Howdy, ‘Lancer (mind if I call you that, second email in a row?)
It’s that time of the year again when everyone and their grandmother are making resolutions.
I’m not one for resolutions myself, because I believe you could up and “change” your life any day of the year.
For example, I decided to “lock in” three months ago, and it has been going great. I started posting more on LinkedIn, paid more attention to my business, and started this newsletter.
The results have been more clients and leads for my business, as well as improved brand perception.
To keep the momentum, I decided to make a resolution to hit $100K by this time next year.
$100K is by no means a measure of whether I’m a successful freelance writer or not.
For context, $1K/month in my part of the world easily puts me in the top 5% of the population, so I’ve never had to chase that high a figure.
Since I’ve never done $100K before, I did what I always do when something feels too big: I broke it down into numbers that feel more reachable.
This breakdown would help you to set income goals and break down the maths behind reaching them.
Some napkin math
To make $100K in a year, I’d have to make at least $8,333 per month.
And to make $8,333, I’ll need to know just how much work I can handle in a month without burning out.
Right now, that number sits around 10 articles a month.
I’m using articles here because my primary offering is B2B article writing. It could be different for you.
So, $8,333 ÷ 10 articles = $833 per article.
That’s what I need to charge per piece to hit my goal.
Your numbers will look different
The “$100K math” works for different income goals.
Maybe you’re at $200/article now and want to hit $40K this year. The same process works.
$40K ÷ 12 = $3,400/month. If you can handle 10 articles, that’s $340 each.
The question isn’t “can I charge this?” It’s “what would I need to offer to make this worth it for clients?”
At $200, you’re probably writing blog posts. At $340, you might be doing deeper research, interviewing SMEs, optimizing for SEO, or tying content to their sales process.
The work gets more involved, but the value to them goes way up.
The client math that makes this sustainable
10 articles at $833 = $8,333/month.
While I’ve set a $100K goal, I don’t plan on doing it if it would mean I don’t have time for anything else.
Ten different clients each month would be too chaotic for me.
The solution is to find 3-5 retainer clients who need 2-3 articles each per month.
Why?
Less time spent on discovery calls and onboarding
I actually learn their product and voice, so writing gets faster
Stable income instead of hunting for new projects every week
They get better content because I’m not starting from scratch each time
That’s way more sustainable.
$100,000 is a random, arbitrary income goal. Any number is.
Do you fail at $99,999 and win with a buck more? Of course not.
Figure out what you want for your situation. Make that the goal. Not what someone on the internet told you to strive toward.
Maybe your number is $60K because that gives you flexibility and less stress. It could be $200K because you’re supporting a family. Perhaps it’s $40K because you’re just starting and want to prove you can make this work.
The math works the same way, just with different numbers.
Your turn
What’s your number for 2025? And what would have to change in how you position yourself to get there?
Reply to this email and let me know. Sometimes just doing the math makes it feel less impossible.
See you next week.
P.S. If you’ve already hit $100K+ as a writer, I’d love to hear how you structured your services to get there.