May Update
As I embark upon my book writing journey, I’m simultaneously starting on my freelance writing journey.
To keep myself accountable and fully transparent, I’ll be sharing monthly updates on my pitch count (I am sports savvy enough to know that is a baseball reference as well!), money earned, successes and lessons learned.
While I have dabbled in writing in the past, it was more of a hobby. I would submit personal narrative stories here and there to low, or no, paying outlets. I told myself it was for the love of writing, which it was, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to actually earn money at what they enjoy doing?
In May of this year, something snapped. For 20+ years, I have worked a traditional job, one where I worked for someone else, and they determined what I did, when I did it and what I got paid. If I loved my profession, perhaps it would have been enough. But I don’t.
I’ve always loved writing, the act of creating with words and having people learn from, connect with and chuckle over those words.
So, I decided to do something I’ve talked about for years: transition from employee to freelancer.
As I sit here in the first few days of July 2024, I aim to replace my income from my part-time job with freelance income by this time next year.
I currently have a part-time job where I make $2,500 a month, and I just quit another part-time job that brought in $1,000 a month. My goal is to make $3,500 a month by July 2025 with freelancing alone.
A bigger and hairier audacious goal is to double that income by July 2026.
But everyone has to start somewhere, so let’s reflect on May when I started taking this freelancing gig seriously.
May 2024
I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was to avoid content mills like the plague since they pay such paltry amounts. Other than that, I was feeling around in the dark.
Pitch Count
Pitch Sent – Eight pitches sent
Pitches Accepted – Two (Business Insider & Austin Family Magazine)
Pitches Rejected – Two
Pitches Ghosted – Four
Honestly, it’s not a bad success rate out of the gate.
Money Earned
Now, let’s move on to the part everyone wants to know. How much money did I earn? Drumroll please…..$0!
To be fair, I’m stating zero because I didn’t receive the money in May, which is how I’m choosing to track my income.
Money Spent
$153.50 – Grammarly
Yep, I spent more than I earned in May. I do still have my one part-time job, but it’s still not a good feeling to spend more on your business than you bring in, although I know that’s relatively normal in the business world. And to be clear, I am treating this as a business and am doing all the businessy things that go along with it—taxes, tracking expenses, etc.
Successes
I’ve never had my writing in an outlet as big as Business Insider, so that felt like a huge win.
With my husband’s help, I also started this website to both write and have a place to house clips of my writing. It makes it a lot easier and more professional to include a link to my site when I send pitches.
I started writing more consistently. We all know that to get better at something, you have to do it over and over and over and over and over… you get the point. But sometimes, it’s easier said than done. And once you start making that something a habit, it becomes easier over time.
And you’re welcome, I just summarized James Clear’s Atomic Habits. Seriously though it’s a great book, you should read it.
Things I Learned
I learned I got lucky with the pitches I sent because I don’t know what I’m doing. I mean I had no idea what a “hed” or a “dek” was. More on that in June, but overall, May taught me that I have much more to learn.
The beginning stages of anything can be brutal, which is why so many people give up. As long as I don’t give up, am open to feedback, and keep learning, I’m considering it a success.
Onward to June…….