There’s a lot of talk about fresh starts and turning over new leaves at this time of year. It’s easy to find advice about making resolutions for the New Year and how to become a “better you” in the months to come.

Whether or not you believe in resolutions – or trying to make huge life changes in January – the New Year is a great time to take stock of your work life, especially for freelancers. You can tap into all of the “new” energy and reflect and think about what you’d like to achieve in 2016:

• What was the most satisfying assignment you had last year and how can you focus on that type of work?
• Did you make has much money as you would like to, or think you should have?
• Which projects did you accept, but wish you hadn’t?
• What is one assignment you’ve never had, but would love to find?
• How can you be sure to keep the clients you need or want, and find new ones to replace the work that you’d rather not do?

Best Project of 2015
Start with your successes and identify the most rewarding aspect of your business in the past year. Why did you enjoy it? How did you get the assignment? How can you attract more of that kind of work? If you take time to think about your most enjoyable projects and how you landed them, you can focus on finding more. Maybe it was a project that played to your strengths, or it might have been your most profitable assignment. Once you’ve established the type of project you like best, make a list of potential clients you’d like to seek out in the coming months.

Out with the Old
After you’ve identified the highlights, make a list of the clients and/or assignments that you suffered through in 2015. Why were they so challenging? How can you avoid taking on difficult projects in the future? The work that most frequently falls into this category are projects you accepted because you felt you had to — you needed the money or you didn’t want to offend a client who might bring you more work in the future. Whatever the reason, you tried it and it wasn’t the right fit. Time to move on and focus on more fulfilling and profitable parts of your business.

Dollars and Cents
Let’s face it. No one enjoys every minute of their work life, at least I’ve never met anyone who does. A fraction of your assignments will be ones you take on because they pay the bills. As long as that’s not the lion’s share, you’re in good shape. That said, a freelancer can dream… and aspire to enjoy every project they accept! That’s why it’s so important to identify the type of work and clients that you enjoy the most so you can look for more. Also, if accounting isn’t your strong suit, it’s even more essential to force yourself to sit down and look at your income vs. expenses. If you’d like to increase your income, finding projects you enjoy – and succeed at – could be the way to do that.

More of What You Love
Now it’s time to find time for all of those things outside of your working life that you’ve ignored or put off because your personal enjoyment took a back seat. If you’d like to spend more time with friends, or get to the gym more than once a month, put those dates in your calendar like you would a client meeting. Then keep those appointments! If you get into the habit of scheduling these “extras”, you’ll start to keep the commitments and gradually create the work-life balance you’re looking for.

Do you have any tips or tricks to kick start your business in the New Year? Let us know!