and at a fraction of the price. This gives me strong confidence in my offering and intent to increase pricing iteratively over time.

 

Since my next book is targeting my prospective clients (small business owners in the digital marketplace), it’ll also give me the opportunity to explore this persona and the content I’m compiling for this book. Simply put, it’ll help me with my next book project and my freelancing business. 

By year’s end, I want to finish my second book. My first step in the process is working out the general skeleton of the book. I’ve started the process by plugging in the pieces I know I want and exploring what existing content that will be included in the book. 

 

Once I know what I’ve got in place, I can begin finding the gaps I’ll need to write to finish the book. To kill two birds with one stone, I’ll write many of these gaps as blog posts. 

I’ve got a head start on my top three goals for the month. Making Path Of The Freelancer static, updating my services page, and setting the framework for my next book are three vital projects for moving forward on this year’s goals. 

 

What about you? What do you hope to accomplish by the end of January 2018?