6 Proven Ways To Stay Fired Up About Your Goals
By Mindy Tyson McHorse

A fellow Wealthy Web Writer member recently asked me this:

“How do you stay motivated as you transition to life as a successful freelancer?”

EXCELLENT question.

Here’s the thing. We all started with the same initial excitement about the opportunities web writing offers.

But, it doesn’t happen overnight. Some of us make the leap in a matter of months. Others take years to get where they want to be.

How do you tether yourself to that initial start-up excitement, without losing steam in the time it takes you to get where you want to be?

Today, I’m going to show you six ways to recapture your excitement so you won’t burn out before realizing your goals. They’re all tried-and-true examples, too, brought to you courtesy of other Wealthy Web Writer members.

Tip #1: Base Success Measures On Your Own Circumstances

Just about every web writer I know — myself included — starts out by measuring their success based on the achievements of others.

It’s easy to do. When you hear how someone else landed a slew of clients in only a few weeks (Pam Foster) or hit it big as a freelancer while still working a full-time day job (Rachel Karl) or pushed past the $400K income mark in just a few years (Joshua Boswell), it’s hard not to compare your progress to them.

My first year as a freelancer, I was inspired by a guy who hit six-figures in his first year as a web writer. I don’t recall his name, but I do remember thinking, “If he can do it, so can I!”

Well, it didn’t happen. For a while, I was pretty down about it. Then, I got to know this person at Bootcamp. I learned he was about 10 years older than me. He’d been in the marketing industry for about 15 years, though not as a writer. He didn’t have kids or a spouse.

This meant when he made the transition to freelance web writer, that was the only transition he had to make. He was comfortably setup in a house where he’d been for years, he didn’t have family variables to consider (and thus could spend a lot of time working), and he had pre-existing industry contacts.

Yeah, he made progress a lot quicker than I did, but we also led extremely different lives.

Whether you’re raising kids or balancing a day job or short on finances or whatever, remind yourself that your goal is to overcome your own individual challenges in a time frame that’s appropriate to your needs.

Meaning, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t experience the same kind of forward progress as someone else. Focus on your own goals in light of your own constraints.

Tip #2: Dial-A-Friend

One thing I did right in my first months as a freelancer was connect with others who were new to this world. I initially did it by hiring a mentor who hosted group coaching calls on a weekly basis.

When I attended my first Bootcamp, I got to meet a few of the people who had been on my coaching calls.

I hit it off with one of them. Because our coaching calls had come to a close, she and I agreed to call each other on a weekly basis. Our goal was to check-in on each other’s progress, voice goals, and give support.

For about a year, we chatted on the phone for an hour nearly every week. I’ll confess, those calls were often less about hitting our goals and more about venting our frustrations with finding clients and getting paid. But the crucial thing was, we could relate to each other. We had someone else in the same boat who understood the emotional side of freelancing and offered much-needed support.

You can find your own “encouragement buddy” several different ways. Put a shout-out on the Wealthy Web Writer forum. Go to Bootcamp. Ask someone in this industry for a referral. Or, email someone whose article comments on the Wealthy Web Writer site resonate with you.

Tip #3: Spend More Time On Facebook

I wasn’t an early adopter of Facebook. I actually spent over a year wrinkling my nose at it, wondering, “What’s the point?”

So, it’s ironic that nowadays I use it as a daily motivational tool.

That’s because I’m connected to a bunch of other web writers who actively participate in this lifestyle. They post things that only other freelancers can relate to, which makes me feel very connected to them. Their “Likes” of my own work-related comments are an invisible web of support for me.

I found some of my web-writing Facebook friends by going to live events, but a lot of them I’ve met through the Wealthy Web Writer site. They’re my daily reminder that someone out there understands what I go through.

It’s easy to build your own Facebook network of web writers (or GooglePlus network, for that matter). Start by contributing comments to the Wealthy Web Writer articles. Pay attention to the names of other contributors. Connect with them. Connect with me (Mindy McHorse). Connect with Rebecca (Rebecca Matter). Connect with every name you know of in this industry.

Eventually, you’ll have a daily stream of motivational threads to pull you over your personal hurdles.

Tip #4: Listen To Teleconferences And Webinar Playbacks

If you’re a regular reader of the Wealthy Web Writer or AWAI’s The Golden Thread, you may have noticed all the webinars and teleconferences that take place on a weekly basis.

My advice? Listen to them! If you can’t listen to them live, dial up the playback — it’s nearly always available a day after the event takes place.

Listening to these events does two things: It takes you beyond the telecommuting side of this industry and exposes you to real people sharing their real stories.

It’s also a way to get timely industry updates and copywriting tips.

A win-win.

Tip #5: Remember What Got You Fired Up In The First Place

Sitting at the front of a filing drawer within arms-reach of my desk chair is the letter that opened the door to my freelancing career.

It’s the well-known promotion by Paul Hollingshead that opens with, “Retire this year! … And still make more money than most doctors.”

That letter wasn’t my first introduction into the AWAI world. I’d received a magalog previously that piqued my interested. By the time I got Paul’s letter in the mail, I already knew this was the right path for me.

But, I wasn’t sure how to convince my fiancé, Craig. We were planning a rather large wedding, and had just bought a house, all of which we intended to pay for ourselves. And at the time, I had a comfortable job making $50K.

Fortunately, Paul’s letter was SO good, I knew I could use it to get Craig on board. I started by asking him to read it, word-for-word. Then, I launched the conversation … and it went exactly as I hoped.

Paul’s letter is like the snowflake that launched my own avalanche of web-writing success. When I’m feeling stuck or down about something, I take it out and read it. Every time, it brings back the initial excitement I felt about freelancing way back in my early days. It rekindles my thirst to achieve the writer’s life.

Tip #6: Visualize That Big Picture Goal

Finally, if you ever feel caught in the slump of transition, think about your life goals. Picture the kind of life you want to live and remind yourself that web writing can get you there. Scribble your goals on paper, think about them while listening to music, put together a vision board, whatever.

Regardless of how you prefer to record your goals, make sure you articulate why you’re doing this in the first place. Use that as your target and always keep it in sight while you journey through your transition.

This article, 6 Proven Ways To Stay Fired Up About Your Goals, was originally published by Wealthy Web Writer.