We’ve looked a lot on our blog in the past week about what can happen when you don’t tune into exactly what is going on with your business.

But I know general freelance advice can seem so abstract.

That’s why I like to put specific numbers on things.

When I start working with new one-on-one coaching clients, the first thing they do is complete a detailed form about their income goals, satisfaction and income level with current clients, and how they are spending their time and one what.

And I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend around the number two.

Too many of you (pardon the pun; it wasn’t intentional!) would be happy to get two regular clients or $2,000 a month in income from travel writing.

This number is just too low.

It’s:

  • not livable as a freelance travel writer no matter how low the cost of living is where you are; you need to be able to pay for your travel and other work expenses
  • beneath you (I know you are worth more than $11.50/hour)
  • beneath you even if you work part-time (you are also worth more than $23 an hour, or even $46 an hour!)

And I’m seeing a lot of you signing or otherwise taking on clients for less than $500 per month per client (whether that’s a blogging or other content marketing gig or a regular magazine market). So that goal is actually even lower.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few weeks wondering why I keep hearing this ominously low number, two, so frequently right now, and I have an answer that I know applies to many of you. I heard it directly from a client on a coaching call today, in fact:

“Well, that seems reasonable right? Or maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s too high.”

This sentiment is based on one thing: a vague characterization of the consequences (in terms of assignments) of past efforts (which were typically not consistent and part of a larger learning curve of how to pitch) projecting onto an equally vague (because you don’t yet have a dependable, replicable, results-creating system) vision of the future.

It makes sense.

Your freelance travel writing future will look different than your past if you are constantly improving your marketing skills and getting pitches out every day.

If you change the input, the output will necessarily be different.

But until you experience that difference first hand, it’s hard to know *exactly* what it will look like, look forward to it, and plan around it.

So, first, we have to know *exactly* what you have been doing in the past so you can see how your new plan is different. Otherwise, it’s very easy to feel disheartened and like it is just trying more things that don’t work like you have in the past.

That’s why, before we make your personal plan for kicking freelance travel writing a$$ in 2018, we need to get 100 percent clear on what you have been doing before–so we can create a plan for 2018 that is different and will guarantee results.

Join us to this week at the usual time, Thursday, November 30 at 3:30 pm EST / 12:30 pm PST, for How to Clearly Catalog the Work and Opportunities You Have Now to See Where You Need to Go. This week, we dive head first into an honest look at exactly what each of you has in your income, relationship, and opportunity inventory as we continue our series on annual reviews as a travel writer.

We will not only walk through exactly what data on your business to collect for your review, but also how to draw conclusions from it as to what you need to do differently or more of in the year ahead.

*BONUS* This work will also give you a huge leg up on your taxes, in addition to positioning you to be just the helper your favorite editors need this time of year.

Register here to catch the webinar live or have access to the replay for one week, after which time it will be available in our webinar library along with the full transcript.