What Worked (and What Didn’t) for You as a Writer in 2025

We'd love to hear about your year. We want to know what worked (and what didn't) for writers in 2025. I talk with a lot of writers every week, and their businesses were all over the place. In July, one of my coaching clients told me, "I just had one of the best months of my business!"

In a conversation in September, another told me, "I haven't had a client in 45 days, and I'm not getting any responses to my pitches and outreach." Some of the writers I've talked to had banner years. Some struggled or had no business at all. Most were somewhere in the middle. All want next year to be even better, so they're doing some planning right now.

End of the year business planning is something Trudy and I take seriously. We follow a process:

1. Review the year we've just had.
2. Celebrating wins and make note of what needs improvement.
3. Closing loops and reset our businesses for a successful year
4. Decide what we want next year to look like and reverse engineer to set objectives that allow us to meet that goal.

It sounds like a lot, but it's a fairly simple process. And we're going to take you through it with us this month!

So before we start planning for 2026, let's look at 2025.

What Worked in 2025

The Clients

Start by evaluating your clients. Which ones were easy and enjoyable to work with: the ones who communicated well, paid on time, and respected your process? Make a note of them, because those are the relationships you want more of next year.

Look at the:

• Problems you solved for them
• Kinds of projects they hired you for
• Deliverables you produced
• Rates you earned

Then look at the clients you didn't enjoy working with. Why not? Were they late payers, micromanagers, or heavy on revisions? Write those down too, so you can move away from that kind of work in the coming year. Start a simple list of red flags you'll watch for so you don't end up stuck in projects that suck.

The Projects

Next, review the projects themselves.

• Which work felt straightforward and satisfying?
• Which required more effort than it should have?

This helps you see the type of work you're well suited for and may want to prioritize, even if you haven't built your business around it yet.

The Processes

Finally, take a look at your processes.

• How did you handle client intake?
• Did your schedule for drafts and revisions help the work move along, or did it slow you down?
• Are there parts of your day-to-day workflow that you want to simplify?

Make notes on what needs attention in the new year and what you want to continue.

What Didn't Work

Every year includes projects that didn’t go well. Instead of turning them into stories about what you should have done, treat them as data. Maybe a project expanded beyond what you agreed to. Maybe you took on work outside your strengths. Maybe a client expected more support than you could give. Learn from those situations.

Take a look at your marketing, too. You may have spent time posting in places that never brought in clients or promoting offers that interest you but not your audience. This can help you figure out where your time is better spent.

Also consider your time management. If you often ran out of time to think or write, that points to an issue with workload or planning. Pay attention to it so you can adjust next year and match your work to your capacity.

Use These Insights While Planning 2026

1. Update your mental image of your real client. Not the client you hope to land someday (ideal), but the client who hired you this year and was a good fit (real). What did they need? Why did the work go well? Use this to guide your marketing in 2026.

2. Identify the projects that came together with the least friction. This may indicate your strongest offers both personally and professionally. If you want to raise rates or fill your calendar with more predictable work, start here.

3. Make a short list of projects you won't take in 2026. Write down the types of work or situations that drained you, irritated you, or made you want to scream. Decline those in 2026 instead of negotiating yourself into projects you know won't serve you or your business.

4. Track where clients came from. You may discover that your strongest leads came through referrals, repeat clients, or marketing you didn't think much about. These are the channels worth spending time on next year.

5. Adjust your capacity based on facts. If you hit the same wall more than once, look at what was happening each time. Something needs to change.

A Special End of the Year Offer for You from Boss Responses

The "Find and Sign Your Ideal Client" kit is 30% off. We've packaged some of our best resources to:

• Help you figure out who your ideal client is
• Show you how to market specifically to them
• Teach you how to master that discovery call and proposal

All so you can find and sign your ideal clients. These are proven resources Treasa uses with her 1:1 coaching clients.

She's also offering a 50% discount on her Freelancing Redefined group coaching program. The next cohort starts in January! Freelancing Redefined is a 6-month group coaching program that helps you move from task-taker to collaborative partner so you can work with better clients and build the business you need so you can live the life you want.

That's it for review!

Set aside some time this next week to look through your 2025 projects, clients, income and routines. Look for what worked and what didn't. I promise you that those observations will guide your upcoming planning far more effectively than a list of New Year's resolutions.

If you want to share about your 2025 or you want help interpreting what you discover, let us know. We're here for you and want 2026 to become your best year yet!

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