New car, caviar, four star daydream...$125K challenge again...
EDIT 10/22: I noticed a lot of you were stopping by after finding a reference to my goals in Deb Ng's "Freelance Writing Jobs" blog. Thanks for stopping by. I thought I'd mention that you can find a list of posts related to the $125K challenge on the right sidebar. I also plan on offering regular updates and a discussion of the plan in the Content Done Better Report, a free newsletter. Please consider subscribing using the form on the right sidebar. Thanks again for reading!
In August, I decided I was going to make $100K as a freelance content writer and copywriter over the course of twelve months (see: "Six figure me...", "More on the $100K plan...", "Six figure me revisited..."). Then, for tracking purposes, I upped the ante to $125K.
I figured that by "publicly" annoucing that figure, I would have an added incentive to meet the objective. As it turns out, I was right.
I've received quite a few supportive comments and the goal itself has received some attention. Just a few examples... Deb Ng mentioned it as an inspiration, which was cool. Yesterday, Inkygirl posted about the challenge. Writing World picked up on it today, I just noticed. I've seen it mentioned in other posts and comments around this area of the blogosphere, too.
I've also received a few questions. Thought this might be a nice time to provide the answers, because the "money posts" seem to be engendering a great deal of interest right now, according to the blog's stats. So, now that we are all humming "Money" by Pink Floyd, let's address some of those queries...
Are you outsourcing?
Yes, but I've decided it won't count toward the total. I do take jobs, occasionally, that require the services of partner writers. In those situations, I usually do keep proceeds in excess of what the other writer earns. Those profits will NOT be counted toward the $125K. Kathy Kehrli brought that issue up, and I thought reaching the goal would have more meaning from a writer's perspective if I didn't count outsourcing income.
What kind of work will you be doing?
Content Done Better handles copywriting and content writing projects of all sorts. Everything from home page copy to long sales pages to autoresponder series to blog posts to ebooks to solo ads to articles to you-name-it. If I write it and I get paid for it, I am going to count it.
This does, by the way, include a few things that some other writers may not do. For instance, I manage a few hundred dollars per month in Adsense earnings from a handful of niche blogs. I'm also not aversive to stocking those niche blogs with an occasional paid posting via Blogitive. Thus, if you don't consider that a fair part of the challenge, you can subtract about $6K off of my total for the year to adjust for those endeavors.
What if you don't make it?
I will. If I don't, I will have fun trying. Hopefully, some folks will get a kick out of tracking my efforts.
You are already off the pace? Worried?
No. The current totals in the right sidebar piggy bank area don't reflect a pretty hefty amount of dough currently in A/R and the last week has been spent primarily on an assortment of bigger projects that will pay out shortly. Things are better than they look, but I am only going to update the piggy bank when funds are actually received.
Why are you doing this? What is your REAL agenda?
I have mentioned some of this (if not all of it) before, but I have had a few people who have asked why I would make this information public, set myself up for potential ridicule, etc. Here are the reasons...
Money. That's an obvious one, right?
Accountability. We all tend to do a better job of reaching our goals, I believe, if they are shared with others. It supplies a little extra boost of inspiration.
Being an example. I see freelance writers grousing with some frequency about the state of online markets and how impossible it is to make a decent living as a content writer. Not only do I want to prove them wrong (I'm contrary by nature), I also want others who are interested in this career path and industry to see that it is possible to make this work. If I can give someone else encouragement, so much the better.
Marketing. In some ways this is a marketing ploy, too. It's creating a buzz and some attention, which helps in terms of branding and with recruiting new business. I suppose the backlinks to this blog from others commenting on the $125K challenge might be SERP-helpful and might make Content Done Better easier for search engine users to find.
Marketing? I am tracking what I am doing and why every step of the way. When I hit the mark, I might take that log and distill it into a meaningful guide of some sort. I mentioned another similar ebook/teleseminar recently (see: "Ghostwriting success offer...") and think that my personal experience as a "no overhead" freelance writer who pulls down six figures might be an interesting product for others who are considering earning a living this way.
How do we know you aren't cheating?
That's a good question. I could just be tossing numbers up there. You'll just have to trust me for now. However, once I meet the goal, I will try to find two respected and trustworthy folks to review the PayPal account and other documentation to vouch for the accuracy of my numbers. I will also make screenshots of said account available (blurring the paying parties' names, of course). Hope that's good enough.
