Happy Birthday to ME!
Happy Birthday to me-as-a-business, that is. I’ve officially been a full-time freelancer/digital nomad for one whole year.
This time last January, I was coming down from the double high of a whirlwind two months in Europe followed by a whirlwind family Christmas.
I slumped on my grandma’s couch in Kansas and stared at job descriptions for perfectly nice-sounding 9-5s, feeling nothing but dread.
Today, I’m sitting on the same couch a year later with a semi-successful freelance writing career and a year full of fabulous travel memories. (And still no 9-5!)
Here’s what I wish I knew then that I know now.
1. Side hustles keep you sane
When freelance writing was just my side thing, it was Play: fun and freeing and easy to ignore when I didn’t feel like doing it.
But now that it’s my main gig, it’s Work: more fun and freeing than other kinds of work, sure, but I can’t say no when I don’t feel like doing it.
Enter the side hustle.
In addition to writing this year, I walked dogs with Wag, re-sold things I found on Craigslist for profit, briefly tutored the SAT, and partnered with brands I love on Instagram to make some extra income.
Those gigs helped fill in financial gaps between projects, sure. But more importantly, they helped light up different parts of my brain and get my mind off Work.
It’s okay if your side hustles don’t pay much: the emotional payoff is huge.
2. Some people will be jealous. That’s okay.
“Well, SOME of us have to work tomorrow!”
“Must be nice to have time to sit around all day.”
^ Actual things said to me that would’ve been fine if said in a joking, loving tone, but were actually said in a tone that was catty and bitter.
When I first got comments like that, they made me feel sad and lonely. Those friends didn’t seem to understand that I was working just as hard as they were, sometimes harder, and it hurt to feel dismissed.
I realize now that those kind of comments often come from a place of jealousy. It’s not my job to prove myself or make someone else feel better about a job they hate by downplaying my joy. (I’m also not going to brag about freelancing, because it doesn’t make me a better or more interesting person than someone with a 9-5. Often, it just makes me a more stressed-out one!)
All I can do is keep working and stay kind.
3. Pay your quarterly taxes
Paying Uncle Sam 4x a year is painful, but it’s less painful than waiting until tax time and paying him even more. 🙂
4. Free tools aren’t always worth it
Today I pay Freshbooks for contracts and invoicing, Adobe Acrobat Pro for editing documents, Canva for creating graphics, and Toggl for time tracking. (Almost everything else happens in Google, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Hangouts, and Drive.)
Each of these apps has a free version, but the paid version is SO much more effective and worth every penny. (Plus, you can write them off on your taxes!)
5. Libraries > Coffee shops
It’s the freelance dream: working from cute coffeeshops with other artsy humans, caffeinated and productive.
But as wonderful as coffee shops are for making friends, getting distracted by eavesdropping, or enjoying a lavender latte, I’ve realized they are not good places to get work done. (At least, not for me.) Plus wifi can be spotty, you might not find a charger, and you need to buy something every couple of hours!
That’s why I love the library. There’s always free wifi, plenty of places to charge a laptop, and total silence. If you’re as easily distracted as I am, put your credit card for that latte away and use your library card instead.
6. Just say “I have a deadline”
When you work from home, most people will assume you’re always available.
Family calls during the day, hiking buddies want to hit the trails on their weekday off, and friends who want to go out to lunch are confused when you say you can’t.
Though sometimes I welcome those distractions, other times I actually need to get stuff done.
I used to say something like “Ummm, I should really be working…” and give in even though I knew I shouldn’t, feeling guilty the whole time.
Now, if I’m too busy to do something, I just say “I have a deadline.”
It’s always true, because I always have at least one deadline looming — even if it’s a week from now, and even if it’s just for myself.
7. You’re worth the effort
Every single day, I leave the house at least once in a normal-person outfit —even if only me and my barista will see it.
I keep my space tidy just for me.
I cook fresh, homemade meals for one.
That might sound like the most basic of self-care, but I definitely didn’t start out that way. I saw freelancing as an excuse to sit around in my pajamas all day without showering, and often didn’t leave the house all day unless it was to walk Juno. Gross.
A year later, I still work in sweatpants most days, but I at least make the effort to change from my pajama-wear to café-appropriate athleisure. And I feel SO much better about myself. It’s hard to think “I’m a badass businesswoman” when you’re in last night’s ratty pajama pants with yesterday’s mascara still smeared under your eyes.
8. Your schedule can be as creative as you are
I started freelancing to be location-independent, but it took me awhile to fully embrace being schedule-independent.
I slept in late and took longer lunch breaks, sure, but still worked 10-6 most Monday-Fridays because I thought I had to, and because I wanted to be extra-available for my clients.
Now I take most Fridays off, when the trails and grocery stores are empty. Instead, I work on Sunday evenings, when I always get the Sunday Scaries: if I’m going to be worrying about work anyway, I might as well be DOING it.
I go on long hikes in the middle of the day when work is light and shut my laptop down at 2pm if I’ve had a productive morning. I’ll take an entire day off when I need a mental health break and make it up later. And guess what? As long as I’m communicative and meet my deadlines, no one cares.
Experiment and find what schedule works best for you! It might not be like mine, but I bet it’s not 9-5 Monday-Friday.
9. It’s 100% worth it
As scary as the leap to freelancing is — and yes, it STAYS scary, long after you’ve actually leaped — it’s worth it in the end.
As Edith Wharton once said, “Life is either a tightrope or a feather bed. I choose the tightrope.”
I’m excited to keep learning and growing my freelance business in 2020. Cheers to the tightrope!
The image at the top of the post is me on a trip to L.A. the day after I gave my notice at my full-time job. And hey – it was true.
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