In case I haven’t said it to you, Happy New Year!
It’s January, 2017, month 10 of my freelance copywriter life. Here in Minnesota, it means snow and cold. It’s the time of year when we all find as many things to do indoors as possible, and wear as many clothes as possible to get between our cars and whatever buildings we’re running to.
It’s also a good time to hunker down and get work done. Fortunately, I have plenty of that coming in.
My two regular clients have plenty going on this month. I also have a new potential client, and a trial project that may develop into a regular project, in the works. All of this moves me closer to my goal of making $6,000 a month, net as a freelance copywriter.
Just so you’re aware, that means making $9,000 a month, gross. Why so much? Because when you’re self-employed, 1/3 of everything you make automatically goes to Uncle Sam.
When you’re employed by a company, that company takes out tax for Social Security and Medicare from your paycheck automatically. They also pay a portion of that tax for your out of their coffers.
When you’re self-employed, you pay that yourself. 12.4% for Social Security, and 2.9% for Medicare, for a grand total of 15.3%. Plus, you still pay your normal income tax.
That’s how I arrived at the $9,000 a month, gross, figure. That way I can just take 1/3 of what I earn and stash it away to pay taxes.
Yes, that sounds intimidating. But I’ve already come darn close. In November of last year, I was $750 short of hitting that goal. So, it’s doable. The trick is getting enough regular freelance copywriter work coming in so I can hit that goal every month.
December wasn’t great on that front. But January looks to be more promising for reaching my goal. I promise you, you’ll hear about it when I do!
Meanwhile, I need to get motivated and get to work. But mostly, I want to sit here and stare out the window at the snow and the birds and squirrels eating from my feeders. (That’s my current view at the top of this post, by the way.)
I think that’s one of the hardest things about working for yourself. There are days it’s just hard to find the motivation get the work done. That doesn’t change the fact that the work needs to get done. But some days, it’s easier than others.
Fortunately, I get to work on projects I enjoy, which helps a lot.
Speaking of which, if you have a project coming up that you want me to work on, please contact me ASAP. My schedule is filling up quickly for the next couple of months. If you want to be on my calendar, act quickly.
As always, thanks for reading my ramblings and following along on my crazy freelance copywriter journey. It’s kind of scary to think that in another 2 months, I’ll have been writing this blog and doing this job for a full year.
Here’s to my reaching my goal before then.