2021 Freelance Income Report: Q1

I’ve been way absent from this blog as of late. I’ve really ramped up in work this quarter and with zero childcare, it’s been kicking my butt. There has been a lot of late nights and working on the weekends. Chris and I worked out a schedule during the workweek that I would take two hours during the day to work, but usually, I also end up working most afternoons while the baby is sleeping and Olivia is playing with toys while watching TV.

Wins

I had some pretty cool stuff come my way. I started getting regular work with an agency writing articles for Cancer Treatment Centers of America. The pay isn’t great, but I can now write these articles in under an hour and a half, so I’m still making about $80 an hour with them. Plus, they’ve been wonderful to work with.

I’ve also been getting assignments from Healthline on telehealth and health reviews regularly.

I got an article published in Shondaland which has been a goal publication of mine and was paid $650 for my personal essay on choosing my egg donor.

I started working with an amazing B2B company that works in the telehealth space, and had my first article published there. I’m hoping to get a lot more work with them going forward.

Finally, I onboarded with a big company in the fertility space that has been a dream of mine to one day write for. I start this month on a monthly retainer and I’m so excited for this opportunity.

Here’s what I accomplished this quarter

• 37 LOIs sent which gave me 5 new clients
• 9 potential clients that I may work with in the future
• Attended the Parenting Journalism Virtual Conference
• I got my first retainer client
• Wrote 41 articles for 18 different clients
• Started taking coaching calls with new writers
• Set up a business checking account with a savings

Q1 freelance income breakdown

January:

• Wrote 9 articles
• Worked with 4 different clients/publications
• $1,450 in income

February:

• Wrote 16 articles
• Worked with 12 different clients/publications
• $3,695 in income

March:

• Wrote 16 articles
• Worked with 7 different clients/publications
• $4,000 in income

Total so far in 2021: $9,145

I’ve been really cautious about setting goals for this year after last year was so unpredictable/I was going through some shit/life was messy. But I think I can set an income goal of $40,000 which is lofty considering the uncertainty of what my childcare situation is going to look like. Back in 2018, I netted $24,300 in freelancing, and in 2019 I made about $12,500. So it’s a stretch, but I’m going to see what happens. I would need to make $3,428 a month here going forward which is doable. I think. We’ll see what comes.