How much can you earn? Really.

How much can you realistically earn as a freelancer?

The short answer is: "As much as you want to earn."

That sounds smartass, but it's as close to the truth as I've found. Virtually all the freelancers I know end up making precisely what they want to earn. Period.

The key word is "want." (Not hope for, or fantasize about, or wish for, but want, deep in your bones.)

There may be  technical and economic realities at work in your profession, but their effect will be puny compared to your desire. You can override all sorts of "realities" when the itch is bad enough.

It all seems to be governed by an 'income thermostat' in the brain circuitry. Let's say your thermostat is set on $100K a year. Which means, to you, making anything less would be unthinkable, intolerable or impractical. Or unacceptable to your spouse.

When you're set on $100K, the sensors in your gut will continually monitor your income by whatever metrics you've chosen.

Maybe the metric is the money owed to you. Maybe it's the number of works in progress, or how many weeks you are booked. For me, it seems to be the number of assignments on my desk. For you, it might be money in your checking account, or the number of invoices you send out on Fridays.

Whenever your gut senses that your income is slipping below $100K you will instinctively and subconsciously turn up the heat. You throttle up. You call people back sooner, send out quotes or estimates faster. Or you will reflexively raise your fees (or lower them, in the hope of attracting more work.) You start calling people, sending e-mails, working your network.

You may find inspiration strikes. You work faster. Frederick Handel, as the story goes, composed his famous "Messiah" in a mere 24 days because he was dreadfully short of cash.

Your burners will stay lit until you sense you are back on the $100 K pace.

At which point, you will reflexively and subconsciously back off a bit. Never mind returning every phone call or e-mail within the hour. Tomorrow is fine. You may blow off assignments that seem dull and small. You may coast through the afternoon and knock off early.

Whenever I take a juicy check to the bank, my productivity sags for a day or two. (Or longer, depending on how fat the check was.) I find it hard to nail myself to the desk when the bank account is bulging.

"Bulging", of course, is a relative term . I have one laid back friend whose notion of 'bulging' wouldn't fill my cookie jar. I also have a hard-driving neighbor who doesn't ease up until the timbers in his attic creak under the weight of gold. I look like a slacker by comparison.

The same dynamic is at work in salaried folk. Which is why you see people continually angling and finagling their way up the organization; their thermostats are set on CFO level salaries and perks. So they instinctively fidget and maneuver till they hit the number.

What determines your thermostat setting?

Most new freelancers seem to shoot for the income they last made on their staff job, or some suitable percentage over that. ("I made $100K on staff. I bet I can make $125K freelancing.") Or maybe they set their sights on some salary they heard about somewhere. ("I heard that Francesco Scavullo gets $25,000 for a one-day shoot.")

It could also be an arbritrary number that seems 'realistic' or 'fair' for their line of work. ("Even the world's best proofreader can't earn more than $50K. It just can't be done.")

Or maybe you pick a number that matches what your peers earn. A figure that would make your parents proud. A number that would get you off the hook with your bookie or credit card company.

Sometimes it's inborn since youth. There was a kid at my high school, known for his smooth ambition and endless hustle. He went on to make millions and make headlines. (Except the poor sap did it at Enron and got 10 years in prison for his trouble.)

Do you truly and earnestly want -- ache -- to make $100K a year? $300K?

Then you will. You will figure it out.  Those backroom boys in your brain will be working the issue a round the clock. 

Do you want to make a million a year?  Just figure out how to generate about $20,000 per week. Or about $4,000 each work day. There are fashion models who earn that. John Grisham and Tom Clancy do that. (Probably several times over.) Actresses and directors make that kind of money. Self-employed people make huge piles of money all the time. But only because they truly WANT to do so, and believe they can.

So the simple answer is: if you're content and happy and feel lucky to earn $50K a year, that's pretty much what you'll earn as a freelancer.

If you itch and burn to earn $150K, that's what you'll end up earning. Same for $472K or $1.58 M.

You will earn, to the penny, pretty much what you want to earn.

And you can quote me.