I’m sporting the remnants of a migraine that woke me up, and I’m taking it nice and slow today (so if this post seems all over the place, it’s because I’m riding an Excedrin high). We have tickets to see Eddie Izzard in Manhattan tonight, and if the weater doesn’t stop us, I refuse to let a migraine do it.
Now that I’ve left behind the somewhat-secure-yet-utterly-frustrating long-term project, I’m on the lookout for more steady gigs. At the moment, I have six projects. Two are ongoing – one more so than the other. The others are hit-and-miss work, but good work when they hit. Not a ton of one-time projects coming in, but that’s just gravy anyway.
That’s what you should aim for – work that sticks with you, and a few “odd jobs” to give the income a bit of a kick and to bring some variety to your work day. Don’t be afraid to take work that may seem mundane or even, God forbid, boring. My best-paying job right now is routine stuff, and not exciting in the least. But man, it pays. This month I’m poised to bring in $2,500 from it.
What you shouldn’t do is take just anything. If you know it’s not paying well enough for the output, look elsewhere. One job I left behind recently paid meager amounts, but my efforts were small. What made me drop it was when the contract changed and I was suddenly making a lot less. Sure, the workload also was cut in half, but there is such a thing as too low to be bothered.
You know your pain points, or at least you should. Get a calculator out right now. How much do you want to make this year? Okay, now figure how much you have to make per hour or per day in order to get there. Never mind per week or per month – it’s too easy to lose track and fall behind when your benchmarks are that far out. Stick with something you can wrap your head around.
Now, shoot for the jobs that offer a wage that allows you to reach that number. If you can write blog posts in 15 minutes and earn $80 a day to do it, go for it. Articles that pay 50 cents a word and take you two hours start-to-finish to complete might be worth it if the word count is high enough. Just make sure whatever you take isn’t one that’s going to suck all your time and not pay you decently enough for it.
Katharine Swan and I were just discussing how we keep track of how much we earn daily. Monthly and yearly expectations can’t hurt, but if you’re accounting each day, you know right away when things are getting off track.
Lori,
Very true. I’ve found that things get messier the more sources are required: scheduling interviews, emailing follow-up questions, and sending copies of the pub when the article comes out can all eat up precious time.
Late last year, I vowed not to take on too many source-heavy stories at once for the sake of my sanity. So, far I’ve managed to do a few articles requiring sources and also branch out into writing quizzes, essays, and other fun stuff. It’s much quicker if the article allows you to write from your own experiences!
Susan
Hi Lori, just found your blog today, and this post really struck a chord with me. My goal for 2008 is to get my freelancing career going, so getting this type of information is very helpful. I’ll be keeping this info in mind as I get things rolling along. Thanks!