March was my highest-earning month of the year so far (I know we’re only three months in, but still).

This month, I was planning to simply include the total I invoiced in my business snapshot down below without any long-winded explanation. (I invoiced $11,450 in case you’re eager for the specifics right off the bat.) 

It’s a more-than-respectable income. And heck, it’s nearly $2,000 more than I invoiced last month and almost $3,000 more than I invoiced at the end of January.

It feels like a notable win, especially when my business has felt so fickle since the beginning of the year. And I could’ve easily just listed the digits in my snapshot, celebrated the fact that things seem to be moving in the right direction, and moved on.

But here’s the thing: Numbers on their own can be a little misleading. 

Yep, my income was solid this month, but I wanted to provide a little more context, along with some lessons you can take away: 

1. March’s income included projects for three (!!!) new clients.

I’ve been doing way more cold outreach and business development lately, so it was nice to see those efforts pay off (quite literally).

That said, it’s not a steady success story. In fact, it’s been a slog. While I landed these three opportunities (and am grateful for them), there are dozens more cold emails and pitches that have gone totally unanswered.

This experience was also a reminder that relationship-building is a long game. I connected with the content manager for one of my new clients on LinkedIn three years ago. THREE YEARS AGO. It was not a quick win by any means. 

Your takeaway: Start prioritizing business development. Even if that means setting aside 15 minutes a day or a dedicated afternoon to send some LinkedIn connection requests. Make it a recurring part of your routine and not something you do when you “find the time.”

2. My income still felt unpredictable until the very end of the month. 

Despite the fact that I have a spreadsheet where I track my booked work, I’ve learned the hard way over the past few months that I can’t count on anything until it’s done and invoiced.

I’ve had several fairly recent experiences when thousands of dollars have disappeared from my workload (poof!) when content managers are laid off and they halt operations.

I’ve also noticed that many of my clients aren’t as consistent as they used to be. While they used to send me a batch of assignments at the start of the month (which made it easy to both plan my schedule and predict my income), assignments are way more ad hoc now. Case in point, I had projects rolling in until the last week of the month this time around.

It’s not my preference. I like the steadier stuff and the level of assurance that comes with it (I’m sure most freelancers would say the same). But I’m rolling with this more sporadic approach for now.

Your takeaway: Commit to checking in with your regular clients to nudge them about upcoming work for the month. I literally write a date to do this in my calendar. Here’s a newsletter I wrote recently on this subject.

3. Every month feels like starting over.

Back when things were stable and consistent with my clients, new months didn’t feel quite so daunting.

Sure, I’d log into QuickBooks and see $0 in my estimates tab. But back then I knew that I was counting on Client A to send four blog posts and Client B to send an ebook and Client C to send two blog posts. 

Now? Every month feels like starting completely over. From scratch. Like I climbed my way to the top of a mountain, enjoyed it for a brief moment, slid back down, and now need to start all over again. 

Like I mentioned above, I’m hesitant to count on any work until it’s actually in motion—especially when clients have increasingly mentioned assignments only to never follow through on sending the details.

So every new month now inspires way more of that “Oh $&!+ where is the work going to come from?!” fear that I, quite honestly, have managed to avoid for the bulk of my career. It’s draining. 

Your takeaway: Proactively check in with clients (like I mentioned above) and pursue more retainer opportunities where you can. I have one that I started recently and that’s provided some comfort and stability amidst all of the weirdness.

I could go on and on about the state of freelancing. And, if the comments on my recent LinkedIn post are any indication, other freelancers are feeling the same shifts.

At any rate, I wanted to provide a little more color as opposed to just spitting out my income and leaving you to make assumptions. 

I didn’t financially struggle this month—and I guess that’s somethin’ given the current market. But oof, rest assured, I still struggled in plenty of other ways.