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DiggIt’s been a pretty hectic month for us. In addition to taking a weekend “off” to travel to Las Vegas for BlogWorld 2008, we had quite a bit of excitement here at Freelance Parent as we made the top ten list for writer’s blogs and also decided to start outsourcing some of the projects we have long put on hold. But, wait, that’s not all! Lorna also took a real vacation for a week at the beginning of the month, and we put quite a bit of effort into our two-part SparkplugU class on choosing the right freelancing niche.
Yet despite what sometimes felt like a whirlwind of activity, we still managed to meet our goal for this month’s income. I’ll be honest – we were near nervous breakdowns on more than one occasion – but at the end of the day, we feel really good about where we’re headed.
You will notice a new “passive income” category in this month’s freelance income report. It’s pretty small right now, but we’re excited to watch it grow over the next several months as we put more and more of our ideas to work.
We’ve increased our goal substantially for this month in addition to starting some new marketing campaigns, so we’ll see if our pattern can hold!
Total Income for September: $4,047.60
Percentage of This to PayPal/Guru Fees: 6.73 %
Total Number of Clients Served this Month: 13
Number of These Clients Who are New: 3
Original Client Contact Point
Guru.com: 9
Subcontracted work: 1
Referrals: 3
Total Number of Projects Completed: 20
Project Types
SEO and web-based article writing: 7
Website content: 4
Blogs and blog-related work: 2
Nonprofit: 2
E-books/E-courses: 1
Copywriting: 4
Passive Income: $23.00
Lorna Doone Brewer is both a writer and an entrepreneur at heart. This is where those two worlds meet. She also blogs at 
Tamara Berry used to miss interaction with her daughter. Now she misses interaction with adults. Freelance writing is her happy medium.
is this hard to put out there? I wrote one up but I’m having trouble hitting POST. What if one of my clients says “but I know you only made $ an hour last month”? What if a new freelancer thinks it’s not enough- or too much?
….or what if my outstanding success pisses off my cyberstalker again
Allena: First of all - do you really have a cyberstalker? That is bizarre (and somewhat intriguing - do tell…).
Secondly, we have been nothing but happy with our decision to put this all out there. We’ve gotten only positive feedback (either everyone loves it, or those that don’t are keeping their mouths shut), and we feel really good about where we are right now.
We’ve always known that we don’t make as much money as many other freelancers, and we’re okay with that. We’re learning, we’re growing, and hopefully, we’re inspiring others to learn and grow along with us.
As far as existing and potential clients go, I simply don’t address the idea that they read this and may be upset with any of our quotes. It might have something to do with being busy enough right now that I simply don’t care what potential clients think, but it also has to do with *finally* being secure enough in ourselves to be unapologetic about what we expect to make.
I say do it. You are such an icon of the freelancing world (you are the About expert, after all), that I think people will really respond to your honesty. But maybe that’s just me.
Allena - So, my take on it is that you should post your income if you want to. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. If, however, you feel like it’s the right way to empower your readers, then go for it. There are no rules about this kind of thing. We like doing it, but that doesn’t mean that others should feel the same. It doesn’t make us better or worse than anyone else!
Does that make sense.
gah! I don’t make icon money! Where’s my icon money??:)
I want to know how many hours you worked? Do you track them? B/C I put in 75.08 hours in September. “Full time” my big toe. I’m not happy about it!
Wow, that’s really inspiring. I want to go check out Guru.com. I’d also like to hear the time commitment involved. I find I’m either too busy or not busy enough. Very rarely a happy medium…
Susans last blog post..What to Expect on a Press Trip
Allena and Susan - I would guess that I put in about 70 hours this month. I’m not sure about Tamara, but I know she usually averages about 20 hours a week.
i always reccomend to my newbies at About.com they track their hours. you guys too!
I know, I know. I NEED to track my hours. I say that every month, and then I never follow through. Here is my list of excuses (hey - at least I know they’re excuses):
I think it will end up being more than 20 hours/wk, but I like believing that’s how much I work.
I work really, really sporadically (sometimes mere minutes at a time). I hate schedules.
I talk to Lorna a lot on the phone, but often while I’m driving or doing something else. Does that count as work or life?
I have shiny penny syndrome like you wouldn’t believe, so when I do sit down for an hour, I’m pretty sure at least 1/3 of that time is spent “playing” on the computer.
Sigh. How does everyone else track time effectively?
Wow, you guys do a lot from Guru! Are you Guru Vendors? I just signed up as one (gulp. $250 is a lot of $$)! I’d like to learn more about how you use Guru to get jobs and beat the cheapies that bid on projects (as I’m sure your readers would too).
Susan Payton, The Marketing Eggsperts last blog post..Cold Calling is Evil…and a Waste of Time