Freelance business goals shouldn’t be purely revenue or growth-based. There’s a much better way to do things — a new set of goals and metrics that’ll help increase job satisfaction, boost creativity, and shape your business for the better.

Keep reading or watch below to find out how 👇

At the end of Q1, I wrote a LinkedIn post about my quarterly review process. A couple of freelancers reached out to ask me more about it, so I thought I’d share up in time for the end of Q2!

The benefits of reviewing quarterly rather than monthly

For those who don't know, a business quarter is every three months. The beginning of January to the end of March is Q1, the beginning of April to the end of June is Q2, etcetera etcetera!

So, let’s start by addressing the big question — why the fuck would you swap to a quarterly review over a monthly one? Well, a number of reasons.

1) It’s less granular. As a freelancer, your business development tactics can take a month or two to actually come to fruition. So, the seeds you've planted this month to make that happen in your business probably won't come good for a few months.

2) It’s less stressful. You can't possibly make any tangible progress in just one month. Things go up and down way too much! It adds extra stress to that month that you don't necessarily need.

2) Revenue is easier to track. I set quarterly financial targets because, sometimes, the things I'm working on roll over into the next month, and I don't see the full payout of that job for a month or two.

And that’s to name but a few!

How I set goals and targets for 2022

Usually, I'd make some arbitrary goals focused on financial targets or potential customers that I wanted to work with. But that’s it. And they're not very fulfilling goals in the grand scheme of things, wouldn’t ya say?

Those simple goals don't help me steer the trajectory of my business or help me work on the things that I'm personally struggling with.

The targets I planned for 2022 were inspired by an episode of Louise Shanahan's 15 Minute Freelancer podcast, How to set goals to grow your freelance business in 2022.

It gave me a new way to view my business — as it was and as it could be — and felt like a cool thing to try.

Louise suggested listing everything you absolutely hated about the 2021 business year. Then she suggested listing out everything you loved about the 2021 business year.

Once you have two full lists of both good and bad, she asked you to whittle them down to a big three in each category. I used those to create two guiding principles for the year ahead…

1) I vow not to work on things out of fear and obligation. If the client is agg, don't take the job. If they’re nice, then feel safe to take the work and test yourself.

2) I vow to relish in creative play, be free with clients, chase good jobs, and do my own things joyfully.

These are the outcomes of the positive and negative elements of the past year.

I also listed out all the great shit I achieved last year (stuff that usually gets lost in the noise) and fleshed out what I thought my business could become based on my niche and my desires.

Goal tracking (feat. my Filofax)

Once I had my two vows set out, I thought about the kinds of goals and targets that might feed into those.

I wrote my goals in my Filofax and listed out the kinds of tasks and habits that would help get me there (complete with timelines!). Without SMART goals, you may find it tricky to move forward!

Get a closer look here… 👇

Every time I reach the end of a quarter, I get my vows and lists back out and start asking myself some hard questions.

Did I turn away jobs that weren’t right for me, even when I felt pressured to take the work for financial reasons? Can I give examples?
How many creative projects did I relish? Can I list them out?
Did I feel fear? How did that go?

And then revisit the checklists on each of my individual goals and ask myself whether I’m still doing them week-on-week. If not, what's getting in the way? How can I integrate that with my weekly routine to make sure that I’m consistently doing these things?

It’s important to be nice to yourself! If you aren’t hitting targets, look at the events of the month — did something get in the way? Give yourself some grace. Perhaps you’re not following through with the task because it’s not actually something you want — perhaps it’s a vanity metric or something you added because you felt you should.

Take a minute to consider whether I still want to achieve these goals. Do they still serve me, or should I drop one in favour of diverting more energy to something else?

Final takeaways

Your business goals should ideally be a mix of what makes you happy and what's profitable. Take those two things and smash them together to intentionally shape your business.

Your idea of growth, success, and satisfaction might look very different to everyone else's…and so fucking what. Work to please yourself, babe! This is your business, so shape it to your will 💜

Come and find me on Twitter, and lemme know what you think!

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