When a new potential client comes your way, you don’t want to miss the chance to work with them. You want the revenue, the byline, their logo on your website—so you book that project for next week even though your plate is already full.
Do that a couple of times each month, and you’re stretched too thin and slammed with unrealistic deadlines.
And do that month after month, and freelance writing no longer seems like a job you want to do.
Problem 2: You don't want to take a break because of lost income that comes with it.
It’s the issue every freelance writer faces: when you don’t work, you don’t get paid. It’s hard to take a break—even a few days, let alone weeks—because you still need to pay bills and live a life.
Problem 3: You’re not sure what’s the exact income you’re making monthly, quarterly, and yearly.
The proof of the income you earned from your clients is in your proposals, invoices, and emails. You might know how much you earned this month or last month, but you’re struggling to gauge your earnings from the past 6 or 12 months because there’s no easy, quick way to find that figure.
The solution? A central place to track your workload, income, bandwidth, and future projects.
With this project planner, you can:
See your true capacity for the month. You’ll have quick access to everything on your plate for the current month: the clients you’re working with and the number of projects you have with them.
Book new clients and projects into a realistic next project opening. See what’s already on your plate (including retainer clients and other projects you’ve already confirmed) so you can stop overbooking yourself.
See the status of each project. Mark projects as confirmed, completed, invoiced, and paid. You’ll never forget to update a client or follow up on an invoice again.
Take time off regularly. By seeing natural ups and downs and by tracking your average income for the whole year (instead of just individual months), you can see patterns of natural ups and downs and the best times to take a break. You can also create cushions of income in certain months so months with less income won’t be such an issue.
Instead of tracking your projects in random digital notes, sticky notes, notebooks, and emails, you’ll have a central place for everything you’ve confirmed and done throughout the year.
You’ll get rid of that uncomfortable feeling of not making the same ‘salary’ every month and see your projects, clients, and rates on a longer-term scale. You can plan mindfully instead of from a place of fear.
Once you enter your clients, projects, and rates for those projects, you’ll see:
Income and workload for that month
Total income for the year
Average monthly income for the year
Visual income overview, month to month
A timeline of the entire year showing you which clients you worked with in which months
Income and projects per quarter
Percentage of income from each client
The planner also has a dedicated space to keep track of your rates for each client so you have all the right details at your fingertips.
"So powerful for having a bird's-eye-view of my business and workload"
Christina Pashialis, B2B content freelancer
I LOVE using the Freelance Bold project planner! I use it on a weekly basis. I bought it because I wanted better visibility of my income across projects and to track invoices in one place. I'd recommend any freelancer invest in the project planner, particularly if you find spreadsheets confusing, to get better visibility of your income, invoice statuses and projected income!
Kat Boogaard, freelance writer for Trello, Toggl, Atlassian, QuickBooks
I love that I get to juggle a lot of projects and clients as a freelancer, but it makes it tough to see the big picture of what I actually have on my plate at any given time. Marijana's project planner has been so powerful for giving me that bird's-eye-view of my business and workload—and has helped me avoid the trap of overloading myself!
Project planner for freelance writers includes:
The planner in Google Sheets. Save it to your Google Drive and start using it instantly.
Directions to customize your planner. Screen recordings, screenshots, and written tips to help you adjust the planner to your clients, currencies, and needs.
Tips for successful project planning as a freelance writer. Make the most of your time and reduce stress and burnout based on 4+ years of trialing and perfecting my process.
Stop spinning your wheels about your capacity as a freelancer.
Plan and predict your income. Schedule projects in a way that enables you to do your best work. The best part? Do it in no more than 10 minutes each week. 🚀
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, freelance health and science writer
As I transitioned from part-time to full-time freelancing, I had trouble managing my finances and keeping track of invoices I needed to issue and who I needed to track down for payment. The planner made it easy to organize my client list, my rates, and how much I was making month to month. The yearly income overview is my favorite, and it lets me see how I'm doing monthly and whether I'm reaching my financial goals for the month. Not only am I more organized than ever, but I also have a better idea of which clients are not helping with my financial goals and which to keep. I would 100% recommend the planner to anyone looking to get their freelance business in order!
Saphia Lanier, content writer and strategist for B2B SaaS brands
I and many other freelancers fall into the trap of accepting any work. Not anymore. I see how much I'm earning for the next six months and feel confident saying no to projects that don't align.
The results I've seen is a 200% increase in income and 50% decrease in workload. The income increase is me visually seeing the difference in rates between new and old clients, which drives me to let them go if they don't agree to increase rates. Or if the workload is eating up too much of my bandwidth that could go to better-paying clients.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be good at Google Sheets or Excel to benefit from the planner?
Not at all! The Google Sheets file you'll receive is easy to use, navigate, and adapt to your needs. You'll also get videos and instructions to help you do that.
How long will I have access? What about future updates?
You'll have access forever, as well as receive any updates and improvements I make based on feedback from planner users. This means you can always grab a fresh copy of the planner from your dashboard if you need it (for example, at the start of a new year).
Can I tweak the planner to a currency that isn't USD?
Absolutely! It only takes a minute, and you'll find a video in your dashboard to help you make that tweak.
Can I track my income even if I invoice clients in more than one currency?
Yup! This option is built into the planner along with a walkthrough video to help you customize your planner.
Will this replace my existing project management tool (like Trello/Todoist/Asana...)?
This planner doesn't replace a project management tool because it isn't made to track deadlines and tasks. Instead, it's the perfect addition to such a tool because the planner helps you understand your capacity and slot projects into the right month. Once you do that, you can move the project and relevant tasks and deadlines into the tool you use to manage tasks and projects.
Get organized and confident about your workload. Grow your income burnout-free.
I've been steadily growing my freelance writing business since 2016. My clients include leading B2B SaaS companies: Shopify, CoSchedule, Zapier, ConvertKit, Pipedrive, and more.
My goal is to let you in on how I run my freelance writing projects and business to get things done, so you can uplevel your own freelance career in a way that fulfills you. Thank you for being here! ✨
