From $3k to $17k in one month: Lessons from Cassidy’s freelance business / 80

When your income isn't predictable, it can be hard to know whether a slow season is just part of the process or a sign that something needs to change. And when so much financial advice assumes the same paycheck shows up every two weeks, navigating those ups and downs can feel even more frustrating.

In this episode, we're diving into Cassidy's freelance business and taking a transparent look at what her year has actually looked like behind the scenes. After experiencing one of her lowest earning months since becoming a freelancer, she decided to stop waiting for things to turn around and start taking action. 

Listen in to hear about the mindset shifts, money strategies, and business decisions that helped her go from a $3k month to a $17k month — plus the single practice that made her lower-earning months mildly annoying instead of panic-inducing.

✨ Episode Highlights ✨

• [02:00] The reality check that forced a hard look at what was (and wasn't) working in Cassidy’s business
• [04:30] The mindset shift that led her to start pitching clients again after years of relying on referrals
• [05:30] How one vulnerable LinkedIn post turned into a major freelance opportunity
• [07:30] What it felt like to watch savings shrink during a prolonged slow season
• [09:00] Why financial independence is about more than just the numbers for Cassidy
• [12:30] The surprising benefits that came from having less work on the calendar
• [14:00] How a cash cushion helped smooth out months of unpredictable income
• [19:00] The real reasons Cassidy wanted to earn more money again
• [22:00] The challenge of knowing when to stop saying yes to more work
• [33:30] Cassidy's biggest lessons from going from one of her slowest months to one of her strongest

✨ Resources ✨

• Listen to Finance Girlies episode 74 with Arden Missal
• Are you a business owner struggling to stay on top of the books and pay quarterly taxes? Collective can do it for you.* 

*This is an affiliate link, meaning we may earn a commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase using our link. Our promise: We’ll never share affiliate links for products or services we don’t love and recommend. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey girlies, welcome back to another episode. As freelancers, our income can fluctuate a lot. And we know that some of our listeners also deal with fluctuating income. And it's not always easy. So much budgeting and personal finance advice revolves around this idea that you earn the same amount of money every single month. But that's not always the reality. However, we have found ways of dealing with the roller coaster of fluctuating income so it doesn't give us as much whiplash. And to give you an idea of what this looks like in real life, we are diving into Cassidy's freelance business in 2026. So for a little bit of context, it has been a weird year for her. She started out with some of her all-time lowest earning months, but really turned things around for June when she is about to have a really huge financial month. So in this episode, Cassidy's revealing the real numbers, the details behind those numbers, how she's feeling about the ups and downs in her business, and of course, how she is managing her money. Welcome to the Finance Girlies, a podcast for millennial and Gen Z women who are curious about money but have never quite felt at home in traditional finance spaces.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

We are Emily Backdorf and Cassidy Horton, podcast hosts, longtime friends, and finance writers for brands like AOL and Yahoo Finance.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Rather than giving you prescriptive advice, we talk about money the way friends actually do. With stories, questions, and a lot of figuring it out in real time. Okay, Cassidy, to kick us off, your income was quite low for you earlier this year, and you had one of your lowest earning months in years. However, this month is shaping up to be huge. So what exactly happened?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, so for a little bit of context, I feel like the first half of this year, income-wise, has just been really slow. And I have chalked it up to a lot of our clients are still fiddling around with AI. Clients just aren't willing to pay what they used to pay. Seems like the work's dried up a little bit. Like that has been my mindset for a while. And you and I both have been freelancing long enough to also know that these income dips are very normal. And so I'm not, I'm usually not that scared off by them or worried about them when they happen. So I feel like for the past six or so months, especially, I've just been like, things are really slow, they'll turn around eventually. And then fast forward five or six months, and it seemed like every single month my income was just like a little bit lower than it was the month before, and a little bit lower than it was the month before. And so in April specifically of this year, I made exactly $3,000. And that was the lowest income earning month I'd had since I started freelancing in 2019. So that was kind of a wake-up call for me to be like, how like, how long are we going to just passively be like, the industry as a whole is just slow. Work will pick up eventually, you know? And I had already started to have these thoughts a few months ago. And then you and I recorded an episode with Ard and Missile, which is episode number 74. And she was ri that's a great episode. Highly recommend listening to it. But she talked a lot about mindset and just like believing that like the business that you want is out there and that you can create it and that like it's possible and things like that. And I mentioned to her toward the end of that episode that my freelance business had been really slow and that I felt like I'd been mentally writing it off because I just was telling myself companies weren't hiring freelancers and willing to pay them a good rate. And she kind of pushed back on that. And that was kind of the light bulb switch that I needed to be like, maybe I should just start pitching clients again and see what happens. Which at this point, my freelance business, I feel like I get a lot of clients by word of mouth. You know, I will have an editor that I love and work very closely with for a company. Maybe they'll leave to take on another job or they'll get laid off and eventually become an editor somewhere else, and then they'll reach back out to me and be like, hey, we need freelance writers. Do you have the capacity for another client? And that's how I've built my freelance business over the past few years, especially, which is like a very privileged thing to be able to say. And also it's very passive. And so it's been years, I feel like, since I have actively pitched clients in the name of growing my freelance business. But after that episode with Arden, I was like, let's just do some experimenting in May. Let's pick a week and let's just make a list of like maybe every old client you've ever had that you would like to work with again, like reach out to other freelance writers that you know, editors that you've had in the past. Like, let's just see if we can drum up anything. And I made a spreadsheet and I pretty much reached out to people the best way I knew to contact them. If I had their email address, I sent them an email. If we were connections on LinkedIn, I sent them a LinkedIn message. I did cold pitch a few companies. And then I also I think the thing that ultimately ended up helping me the most is I just posted on my LinkedIn and I was like, hey, this is pretty vulnerable, but like I'm down to just a client or so. And I'm needing to drum up more work. So like if you are looking for a freelance writer, I'm available. And it was so sweet. I had so many of my old editors be like, I can vouch for Cassidy, like her work is incredible. But from that, I had a few people reach out to me and be like, hey, I saw your post. I'm actually looking for a writer for this specific thing. And so actually, the biggest client that I ended up getting for June, I have yet to know if this will be a long-term client or not. It could just be a June project where we're too soon into the month to tell. But this client alone is making up like over 50% of the income that I'm making this month, which feels which feels huge. So truly, I went from having like super low income earning months this year for what what feels like low to me historically to a really great month. I'm projected to earn this month like just over $17,000. And that is truly just from warm pitching and getting back out there.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah. I mean, that as you pointed out earlier when we were chatting, like that's more than you made in Q1 alone. Is that right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So that's wild. The other thing I thought when you were talking at the beginning about how just like you were kind of just like, uh, this is what the industry's like. It's just a slow time. I mean, I have been guilty of that too. And I was thinking back to when we were at FinCon, the conference for financial creators, in September of 2025. And the vibe among freelancers was so down. And I wonder if that had anything to do with us just being like, things are bad right now. We'll just ride it out, you know?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

I know. Cause you and I also left that round table feeling a little grateful that we still had like a client or two, and so many people were like, I haven't had any work in forever. And so I think you're totally right that I was like, Well, I guess things are pretty good. Right. All things considered. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

But yeah, it just goes to show, like, you know, that doesn't have to be your reality. Yeah, back to those low months. How did this feel and what was going through your head when you saw that, for instance, $3,000?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

The $3,000 month was shocking, like, not not in a good way. I was like, wow. And truthfully, I I believe that on paper, like if let's see, I had that $3,000 month in April. I think technically $500 of that was an assignment that was due like May 1st, but I was like, I'm counting it for April. So really, I'm like, did I make $2,500 in April? Who's to say? But it I was like, we cannot keep doing this forever. I am very grateful, Emily and Emily and I have talked a bunch before about the importance of having a cash cushion in your budget. So I have both a cash cushion in my freelance like business checking account, and then I also have an emergency fund like in my personal savings account. And I did reach a point where I was pulling a little bit, you know, like maybe my income was enough to cover my rent, but I was still pulling from those funds a little bit to continue to pay myself a consistent income, which is fine. That is what the money is there for. And also, whenever you're seeing money that you've been saving go down, it just does something to you psychologically where you're like, I don't, I don't like this personally. I think another thing that I know to be true about myself and am trying to constantly push back on and rewrite is the fact that I do find so much of my identity in working and in being able to provide like a quote unquote good income for myself. And I think that I can very easily trace this back to my childhood, you know, like seeing certain family members be dependent on not so good people for money. And so just growing up, I was like, I will be financially independent in the sense of I will never have to depend on another person for money. I don't mean financially independent as in like I will I can quit work anytime that I want, but I'm like, it is a source of pride for me to be able to live a joyful and whimsical and full life in a way that feels right for me by my own accord because I am earning the money myself. And I feel like it's hard whenever that does feel so baked into my identity to then go through a slow season because I'm like, who who am I if not some someone who has like a calendar full of work that needs to be done and what feels like a lot of money flowing into my bank account, which I don't necessarily love that about myself, but I am at the point in life where I can recognize it and be like, I think this is truly what's driving me to seek out more work.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Well, I want to point out that like even though you were having those slow months, like because you had that drive to be independent and like financially support yourself, it like wasn't actually a an issue for you. You know, right. Like you got through it fine.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

So there's that.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

And also, I know you've gone kind of through phases over the last, I don't know how many years since I've known you, but like you had a phase where you were like working really, really hard and really long hours and like just really grinding, and then after that year you were like, okay, I need to find more balance and like have some things outside of work to like make sure I'm not working all the time. Did you feel like this kind of slower season were you able to appreciate that extra time and like appreciate, I don't know, having some time to invest in hobbies and friendships and all of that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah, I it's not a perfect system by any means. I mean, you and I have talked about this before, but it's like I feel like I'm the kind of person who needs a certain level of work in my queue to actually be productive. Otherwise, I can end up in this situation where it's like, if I have two articles due in in one week, and I know that those two articles should probably take me six hours total to do, and I should just like commit to to doing the six hours and getting them out of the way. If I know that I technically have a full week, I will start them but not really be paying attention, right? It's like you you feel the time that you have. And so I think in that regard, there were some weeks weeks where I was like, I should feel like I have a break and I should be enjoying this. And also I just keep thinking about how you really need to start those articles that are due. Like you really need to actually make good progress on them, you know, like you find yourself in those types of situations. But I do think by and large, even despite those moments, which I think those moments are kind of normal, I look back on that time and I'm very grateful. Like I did a lot of co-working with friends in person. Um, and I accomplished a lot of our like kind of long-term podcast goals during this season. Like we totally revamped our website, like adjusted our marketing strategies and like who we're pitching, and we've got to interview a lot of guests. And so I also, spoiler alert, started a part-time job during this period, which I will talk about later. But had I not been in a slow season, like I probably wouldn't have sought out this like very fulfilling part-time job that I now have too. So so much good came out of it. Um, and I am I am very grateful for it, but it's definitely a both and where I was trying to tell myself that I needed to enjoy the slow season. And also when you're in the unknown, you're like, but how long is the slow season gonna last? And at what point do I say, All right, Cassidy, it's time to actually start doing stuff again. So yeah, it's never like the true break that you wanted to be. I know.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

What did spending and saving look like for you during those slow months?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

I was not saving anything at all. I actually have not contributed to my retirement accounts since December, I think, and it's June. So, you know, this month, now that I'm having a good income earning month, I will set some of that back into my retirement account. But yeah, was not saving anything at all. And my spending, I was still trying to pay myself the same amount I normally do. So I was like still giving myself the same amount of fun money every month. I was still giving myself the same amount of like, I don't know, travel fund money, for example. So I knew that I had the money in my cash cushion. So I was like, we're just gonna keep going business as usual, but like try to be mindful of not going too crazy on like discretionary spending.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Right. So can you just give like a high-level overview of how you manage your money and pay yourself and build that cash cushion just for other people who maybe have fluctuating income and want to know what that looks like?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

I truthfully feel like, at least in my experience, like everyone needs a cash cushion for these slow seasons. But in order to build a cash cushion, you have to inevitably have months where you're just making way more money than you need. Or I say maybe way more isn't the correct word, but you just need to be making more money than you need to live on, so you actually have extra to set aside. And that's so much easier said than done. And I do feel very fortunate that back in 2024, I had my highest income earning year ever as a freelancer. Uh, my business tax returns had I made $194, $1,000 and some change. And during those months, I was making far more money than I needed to. So I was maxing out my retirement account and I was saving any extra in my business cash cushion, and I was not, I was trying not to inflate my lifestyle in any way. Part of that was I inevitably knew that I was going to get divorced too. So I was, you know, trying to keep everything relatively the same. So I had money to fall back on for moving, for like furnishing a new place, for all of that stuff. And so I knew that I was gonna have like some bigger expenses come up. But yeah, I used those higher income earning months to really just save as much money as possible. And what I didn't know at the time is that in 2026 my income would dry up for a season and I would need to rely on that for actual just living expenses, but that is what it's there for.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

So from like today, going back through 2024, have you always paid yourself the same amount?

SPEAKER_00 15:25

For the most part. So my business is set up like an S-corp and I do all of my stuff through collective. So if you are a business owner and you want to save money by becoming S-Corp, highly recommend them. I've used them since May 2020, and we will actually put a link to them below if you're interested in like scheduling a call to see if they could save you money. But yeah, whenever you're set up like an S-corp, you are you pay yourself a paycheck like you're an employee, and you can do this even if you're not an S-corp. But in my case, I am on my payroll as an employee of my company legally. So anyway, I get paid I think $3,000 a month through that, which isn't a lot. That's like enough to cover like my rent and car payment, essentially. And then I just usually move like maybe $2,500 a month more over manually every single month to cover all of my expenses. So like I am paying myself a steady paycheck, but part of that paycheck I do I do move manually myself. So yeah, I do try to pay myself a consistent amount though.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, I feel like that has been the secret for me to be able to do like any type of budgeting and uh financial planning with my husband. Like, I don't know. I think I spent the first couple years as a freelancer just like being reactive to whatever I earned. And in some cases, I still am, like kind of how you were saying, you know, at the beginning, like this is a slow season, just gonna wait it out. You know, like I find myself definitely still doing that. But in the sense of like what I am getting paid, that has been a game changer because now I can plan and like, you know, yeah, everything is just so much clearer.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

I think it requires some intentionality to be like, as my freelance income changes, this is my game plan for like if I make over X amount of money, this is what I'm gonna do with it. But I also think if you're listening to this and you are a brand new freelancer, unless you just run out the gate having like exceptional months and you're just instantly making more money than you need, this is probably something that you work up to. Like my very first month of freelancing ever, I made $120. Like, I'm not set, I'm setting aside money for taxes out of that, but like that extra $95 or whatever is left, like that's mine, you know? And then my second month I made $540, I think. So it took some time to get to the point where I was like, okay, I am making about how much I need. So like you're not, you might not be building a cash cushion right out the gate unless you're in a situation where like you have a partner and maybe you're able to live on their salary so you can help like start building this thing up or something. Like there are definitely caveats to the situation, but you know, it it takes some time to build up a cash cushion. But as soon as you are able to start building it, it's the secret sauce, it's the ticket, it's the key to being able to not only survive these slower periods, but have it be more of like a minor inconvenience and like a major setback.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Totally. And yeah, I will echo that. Like, I literally don't think a cash cushion was on my radar the first at least two years in business. So I had a very slow and steady uh journey. Okay. So there's a lot to be said about deciding to earn more money and kind of the reality that we have this freedom with the right mindset that is key as freelancers. So I guess you kind of already covered this a little bit, but in case you have anything else to add, what made you decide to earn more? And then on top of that, how did it feel when you actually saw the results and you saw like that work starting to pile up?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, I think the main driver for me trying deciding to go out and try to find more work was simply that I didn't want to keep pulling from my cash cushions forever. And also I was reaching the point where it's like, for example, my sister wants the two of us to go on a cruise next year, and we were looking up how much it would cost, and I was like, this is next year. It's like a full 10 months away, so I'm gonna trust that future me will have this figured out. And also, I would like to be earning enough money right now to be like, oh yeah, that's something I can definitely save up for between now and then. Like, I'm not worried about that, you know? So, like that was a very small thing. Also, just not not being able to save for retirement at the moment, you know? I'm like, I would ideally like to be putting a little something toward there, which you and I have talked about this. And if you're interested, this could be another potential podcast episode. So if you are listening to this and you're interested, let us know. But I'm technically cost FI, which means I have saved enough money in my retirement accounts to where if I never saved another penny, I would have enough money to fund a good retirement by the time I turn traditional retirement age, like 65 or 67. But there's still a part of me that's like, I want to continue to save for retirement though, in case I want to retire early. And early could be like age 50. I'm only 32, but I still want to work toward giving myself that option if I want it. So there's also, you know, the part of me that still wants to be able to save. It's it's also very important to me. Like, I just have so many other goals. Like I feel so passionately about being able to ruthlessly support my friends who are going through difficult times. And I feel like I don't feel like I can do that if I'm pulling from my savings to cover my own living expenses, you know?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Like I just had a friend the other day, she like didn't feel very safe in the apartment where she's living right now, and she hasn't felt very safe there for a few weeks. And, you know, like I in my gut want to be like, I will pay for you to live in an Airbnb like for a month just so your like nervous system can self-regulate, you know. Yeah. Or but I like I did end up offering to buy her a hotel for a night or two, you know. So like I was still able to make it work in some way, but it I have desires like that. Like if I if someone I love is going through a hard time, I want to be able to financially help them. That feels like one of my signs that I'm living like a big, audacious life that feels fulfilling to me. And, you know, like that was another reason why I'm like, I want to earn money so I can do more things like this without being like, well, can I actually am I gonna put myself in a bad financial situation if I do? And so it was just like a bunch of little things like that. I will also say that like as the work has piled back up, my my old stress has bubbled back up. And I think I think that one thing that I really struggle with is knowing when to say no and like when enough is enough. And I'm actually interested. Interested to have this discussion with you. So I will ask you a question in just a moment. But just for more context, I keep in my spreadsheet a running list of how much money I've made every single month. And then it's averaged at the bottom. So usually what I do at the beginning of the year is I will say, my goal is to make X amount of money. And I'll just throw out my goal for this year was $115,000. I was like, that is an income goal that I feel good about. And so then in my spreadsheet, I have like this is your current average, like out of all of the all of the income you've earned so far this year, this is what that's currently averaging out to to be a per month. If you want to hit your target of making $115,000 at the end of this year, this is what your monthly average needs to be. And then I have another thing that's like based on what your current monthly average is, this is actually how much you're projected to make. So I have all of those math calculations going on. And I think what happens to me is like I feel the urge to play catch up. So even though I have technically funded these slow months and I've gotten by, and I should be like, you know what? I'm not in debt because of them. I should just be able to write them off as like I survived. This is a new month, like this is how we're doing. I think because I see all of these projections, I'm like, dang, if I want to end this year making $115,000, I've got to scoot it. Like I need work, I need work, I need work. And I'm just I'm trying to push back on that and question that. So my question for you is do you also feel this urge after a slow season? Or do you just kind of are you able to compartmentalize and see, like, this is how much I want to earn in a high month. I'm not really willing to go over this to protect my own work-life balance. Like, what is your strategy? Because my strategy is just to say yes to everything and pile it on and be stressed and be like, we'll figure it all out, we'll work weekends, we're making money. My gosh. Okay, I have a lot of thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

One is I was actually just thinking about this the other day, and I feel like I made a mental note actually to tell you, and now I'm thinking of it again. So this is perfect. I was thinking that every year in my business I've made more than the year before. Sometimes not by much, but every year a little bit more. And at the rate this year is going, that's not gonna happen this year. And I think it being June right now, I think it's a hundred percent possible that will change. I think I tend to be optimistic in that way. But I was thinking, like, okay, what if it doesn't? What if this year I do earn less than in previous year or two years or whatever? I think I would be disappointed. Like I I and maybe a little hard on myself. So I definitely feel that a little bit for sure. That would be, I don't know, kind of a tough pill to swallow.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

At the same time, I think about what we're building with this podcast and like all of the work we've done with that and all of like, you know, the days I've been able to take off and like spend with family or visit friends and just like enjoy life in our new town and all of these things that I wouldn't put a price tag on, you know? Mm-hmm. And I am just, I don't know. This sometimes this bothers me about myself, and I know you see it as a like a benefit, but sometimes it feels like a glitch, is like I would love to just be able to say, like, okay, this is what needs to happen, we're doing it. But I get to a point where I'm like, I'm not willing to sacrifice a certain amount, I'm not willing to like stress myself out a certain amount. I don't know if that's like a something I developed like during the pandemic of like just feeling borderline anxious all the time, but I don't seem to be able to like pass a certain threshold willingly, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's your in the in the words of our friend Kristen, it's your fatal flaw superpower. It's like the thing that you're so good at that it can be to your detriment sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yeah. I feel like we have you and I have like the opposite fatal flaw superpowers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

And I I feel like we're both may I feel very inspired by yours. I won't speak for the reverse, but I feel like we're constantly trying to move toward the middle, you know, of each other. It's like we're on both ends and we're looking out over the chasm of like, I want to be more like Emily. I want to be more like Cassidy. And then it's just us both trying to incorporate a little more of the other's work style. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Which is why this podcast is destined for greatness, because yeah, we're doing it together.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

I know, I know. It's so good. But yeah, I also mentioned this to Emily before we started recording, but it if you are at all familiar, and I don't know what the psychological concept or name for this is, I'm I'm blanking on it. But it's like say you go to buy something and that thing costs $1,000, and you're like, well, I could get this thing for a thousand dollars, or I can get this upgraded version for like $1,200. Your brain almost doesn't see the extra $200 as a lot of money. It's like, what's $200 extra dollars if I'm already spending a thousand? Like, sure, I'll do this one. I feel like the same thing happens when I find myself having a lot of work to do one month. So for example, if I already have 20 articles in my queue and then a client comes along and they're like, hey, can you do these four things for us? My brain is like, what's four more things when I already have 20? Like, sure, pile them on. And then another client will come along and be like, Hey, can you do these two things? And I'm like, What's two more things that I'm already doing 24 things? Like, sure, I'll do it. And so I that's not good because everything that I say yes to is taking up a few hours of my time. But I think also whenever it's spread out over the course of the month, my brain is like, we can find an extra five hours in a week to get these extra two things done. Like it's just five hours in one week, you can do it, you know? And like that's that's not technically incorrect, but I don't think it's serving me well, you know. Because then I inevitably reach a point where I'm like, my God, what I would do just to have one client email me and be like, actually, we need to pause this work, and then I get like five hours of my time back for the week, you know? And I'm like, if you would be so grateful to have a client message you and be like, I need to take these articles away from you, I'm so sorry, then maybe that's your sign to just guard your time a little bit better and not say yes to to everything. So I don't know. It's I'm a work in progress in that department, truthfully.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

So what like we are recording this June 11th. So you're in the thick of June, this busy month. How are you feeling? And like, what would be your thoughts if you had this same workload next month? Like, is it sustainable? What's going on?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

I don't I don't think it's sustainable. I feel bad for all the loved ones in my life who have to constantly hear me say, My God, I've got so much writing I need to do today. Yeah, I I do think I've been looking at my workload and I have like, let's see how many clients do I have at the moment. One, two, three, four, five. So I have five clients this month for a total of seventeen thousand dollars. And so there are two clients in particular where I'm like, I think if you could get these clients off your plate, like they're your they're they pay the lowest and require like just amount just as many hours as everyone else, or maybe a little bit more. And so I think just from a financial standpoint, I'm like, if I could get those hours back, I don't really feel like I would miss a little bit of money that they're bringing in. It's like a thousand dollars combined for for both for like both of them, you know. So I think in that regard, I'm like, if I was going to duplicate this in some regard next month, I would maybe just keep like the the top three highest paying clients and maybe accept less work from some of them, you know, but just try to still have a good month, but also be smarter about how that's breaking down behind the scenes, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Mm-hmm. If that makes sense. I feel like I try to think about this all the time, but it's hard to be concrete and like make kind of like a tangible vision. But I wanted to ask you, what does your ideal freelance business look like? So, like, how much are you earning, how much are you working, and what is the type of work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

So last year I went through divorce babe episodes on that, and I pretty much felt like I was building my personal life budget from scratch. I was like, based on my current freelance income or based on the income I'm trying to earn, like this is the apartment that I can afford, this is the car that I can afford, like this is how much I want to be able to set aside for my financial goals. And what I decided on when I was doing all of that math last year was that I needed to bring in like around $115,000, maybe $120,000. And that would give me enough to still set aside 25 or 30% for taxes, pay my health insurance premiums, fund my retirement accounts. I do think that math had me maxing out my retirement account, my solo 401k every year, setting aside, I don't know, like a couple hundred dollars a month for travel and like other goals and things, and like still covering all of my bills and expenses. So like I actually need far less than $120,000 to live off of. But that was kind of like my this would be a great salary. I would feel like I can do anything I want to do with this much money. And what does that break down to per month? 10K? Yes. That breaks down to 10K. So realistically, once again, this is another mindset thing to push back on. I'm like, once I hit 10K in a month, I should be like, this is it. We need to turn off the faucet and just enjoy, reroute all of that extra time to enjoying your life and pursuing all these other things that are equally as important to you or more important to you than work. And yet when I think about just seeing 10K come in, I'm like, but couldn't we do a little bit more? And I think that is the downside of having months where you have like 17k in earnings, for example, because then 10k feels small and 10k is not small. Like 10K is sizable and great, but it's like your it's it's your anchor point, it's what you're used to. And you're like, well, if I had a 17k month, then 10k feels very small in comparison when really that's not the case. I feel like I have a lot of personal mindset work to do. But ideally, that should be how much I want to earn, and that should be enough.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Okay, so 10k, how like how many hours a day or a week, however you want to break it down, would you be working?

SPEAKER_00 32:29

I feel like based on my current workload, I have 25 articles this month. I'm like, what is that? Maybe 17, like 15 articles a month is getting me there. It's like five a week, four a week, four or five articles a week calling it done, which would be maybe like twenty-five hours of writing. Twenty-five. Yeah, that feels good.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Would you be doing the same type of work that you're doing right now?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, I think so. I I like the articles that I'm writing and I feel like I'm getting paid well for them. So I would keep them up. I will say, once again, long term, like our goal for this podcast is to be copywriting optional. And I hope that that becomes our reality in the next few years. But next year. This year.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Okay, and to wrap us up, what are your biggest takeaways from running your business this year so far? And these don't need to be like big tidy lessons or profound thoughts. Just casually, what are your biggest takeaways?

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Yeah, I've I've got a few just thoughts that have filtered through my brain this year, especially over the past few weeks. And I think the first one is if you were out there and you're also like freelance writing feels like a dying industry, it feels dead. I don't know if there is any truth to that, but also reaching out to your network can still pay off. So, like the industry might be going through changes, but that doesn't mean that work isn't out there. And I've thought throughout this month quite frequently at something we've heard Sarah Turner say, which she is our copywriting mentor. And early on, I don't know if you remember this, like when we were building our freelance businesses, and someone would inevitably ask, like, there's so many finance copywriters out there, like, isn't it oversaturated? Like, isn't there far too many people in this industry already? And she would say something to the effect of, like, you just need five to ten clients. Like, there is enough work for everyone out there, and you don't need the entire industry to want to work with you. You just need five to ten clients who are willing to pay you well. And given the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of potential clients out there in this one niche, like your odds of being of earning money are good, you know? And I think that that also applies to this industry. It's like, by and large, are there crazy shifts happening? Sure. And also, I am convinced after doing this experiment that you can find some clients who are willing to pay you what you need to like cover your living expenses or to earn as much money as you want to be earning. So I think that's the first one. I also think we've had proof of this time and time before, but you can truly go from having the worst month that you have had in a long time to having one of the best months you have had in a long time. And freelancing is just truly unpredictable like that. Can it be a little addicting? I think so. I think so. It's like just an emotional liplash roller coaster, but here we are and we're riding it. And I think after us being in it for so many years, I'm like, woo, we're going up and will we go down next month? I don't know. Stay tuned. But yeah, it's I don't know. It's like the it doesn't, it's not a reflection of you in any way. I think it's just the nature of freelancing, truly. But all of that said, my other thought is that it makes me so, so, so, so happy to have a cash cushion to lean on in slower months. And once again, if you don't have one, try to build one at at a pace that feels reasonable for you when you can, because it will truly turn like a a panicky, I don't know how I'm gonna pay my bills kind of situation into a like, wow, it sucks to not really be earning that much money. But thankfully I can still like cover my bills, cover my expenses, keep on business as usual in my personal life. So that feels that feels really good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Those are all really good takeaways. And yeah, I feel like in freelancing you kind of learn the same lessons over and over. You do. And every time they get a little more clear. Like, oh yeah, we've been here before. This is something worth remembering.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

If you're listening to this and you are a freelancer, I mentioned collective earlier. Truly, truly love them. They do my bookkeeping, they do my taxes, they help me save money on taxes, which feels important. They tell me how much I need to pay in quarterly estimated taxes, all the things, well worth the money. If you are at all interested in looking into them, links in the show notes below.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Love ya, bye. That's a wrap on another episode of the Finance Girlies podcast. Nothing in this episode is meant to be taken as financial advice.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Please do your own research and talk to a professional if you need advice. If you like this episode, consider leaving a review. Better yet, send the show to a friend who might enjoy it too. Love ya, bye. Nailed it.