Today is the big day. It's January 1st, which means that I'll have to be diligent about putting 2020 on all my papers. I wanted to spend some time today thinking about my goals for 2020. I am sharing a ton of goals. I'm a busy person with a lot of projects. Keep reading for my life, freelance, The Happy Arkansan, and The Ambitious Freelancer goals. Share some of your goals in the comments. I'd love to know what you are up to this year.
My Life Goals For 2020
First, let's start with my life goals. I have a ton of goals that will make my life better and happier.
Read 12 Books
Reading 12 books has been on my goal list a few times now, but I am hopeful that 2020 will be my year. The goal is to read a chapter or two of the book I'm reading every day. With consistency, I think I'll be able to pull this goal off in 2020. I will also likely listen to some audiobooks as well to mix it up.
Deep Clean All My Stuff
I've acquired so much stuff over the last decade. The 2010s was a bit much with college moves, graduate school, etc. As much as I wish I would have purged before 2020, I didn't. I don't want to move into the decade further with all this stuff. So, I am going to purge all the things I've obtained, donate what makes sense, and get rid of the rest. I can't keep up with all this stuff anymore, and I don't want to.
Visit A New City
While I am not visiting a new city this summer, I am planning a winter vacation. We are going on a quick trip to Nashville this summer since my mom got a new job and won't have an official vacation until late this year. I hope that our winter vacation destination will be a new city, but we haven't set the destination in stone yet. We are considering somewhere in California; Miami, FL; or maybe even an island vacation. We are not considering anywhere cold. ☀️vibes only.
Save 25% Of My Income
I am striving to live off 50% of my income in 2020. So, 25% will go to tax savings and 25% to savings. It's going to be tricky, but it's all about prioritization. I want to save for travel and other fun things. I have to stop spending on random dumb things like fast fashion. I'm going to take a long look at my spending in 2020 and make sure I am spending wisely.
Get Rid Of My Credit Card Debt
Another thing I don't want to take too far into 2020 is credit card debt. I have enough student loan debt as is. I estimate that I have around $4,000-$5,000 in credit card debt, not as large as some people have, but I'd like it gone. I'm going to get debt reduction out of the 50% of my income that isn't saved.
My Freelance Goals For 2020
Next, let's move onto my freelance goals for 2020. In case you didn't know, I am a content marketing and thought leadership writer for HR tech companies. Working with clients in my freelance business is how I make about half of my income.
Lock-In A Good Roster Of Five Consistent Clients
As much as I love freelancing, I can't seem to lock in consistent clients as quickly as I would like. I don't think it's the niche. I think it's my lack of focus on it. In an ideal world, 2020 would be a year for consistency and bringing in more clients that I work with month after month. I'm hoping that I can get a few great clients on my roster so I can increase how much I make with freelancing.
Start Building Passive Income Into My Freelance Career
Next, I want to start building passive income into my freelance career. I've been creating journals for The Happy Arkansan and The Ambitious Freelancer. In quarter one, I want to create something for B2B content marketers that I can sell on Amazon. I would also like to start creating some paid masterclasses or printable workbooks that I can sell on Amanda Cross Co during the rest of 2020.
Create Some Word Of Mouth Marketing For Amanda Cross Co.
I currently don't get any word of mouth clients for my freelance business. It would be beneficial if I could start getting frequent inbound leads through word of mouth so I wouldn't have to pitch all the time. I want to work on the relationships I have with clients in 2020 so that I can start getting more word of mouth clients contacting me.
Set Consistent Office Hours For My Freelance Career
I am pretty bad about working on my freelance business during all hours of the day. Sometimes I wake up extra early to work on client work, and sometimes I stay up late. It would be nice to set some specific hours each week that I spend specifically working on client work or prospecting for new clients.
Be Consistent With Content Marketing For Amanda Cross Co.
I've been talking about content marketing a lot for Amanda Cross Co. I don't plan to post every week, but I would like to post every other week on my website. I started 2019 on a high-note, but I got frazzled quickly, and I want 2020 to be different. I'm going to take it slow and make sure I publish consistent content there, even if I can't post every week.
The Happy Arkansan Goals For 2020
Next, let's chat about my goals for this blog in 2020.
Diversify My Affiliate Income
I love affiliate income, but I haven't been able to diversify it as much as I would like. Most of my 2019 affiliate income has come from Freshly and my original Freshly review. While I love and admire the relationship I've been able to build with Freshly, I wish my affiliate income was more diverse. In 2020, I plan to create more affiliate blog content and to revamp the affiliate content I already have. In a perfect world, I would have five pillar companies I make affiliate income from instead of one or two. SHEIN used to make a bit more income for me, but that number has dwindled lately, even though my page views are pretty consistent for that post. I am okay with that, though. Above all else, I want to find some companies I am genuinely passionate about and start creating affiliate content for those companies. I feel like I'll enjoy affiliate marketing even more if I could find five companies that I love to talk about.
Get 750,000 Page Views In 2020
I ended 2019 with 525,644 page views. This is a fantastic number, especially because I got 120,000 page views in 2018. In 2020, my goal is to get to 750,000 page views. I want to meet and exceed the page views I got in 2020, if at all possible. I'm nervous about having a goal this big, but I know with the right care, I can make it happen. I want to spend a good portion of 2020 focusing on traffic from sites like Pinterest and other social media networks. If I can get my social traffic to meet my organic search traffic, I know I can achieve my goals.
Stretch Goal: 1,000,000 page views.
While 750,000 page views is an absolute dream, I do have a stretch goal for this one. I'd love to make it to 1,000,000 page views in 2020. Both goals will take work, but I hope that I can make that leap this year.
Get At Least One Brand Deal A Month
I worked with some amazing brands in 2019, like Allume, A&W, Healthy Choice, Kohl's, and ZeroWater. I am so proud of the amazing work I got to do this year. One thing I am not as excited about is how inconsistent my brand deals were this year. For six months in 2019, I made no money with brand collaborations. I would love to even this out, start pitching more brands and making a consistent income from brand collaborations on The Happy Arkansan.
Lock-In A Multi Four-Figure Brand Deal
At the last minute in 2019, I managed to snag a brand deal that was worth $1,000. This is the most I've ever made from one collaboration. I don't want to stop there. In 2020, I'd love to lock in a multi four-figure brand deal. Meaning, I'd like to work on a project that's worth $2,000 or more. I know this won't be a one-then-done type of partnership. It'd need to be a brand ambassadorship. I need to find the right company worth partnering with like that.
Get A Handle On Instagram
My last goal for The Happy Arkansan is to get a handle on Instagram. Like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. I feel like I used to have much more fun with Instagram, without the stress, and get more engagement. I know I can't go back to 2015/2016 Instagram, but it sucks when I am putting out content and getting nine likes. I've never been knowledgeable about hashtags. I feel like all other bloggers know some secret, and I am left in the dark. In 2020, I want to do all that I can to learn about Instagram, engage more, and figure out how to connect with my audience.
The Ambitious Freelancer Goals For 2020
Last, but not least, let's discuss my goals for The Ambitious Freelancer, my podcast, Facebook group, and website.
Produce And Release At Least 45 Podcast Episodes
The Ambitious Freelancer is a weekly podcast that goes up every Thursday. While I could release 52 episodes in 2020, I know I'll likely miss a few weeks. If I can upload 45 episodes in 2020, that would be consistent enough for me. In 2019, I released 41 episodes, so an extra 45 episodes would put me at 86 episodes and set me up for hitting 100 in 2021.
Get The Ambitious Freelancers Group To 500 Members
I haven't been pushing The Ambitious Freelancers Group as much as I should. It's my favorite place on Facebook to hang out, and I love doing live streams there. It would be fantastic if I could get the group to 500 members in 2020. If you are a freelancer, definitely request to join because I'm doing a content marketing boot camp there this month.
Get My Instagram Page For The Ambitious Freelancers To 1,000 Followers
Another Instagram that I'll be working on in 2020 is the one for The Ambitious Freelancer. Since it's such a niche account, I feel like I can connect with enough people if I work on it. I started the year with 45 followers, so I'm far from my goal, but I have goals to connect with freelancing hashtags and build my audience there over time.
Promote My Freelance Planners Consistently
If you didn't know, I created two amazing planners in 2019: Client Calls Simplified and The 90-Day Ambitious Freelancer Planner. I put a lot of love into these planners using Sarah's course Publish With Purpose (one of my best investments in 2019.) Since both of these planners are undated, I want to continue promoting these planners in 2020. I would also love to create another planner down the line for freelancers, probably related to pitching clients.
Monetize Some Of My Knowledge In Mini-Courses Or EBooks
I've given a ton of my knowledge away in my Facebook group and on my podcast. I'd love to dig deeper into some of that knowledge and put together a few mini-courses or ebooks this year. I am currently in a membership for digital products to help me monetize my message through digital products that I hope to use specifically with The Ambitious Freelancer this year.
Conclusion
Whew, I am going to be a busy bee this year. I am excited to share these goals and work toward something valuable this year. My goal is to put my head down and work hard to monetize all my projects consistently. I hope that you all have a ton of goals for 2020 too. Let's get focused so we can work hard and reach all our goals this year.
What are your goals for 2020?
