I wrote a post on my 2019 freelancer goals and aims last year and it really helped me to get a structure in my head of what I want to achieve.
I’m not a huge goal setter – goals make me anxious, giving me another opportunity to overthink. But, I have found it nice to look at these from time to time and see how I’m getting on.
2019 overview
I thought I’d start by doing a bit of an overview of how my year went in relation to the goals. I’m really very happy with how this year has panned out career-wise.
This time last year I was miserable. I’d just left I job I despised and I had hardly any freelance work coming in. I worked every minute of the day to change that, trying desperately to ‘get my name out there’ just enough so that somebody would hire me and not enough so my friends disowned me for too much self-promotion.
The year went from strength-to-strength career-wise. I’ve got plenty of work to keep me going until the end of 2020 and I’m feeling very grateful for that.
My main aim financially was to build savings to travel and we did that. We’ve been away plenty this year (including an epic road trip to California) so I can’t complain about that either.
On the downside, I don’t think I’ve really managed my skincare routine very well. That said, I do take my make-up off and moisturise every night. It’s better than nothing and I’ll take it.
I definitely still don’t drink enough water. It’s too cold on my teeth, so that’s going to have to go back on the list for 2020.
Speaking of the 2020 list. I’ve got big plans *throws plans out to the universe*…
Start a YouTube channel
Last year my hobby was writing and my full-time job was running around after incompetent people. I’m somebody who neeeeeeeeeds a hobby.
When writing became my jam, I found myself without a hobby and homeware/interiors became my thing. Spending hours scanning Facebook Marketplace for diamonds in the rough is my new pastime and I’m thrilled about it.
It’s perfect; it’s never something I want to be my full-time job but I do want to document it. I’ve just bought four very cheap Ercol chairs from Facebook Marketplace (let me tell you, Ercol chairs aren’t cheap) and I’m going to restore them on YouTube because hey, why not?
If James’ video of us popping our friend’s cyst at university can get 378,000 views, then so can mine. P.S, don’t watch this video, it’s gross and I sound like a dying cat in it.
Did you watch it anyway? Told you it was gross. Oh, and are you deaf now from my wailing? (It’s not all me – when my friends and I get together, only dogs can hear us).
YouTube isn’t just about being on YouTube for me, either. I really love editing videos. I used to do it a lot and I miss it. I don’t want to lose that skill and get too far away from new editing software that I can’t get back into it.
Launch a podcast
I used to have an email newsletter called the Caroline Edit. It was basically a round-up of all the freelance news going on each week.
Seeing as it’s almost 2020 and podcasts are where it’s at, James & I have decided to give podcasting another go and launch OUTSOURCED – a place for us to discuss freelancing news and the reality of us growing our own businesses.
The first one will probably be out before the New Year and then we’ll be releasing a new episode every Wednesday.
Publish my book(s)
I have a 90,000 word novel just ready to go. I don’t want to do all that work and not do anything with it. I’m going to self-publish it early next year because I hate the thought of it going nowhere. It bothers me a lot.
Then, I’m going to finish up a couple of proposals I’ve got in the works and see where things take me. If the book I released this year is anything to go by, I could really do with a literary agent, but we’ll see how we get on.
Keep writing
If you’d like to have a little look through all of my articles for Yahoo this year, you can but my aim is to write more. I’ve got a notes list on my phone as long as my entire body full of ideas.
I need to get better at pitching immediately and better at following up.
Read 15 books
But Caroline, you do a top 12 new book releases post for Yahoo every month? Yes, but that’s different reading.
I want to read 15 books for me. Firstly, I only round up fiction, so I’d like to add a few non-fiction books to my list. I read 12 this year, so I think that 15 is a nice step up without it being too overwhelming.
My personal life
I’m pretty keen to keep doing what I’m doing. There are some little things to note:
- DRINK. MORE. WATER. (Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you?)
- Go to the gym 3 times a week. Why are you paying for it otherwise?
- Commit to a skincare routine every night and every morning.
- Carry on with Duolingo but don’t leave it until the last minute in bed. (I’ve been learning Spanish every day for 16 months now, yes, I do want an award).
Relaunch my website
That’s right! I’ve already done all of the hard work for this one, so it’s really just a case of re-launching it.
Some of the content is out of date. I don’t even look like the same person in the pictures anymore. It just needs a re-fresh. This will include a separate blog with a lot more blog content. It’ll still be in the ‘blog’ section of the website but it’ll link you off to a separate ‘mini website’.
There you have it. It’s all written down for the world to see.
careerFeaturedgoals
