I start the year writing about the challenges of goal-setting and the need for accountability. I made the commitment to report my progress for goal setting.

Here were the goals and a January progress update:

Goal 1: Prepare for 2022 by increasing my knowledge base and improving my writing skills.

Strategies:

• Look into new skills that will make me more diverse and marketable
• Find free resources
• Create a “learning” budget I can use on courses
• Dedicate a set time for reading and learning.
  1. 15 minutes at the start of every work day
• Create themes for the month to focus the learning
  1. Repurpose my learning into a monthly blog

How did I do?

-I did not set a learning budget, but I did already sign up for a new marketing writing course with the American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI) which includes a certification test at the end. I hope it will diversify some of my skills and help make me more marketable. So check/

-Free resources: all the reading I did for my monthly theme.

-Goal: 15 minutes of reading at the start of every work day. This one started off good, but then all my searching for new work (see goal below) led to me being swamped. It got harder to read 15 minutes every day, but my time tracker says I still logged 5.5 hours of educational reading.

-Create themes to focus the learning. I did this. The first theme was headline writing, and there will be a blog coming out shortly.

Progress: I give it a B+, because of not setting the budget and inconsistent with the reading.

Goal 2: Reduce my dependence on Upwork clientele while finding opportunities for byline publication.

This one I said I would dedicate a time to job hunt. Again, easier at the slower start of the month than towards the end. I have not reduced my dependence on Upwork yet as my new clients primarily came from Upwork. I did apply to several jobs on ProBlogger and I was accepted into the copywriting pool on GetACopywriter.com, although I have yet to scoop up a task on that platform.

Progress: C+ because of failing to keep scouting for new work outside Upwork the second half of the month.

Goal 3: Maintain income stream of <confidential> through 2021. That’s an average of <confidential> per month.

I exceeded my goal for the month of January by 11%. I’m glad because I felt like I hustled, especially in the final two weeks. About 10.5 of my work hours this month were dedicated to education or job sourcing-related tasks. I had to let a client go because I no longer had the time. And I turned off my availability due to being swamped. I may have taken on too much.

Progress: A+ for exceeding the goal.