2024 Freelance Income Report: Q1

I went in to the start of this new quarter without expectations. I mean, I made goals. In my last income report post, I made my 2024 goal of $40,000 and a stretch goal of $60,000. A goal of $40,000 means making $10,000 per quarter, or $3,333 a month. With $60,000 that works out to $15,000 per quarter and $5,000 a month.

This quarter was a slow start. January tends to be slow, but then it started picking up. I actually was on target to hit over $4,000 in March, but because some assignments got delayed, I didn’t end up invoicing for them until April 2nd. So I did a lot of work in March, but 3/4ths of that income ended up going to April’s income.

I started working with two new clients this quarter, one of which is a publication I had been wanting to write for, and another was a client that seems promising for more work down the road. My articles ranged from $200 to $750, though admittedly, many of them were on the lower end. But in addition to writing articles, I also did some medical review/fact-checking for one of my favorite clients which ended up being fun and gave me a good hourly rate. I also did some website copy for a new client that landed me $1,000 and I’m hopeful to get to do more with them. I wrote about aging-in-place, sleep topics, bladder cancer, and eye health.

The Good and the Bad

As I said, the start of the year was slow, but then things started to slowly pick up. But I hit my groove in February, and March was even better (even if the actual invoiced amount wasn’t that high).

What worked in Q1:

• Lots of marketing. And by that I mean a lot. Looking at my actual income for quarter three is really disheartening because I was so extremely busy, and it doesn’t reflect that in money. But I sent a ton of LOIs (letters of introductions, which are short emails sent to potential clients offering my services to help with writing work) and had some back and forth with both former clients and potential new clients. I’m hoping all that marketing paid off in Q2.
• I received a print copy of one of my articles. I’ve been featured in six magazines, but only have two physical copies. Unfortunate that I don’t have more of them, but I do get excited when I see my name in actual print.
• Repeat work from current clients. I try to remember to contact my current clients at the beginning of each month to check in for work, but I don’t always remember to do this. But when I do, I’m usually pleasantly surprised when a good portion of them come back with new assignments.
• Doing more non-article writing. I’ve done some more editing/medical review and even some copywriting work this quarter, which is something I want to be able to offer more of this year. I took on creating the home page for a new client to showcase their products and I *think* I did a good job with it. They seemed happy with it and it was actually really fun and used my brain in a different way than when I’m writing articles and blog posts.
• Had two pitches approved for a new publication. I rarely pitch anymore and realized I kind of missed it. I pitched two article ideas to a publication I’ve never worked with before but heard they paid well and were really nice to work with. Imagine my surprise and delight to find out just a few days later that they loved both pitches and I got $800 in work.

What didn’t go so well:

• Said yes to a project I shouldn’t have. It’s a tough time right now and when assignments come in, I tend to say yes to them because I need the money. But this was a client who doesn’t pay much as it is, and while the articles are shorter, they tend to take a lot of time because I have to run them through software and then I have to end up making a bunch of small changes that eat into my hourly rate and I usually end up annoyed. And I haven’t received an assignment from them so far this year, so when they reached out I said yes when I should have said no. And then I ended up being super annoyed about the whole thing.
• I didn’t hold firm to my business practices. I need to be careful what I say here since I don’t know if this will turn into a legal issue, but I have a former client who owes me $800. Plus late fees. Late fees that I should have been more on top of and sending monthly for every month they haven’t paid. I now include late fee terms on invoices, and it’s something I’m trying to be more aware of and am holding clients to from now on.
• I had a really bad mental health week. I had this week, this awful awful week, where my mental health took a nosedive. I was swamped with assignments I frankly hated and felt resentful about, and regretted working with a client that month. Not good. Thankfully, the next week was better.
• Neglected my own writing. But don’t I always lately? Actually, blogging on here feels more disjointed than in past years. There are only so many hours in the day I have with a baby at home with me, and yes, in the evening when the kids go to bed, I don’t prioritize this blog. Instead, I crochet. I’ve been toying with the idea of perhaps just setting aside one hour a week in the evening to write on this blog.
• Didn’t make my quarterly goal. See everything above. But that’s okay. I’m hoping things look up next quarter.

How’s Q2 looking?

Overall, I’m confident with the invoicing I’ve already done for the start of April, and I’ll be surpassing in one month what I made in the last three months. So while it’s disappointing to not even hit $6,000 in Q1, I know April alone is going to be well over that amount.

Things are picking up and I’m already almost fully booked barely a week into the new quarter. I’m keeping the faith next quarter is going to be much better.

See other freelance income reports here.