2019: A Year in the Life of a Freelancer
9 lessons in this terrible, wonderful year.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was te age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…” — Charles Dicktens, “A Tale of Two Cities.”
2019 was both one of my most difficult years ever and also one of the most amazing and creatively fulfilling years of my life.
And I hit my money goal in December despite struggles. I made almost nothing in the first 6 months of 2019 — but managed to make enough in the second half of the year to exceed what I made last year!
I wrote a series of posts about my struggle with IVF but, of course, it can only say so much and is not a daily diary of the worst 8 months of my life.
Infertility is difficult and emotional, yes. Of course, it is. But the medical process, the hormones and emotions and doctor’s visits and everything that goes along with it were worse than just “difficult.”
I can confidently and unapologetically say that IVF is the worst thing I’ve ever gone through. Not because it didn’t work (it didn’t), not because it hurt (most of the time it didn’t), not just because of the emotional rollercoaster, but because of all of it combined.
It was the only time in my life I have ever become depressed. I have GAD and have always been anxious, but never depressed.
I spent the first half of 2019 depressed.
I struggled to find the motivation to do even the most mundane tasks, not to mention harder or bigger things like work and build a business. I was having a tough time forcing myself to get out of bed every day and even play at being a business owner and do work. I didn’t market my business at all and took on no new clients. I did the work I had to, and that’s it.
Unfortunately, that culminated in making only $17,000 from January through June of this year.
Second half of the year
In June and July, I got back in it and went hard marketing myself and finding new clients.
IVF ended. I sought help and worked with a therapist for a time. The meds stopped and I started to feel like myself again.
By August, my husband and I were ready to leave the house and start to live our lives again and we went on a vacation to Seattle and then Alaska. We visited his parents in Massachusetts. We started feeling “normal” again.
And my business picked up. By August, I was busy. It felt really good.
Then in September, I decided now was the perfect time to write my next book, despite being crazy busy.
In October, I was working into the evenings and weekends, meeting deadlines and having accidentally overbooked (ha) myself with manuscript edits. I had my first ever $10,000 month!
In November, I was still insanely busy, but managed to successfully launch my third book to positive feedback and reviews.
And now, I am wrapping up a busy, productive, successful, profitable half a year.
In July through December of this year, I made up for the tough start and made over $50,000.
In just 6 months.
Which put me just above what I made last year and still more than I was making in my last full-time corporate job over 3 years ago (after almost 10 years in corporate America).
I also spent about 2.5 months writing daily blog posts here on Medium, an experiment I’d never tried before. I am a top writer in several categories and am over 5.5 thousand followers now. It was a good experiment and forced me to be creative and stretch myself in a new way (I’d never blogged every single day before).
This year’s lessons
This year has taught me several things.
- It’s ok to falter sometimes. It’s ok to take the time I need to recover from something traumatic and deal with it.
- A bad month or 6 does not define me or my business.
- Marketing is always king. I knew this, but it was confirmed yet again.
- I can make even more next year. Doing so well in only 6 months and making up for the first half of the year showed me it was possible — without bringing on more people. Just me in my business.
- Writing new books and bigger projects are still possible, even when slammed with work.
- My love of book editing was reinforced. I love it and hope to make it an even bigger part of my business in 2020.
- Clients understand and empathize. I had to tell people I was going through some medical stuff and be honest about my limits — and they stuck with me.
- I must prioritize my mental health. My first ever depressive time has shown me the negative feedback loop of depression. I am now prioritizing my mental health in a way I never have before. I am very aware of it and am working every day to be healthy and happy.
- I love to challenge myself. No matter how busy I am, I love coming up with new ideas and projects to work on.
What’s next?
2020 is coming and I am excited to see what’s next. I still have PTSD-like flashbacks and issues with IVF, but I’m working on it. My business is thriving, I am feeling good, and things are moving forward.
I already have plans and am finally putting together the second volume of You Are Not Alone, to be traditionally published next year.
I have started writing a fiction novel (YA dystopian).
I have clients I love working with who also have big plans for the next year.
The future is bright!
Check out my brand new book Concept to Conclusion: How to Write a Book and learn everything you need to know to conceive of, outline, write, publish, and market a book!
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