A Guide To Freelance Writing: Creating Your Business Plan


If you want to earn more, effectively manage your time, and reduce the amount of stress you experience working as a freelance writer, then creating a business plan is a must. Set aside some time to gather your thoughts and ideas, investigating the market, and planning. Use the following guidelines on how to create an effective business plan to make your freelance writing career flourish:

  1. Summarize your current situation.
  2. Answer the following questions:

    • What is my yearly/monthly income now?
    • What do I write about? Can my niche be broadened?
    • How many customers do I have? Are they regular and promising employers?
    • How much time is devoted to freelance writing daily and weekly?
  3. Establish your financial goals.
    • Decide how much money you want to earn yearly. Do not pick a figure out of the sky. You will grow and develop, won’t you? There are always unexpected orders, and you are going to effectively use marketing strategies to promote your business. Therefore, take your present average income and add at least 25 percent to it.
    • Break down the desirable yearly income into quarterly, monthly, and even weekly financial goals. If you have your salary narrow enough, you will be able to track it and see if you work effectively.
  4. Plan your marketing goals.
  5. Reflect on how you will make your freelance business grow.

    • How are you going to get new customers?
    • Perhaps, you should invest some time into your website or blog. You will also want to be present in social networking activities that are usually good sources of lucrative job leads. You should also be aware of the current situation in your niche and explore new tendencies in the field.

    • What will you do with your present customers?
    • Calculate how much time and effort you spend on completing their orders. If some of your present projects are too difficult to complete, or they are not worth your time, you should refuse them. However, many of your present regular customers are good sources of income. The more you write for them, the easier and faster it is, because this is the field you are getting more and more experienced in.

    • How will you find more time for your business?
    • If you are serious about earning more money this way, review your present schedule. If an hour of freelance writing is worth more than an hour of cleaning your apartment, consider outsourcing the house-keeping duties to somebody else.

Look through your business plan regularly to see if you meet your goals.

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