2022 Freelance Income Report: Q2

Half the year is over already. Work doesn’t look a lot different now than it did prior to the start of summer. I’ve still got the little one in daycare and the bigger one is in summer camps, so we’re still chugging along.

I was actually convinced the assignments would start to slow down in the summer as is common, but so far, that isn’t the case.

I think the biggest thing about this quarter was finally (finally) having it occur to me that I probably need a retirement savings. I have some in a 401K that’s currently floating in the abyss after leaving my full-time job as an RN case manager. But since then, I haven’t actually set anything up for retirement.

Thanks to my investment-savvy husband, we set up a Roth, which I put in the max yearly amount at the beginning of the year. I’m working on getting up with a SEP at the advice of a financial planner (don’t ask me what that is, I’ve already forgotten, but I know it’s set up for those who are self-employed), so that should be in place in the next few months for me to contribute income at the end of the year. Go finances!

I worked on a total of 39 projects this quarter. Most were articles, but some were more research-based data collecting or working on article updates for different publications. I’m wrapping up a big project which is an article and infographic for Boston Globe’s sponsored content wing, Studio/B. It’s my second time working with them and they’ve been truly wonderful to work with.

I also completed my second feature article for the Hemophilia Federation of America’s quarterly magazine which I think will be published in their next issue. I get to talk with people living with bleeding disorders about their experiences and it’s one of my favorite types of writing. This one was on pregnancy bleeding.

I also finished up a patient success story for a fertility company which was a blast to do as well, as I got to do a Zoom interview with the most amazing couple. Profile writing is one of my most enjoyable things to do in this business.

So let’s get to the income! In Q1, I decided to record the actual income coming in versus the income I planned on as projects were assigned to me. For instance, I may have gotten $8,000 worth of work that month, but made $7,000 in actual money coming into my account from the month prior.

As a freelancer, I invoice clients sometimes at the beginning or end of the month, or after every project is completed. So when I actually get paid can vary from a week after invoicing to over two months. Now that I have accounting software I use, I’m realizing it’s just a lot easier to look at those numbers.

My yearly income goal is $72,000 with a quarterly goal of $18,000 and I’m now ahead of that. Setting goals by quarter feels a lot more comfortable to work with than monthly goals. Instead of stressing if I don’t hit $6,000 a month, I can just focus on a three-month span, making up the income next month.

Overall, it’s been a fantastic quarter. So far, July has slowed down in the amount of work I’ve gotten, and I lost an anchor client just recently due to cutting their rates, so I’ve been working a little more on marketing to try to make up that income that will no longer be coming in. We’ll see what happens next quarter!