Take a few hours, or even a couple of days, and think how the past 12 months have served your freelancing career. If you were organized with your bookkeeping, you can easily track a pattern with the type of tasks and projects that you tackled, and whether or not you easily achieved a regular cash flow.
You may be able to look back and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back for wisely selecting tasks that highlight your competencies. Or you may have dealt with several difficult clients by negotiating effectively.
Now, for the coming year, I'd like to ask all professional freelancers out there to do one thing:
Be bolder in 2014.
Even if you were satisfied with how 2013 turned out for you, keep in mind that there will always be room for improvement.
To illustrate, let's say you have consistently written and sold copy to small business owners. Maybe 2014 is the time to arrange everything in a portfolio, physical or online, and start showing them to entrepreneurs involved in other lines of business.
Or, maybe you have gotten enough experience in writing feature articles by writing for your church or community newsletter, submitting product reviews for trade journals, or querying for publications with a limited circulation. It's now time to browse through better known magazines and periodicals with a higher honorarium rate.
If you have made enough money to spare for tuition fee, you can also enroll in a class or seminar, where you can study a topic in greater depth. It doesn't always have to be skills-based. You can find out everything you can in order to add to your stock of knowledge and be able to mentor or train others afterwards.
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