I am super proud of my month. Yes, my income was below my goal. But I accomplished something that I’ve been wanting to do: I launched my ”GoForth and Freelance” newsletter. For years, I’ve wanted to expand my reach to all freelancers, but I didn’t know exactly how. Recently, I’ve been a bit bored with my client work, so I wanted something new to focus on. And this month I turned it into reality.

I’m really proud of myself. I did something outside my comfort zone. And even more importantly, I didn’t wait till it was perfect, but I started creating. That’s been my biggest takeaway from joining the Creator Kitchen, a mastermind community for people who want to create meaningful content.  Just start. And then refine. I put it out into the world and have been thrilled that people like it. I am super excited to see where this goes.

I’m even happier at figuring how to combine my two biggest passions – helping writers and saving homeless dachshund. I might of cried when I came up with the idea of sharing a Weenie (dog) of the Week story in each issue. I really wanted to share stories about rescue to help people see the need out there right now. And more importantly, how a small effort can make a difference.

Here is how the month turned out for me. And you can check out all my previous monthly income breakdowns here.

November Breakdown

Agency 1
Project 1
Website Copy
$3,000

I started working with this agency in August from a referral, and it has turned into an anchor client. This project was creating webpage copy for a giant tech company, which is harder than it seems. I love working with this team and can’t wait to continue. It took me 10 hours, earning me a rate of $300 per hour.

Project 2
Brochure and Messaging Guide
$2,415

I got put on another project at the agency after I asked for a referral. This one has been a little harder for me to get up to speed, but I’m getting there. The messaging guide was a challenge, but I made it work. Both of these took 10 hours total at a $200 hourly rate.

Agency 2
Project 1
Blog
$600

I landed this project last year through a cold LinkedIn request that I sent and have been working sporadically for the client. This project was a straightforward blog from a webinar. It took me three hours, earning me $200 per hour.

Agency 3
Project 1
Infographic
$800

This agency is one I work with monthly, but I reached out in October to see if they had any other projects that were a fit. And the answer was yes! This infographic took me three hours, earning a rate of $266 per hour. And the best part was that they approved it with no changes, so I felt like a million bucks.

Agency 4
Project 1
2 Blog Posts
$1,500

This is a newer agency that I got work with in August after reaching out cold on LinkedIn. These posts were a little lower-paying than I normally take – 50 cents a word. But each one took me five hours, giving me a rate of $150 an hour.

Agency 5
Project 1
Blog Post
$700

I got put on this project last year for a major telecommunications company and almost asked to get taken off it. It took me a long time, and the revisions were heavy. But I decided to stick with it because I didn’t have a lot of work at the time. And guess what – I’ve figured it out. And now it takes me less time and the client loves my work. I spent three hours on it for a rate of $233 per hour.

Contently
Project 1
Article
$800

I’ve worked with Contently on and off for a decade, but I haven’t done much work in recent years. I got put on this project somewhat randomly and got a pitch accepted. It was relatively straightforward with a single interview and very few edits. It took me a total of four hours, at a rate of $200 an hour.

Total earnings for November — $9815 with 1 week off

The Good and the Bad

What worked this month:

• Referrals from other writers. Once again, several of my big projects came from referrals from other writers. I make an effort to give referrals to other writers whenever possible, and in turn I get referrals from other writers.
• Taking a week off at Thanksgiving. My kids were home from college, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. I turned off my computer and didn’t really touch it except to work on personal writing projects most of the week.
• Asking for referrals from clients. Several of my projects this month were from me asking my agency clients for more work. I used to assume that they would think of me and put me on projects. But it doesn’t work that way. You have to ask.
• Posting regularly on LinkedIn. I started posting on LinkedIn most days this month to help expand my reach to other freelancers and grow my audience for my newsletter. And it was so much fun. I really enjoyed it and made new friends, and it helped me get 1,000 signups for my newsletter very quickly. I am going to keep posting three to five times a week in 2024. But to save time, I’ve started writing the posts ahead of time and using the LinkedIn scheduling feature.

What didn’t work well this month:

• Spending way too much time on my newsletter.– I was so busy and worked so much in November. But I didn’t make that much money. And the reason is that I was totally consumed with my newsletter. It was a lot of work. I had to create a new logo. Make a landing page. Design a template. And then write the actual newsletters. The first two tasks took a long time because I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the newsletter. I am hoping that I spend a lot less time on it going forward.
• Getting behind on invoicing.– I hate invoicing. So I put it off. And then I don’t get paid, which sucks. So I’m behind on both invoicing and getting paid now.

How’s December Looking?

One of the benefits of doing this so late is that I already know the answer. And that’s one of the biggest reasons that this is so late. Spoiler alert – December was a great month! I’ll be sharing my December earnings as well as a wrap-up for 2023 sometime in early January.