If there’s one thing remote freelancers may miss about working in an office, it’s celebrating the holiday season with coworkers. From the festive office atmosphere to the holiday parties to the (ahem) holiday bonuses, the holidays make for a fun time at most offices.

Although, as a freelancer, you likely won’t be drinking eggnog with your desk mate this year, there are still a number of items on your to-do list to tick off before the year comes to a close. Here are five things freelancers should do to wrap up the year and plan for the new year ahead!

5 Steps for Wrapping up Your Freelance Year

1. Follow up on Outstanding Projects

Whether you’re heading out for the holidays or enjoying a nice quiet time at home, if you have large projects hanging over your head, you likely won’t enjoy your time away from work as much. Of course, sometimes leftover projects are unavoidable, but it always helps to send a quick follow up email on any assignments that aren’t finished to ensure you and your clients know where you are in the process, what the next step is, and when everything is due.

2. Try to Get Paid

Ah, the freelancer invoice. As the year ends, you might want to send a quick and friendly reminder about any outstanding payments, with the caveat that you are trying to close out your books before the year ends. Again, this won’t always help and you may not get all your money, but it never hurts to try.

Also, keep in mind that for some items, you’ll need to make payments in this calendar year in order for it to count on your tax returns for next year. Any office items you purchase for your business fall into this category.

3. Send Holiday Greetings to Your Clients

Especially if you have clients you’ve worked with all year long, it’s nice to send out holiday cards or a little note of gratitude. Long-term clients are hard to come by as a freelancer, so it’s important not to take yours for granted.

Keeping in close contact with your clients is also a great way to treat your freelance job as an actual business.

4. Send Holiday Greetings to Your “Coworkers”

While it’s true that as a freelancer, you probably don’t work side by side with anyone in particular, what you likely do have is a tight community of other freelancers with whom you network, bounce ideas off of, meet up with, and sometimes commiserate with. At this time of year it’s always nice to check in with them as well to let them know you’re glad to have them in your corner and to say cheers to a productive new year.

5. Create a Business Plan for Next Year

Before the holiday fun can commence, it’s always good to take some time to create your career goals for the next year. Your business plan can include things like a target income (both yearly and broken down by month), as well as objectives like hitting a certain number of new clients or getting published in a specific dream publication.

End With the Beginning in Mind

With all of these items ticked off your to-do list, you can head into the holiday season knowing that you’ve done everything you can to ensure you have a smooth and productive transition into the new year.

If you’re ready to add new freelance clients either now or in the New Year, FlexJobs has thousands of remote and flexible freelance positions for you! Members get access to our database of fully vetted flexible and remote job listings. Learn how FlexJobs can help you grow your freelance business.

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