November is a perfect time for travel writers and bloggers to re-evaluate goals. Look back on what has happened so far in the current year and make a strategic plan for 2022. It’s a great time as a travel writer to choose one to three BIG goals for next year and then create a plan to achieve them.
It’s never too late to implement good travel blogging techniques and tactics.
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2022 Content Creator Goal Setting
A goal is a dream with a deadline
I wanted to chat about taking time this November to pause and review your website, blogging goals and/or freelance writing goals. By mid-November, you are deep enough into the year but have enough time to prepare for next year.
I’m not only in the midst of figuring out what I want to focus on for 2022 for this podcast, but also for my travel website 52 Perfect Days as well as my new website, Travel in Missouri, which launched in Spring.
Steps to Achieve Goals
My suggestion is to use the medium you like best — pen and paper, a whiteboard, a spreadsheet, or index cards. You must be organized and keep track of your goals.
One project at a time, choose a few BIG goals. I suggest three max. Get out of your own way and choose only a few goals. As bloggers or freelancers, we are inherently entrepreneurs and I have coached enough content creators to say, most of you want to have it all and want it now.
But, it’s not time to be Veruca Salt, if you want to treat your blog like a business or you want to become a more established travel writer. So, if you really can’t narrow it down, then prioritize your goals and work on the first three ONLY. Then you can move on to the next goals.
I have found that if my goal is to achieve everything, I most likely achieve a bit of everything, but don’t reach any of the goals. With too many goals, it’s easy to get frazzled, find yourself down rabbit holes, or do nothing because you are paralyzed by what task you should be doing. You must have these steps to achieve goals.
So, with that in mind, I strongly suggest you focus on starting with one goal at a time for the planning phase.
For example, here are 3 random goals for 2022 and one is to reach grow your Instagram to 5k followers, or maybe your goal is 50k followers. A 2nd goal is to get accepted for a media trip (again, this could be your first media trip or your dream media trip) and a third goal is income-based — it could be to earn your first $100 from your website or freelancing or it could be to double your income.
Whatever your goals, start with one, and for this example, let’s stick with the Instagram growth. First, I would answer 1 question. Why is your goal to build your followers on Instagram?
Is it for sponsored posts or because you think it will help with media trips? Know the bigger reason for your goal and let’s call it an end goal or reward, otherwise, you could find yourself at the end of next year with a lot of IG followers and wonder why this was so important.
For goals such as increasing income, it’s a bit easier to quantify. But, you could still attach a bigger goal or end reward. Is it so you can hire a VA, or save to travel?
You should have your goal written on paper or a spreadsheet or whiteboard as well as your end goal or reward. Remember, a dream written down with a date becomes a goal.
Monthly Goals, Quarterly Goals
Next, set a date you want to achieve the goal. Based on this I like to work backward. So, Let’s say you set a date of June 30th, which is the end of the 2nd quarter of the year, you can then look at the first 2 quarters of the year.
So, you could say by end of the 1st quarter you want to hit 2k new followers, and by end of q2 you want to grow by another 3k. These are still overarching goals. I’d then take the next step of breaking the quarters down to months — which gives you 6 months to set specific tasks to reach your goals.
Then at the start of each month, when you set your monthly goals, you can include specific tasks to help you reach the IG followers. Then with the monthly goals, set weekly and then daily tasks to work on that will help you reach the bigger goal.
The bottom line is that a goal is just a goal unless you create and follow through on the tasks to reach the goal.
Once you have broken down one goal like this — into quarters, months, weeks, and days with the tasks to complete, then move on to the next goal.
You can then decide if you want to work on a 2nd goal at the same time or wait until you complete your 1st goal.
Because don’t forget these bigger goals are only one piece of the pie. You will still have your regular daily and weekly tasks associated with being a blogger or freelancer.
One other piece to all of this is that it is 100% okay at any time to re-evaluate, shift or change direction.
The biggest suggestion I have is to know where you want to with your blogging or writing. Sitting down at a desk every day and doing random tasks based on something you saw on Facebook or your email, is a fast way to spend a lot of time not working towards goals and can leave you feeling exhausted and a hamster on a wheel. You are busy, but not really accomplishing anything meaningful.
2022 Totally Anonymous Travel Writer / Blogger Survey
Because I’m in the midst of reviewing my 2021 goals; the ones I have achieved and the ones’ I’m still working on, it got me thinking about the best way to continue the Break Into Travel Writing Podcast.
As I work on the goals I want to set for this podcast, I’d also like to understand your goals as a travel writer/blogger/ or content creator. Based on the goals you have, I’d love to know what content you’d most like to see this podcast focus on in 2022.
I’ve put together a quick travel writer/blogger survey — and it’s anonymous — and I would LOVE for you to give me feedback on your blogging, freelancing or writing goals for 2022. I’d also love to get your feedback on this podcast. I’d love to hear what topics you want to understand more, and any guests you’d like to see me interview. You get the gist! I promise it’s a short survey, but I would absolutely love for you to take a few minutes and give me your feedback — the good, bad and ugly.
I truly and sincerely want you and as many other travel bloggers and writers to give me feedback. So, if you are the sharing type — please forward the survey link to any content creators in the travel niche.
Let’ work together to help you have less overwhelm and achieve your goals!
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