How to Do Strategic Planning for Writers

Strategic planning is important for business people, but especially important for writers. Many writers are strong in the creative arena but lack the focus and logical thinking so necessary for successful strategic planning. Anyone serious about making money through freelance writing, passive income, or affiliate income should do strategic planning now for next year to create a road map to success. Here's how writers and anyone in the "infopreneur" business can do their own strategic planning.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Pen
• Computer
• Three hours of time
• Calendar

1. The strategic planning process begins with goal setting, and any strategic plan worth its salt begins with goals. Set your goal. How much money do you wish to make from your writing next year?

2. Next, list your current writing income on your paper or type it into the computer. In the next column, list your desired income. Subtract your current income from your desired income. That's the gap you need to fill. Your strategic plan will focus on filling that gap!

3. Create a list of your current writing outlets - eHow should be top among them, since it is consistently cited as a good place for earning residual income. You need to get a firm handle on who your current clients are. List approximately how much money you make from each.

4. What do you currently do to market your writing? List your current marketing methods. It's not enough to write - you must be fluent in promoting your articles in today's online world. List the methods you are currently using.

5. Now begin to write your strategic plan. You know what your revenue goal is, and you know who your current clients are. Is there a way to create more income from your existing clients? Perhaps you could write one more eHow article per day, improve keyword research, or add more social networking sites to your marketing to increase your reach.

6. Other strategic steps you might take to achieve your writing revenue goals may include: adding additional article writing venues to your client list, adding more private clients such as companies who hire you for your writing, writing an E Book, writing private label rights (PLR) articles, and other methods.

7. Finish your strategic plan with action steps you will take to accomplish your goals. If your new goal is to write an E Book, what are the steps you need to take to get there? Perhaps you can write a chapter per week. Make concrete steps with reasonable deadlines and break everything down into small, manageable goals and steps.

Tips & Warnings

• Write out your plan! People who have written plans tend to follow them.
• Set goals that are a bit of a stretch but achievable.
• Avoid writing sites that ask you to pay an upfront fee - you should never have to pay to publish!

Resources

• Good to Great, one of the most famous resources for planning
• Writer's Market, great source of writing markets

[wiseguy007]

on 11/19/2009 Jeanne,

Great article. Very informative. As both a published author and aspiring screenwriter I agree with everything you ahve to say. When I get into the thrill of creativity and fall into that zone that places me in a world only I can see, I often forget to do advance planning for the actual career so I can tyurn things into money. The time of this article made for a nice reminder as my head has been in the clouds for that past couple of months now. Thank you.

[reynoldsrap]

on 11/19/2009 Outstanding job, well presented...5*