I wrote an update six months into freelancing and always assumed I’d do the same a year in. Well, as you can tell from the title, that didn’t happen, as life got in the way of things. But I’ve been self-employed for amost a year and a half now, and it feels like far longer, and also far shorter. I have learned so much about working with people, motivating myself, and how not to go stir-crazy like a Sims character. Here are nine lessons I’ve picked up in my fifteen months as a freelance journalist, to give you that not-so-fresh-anymore newbie insights.

1. Don’t get used to higher-earning months

When I started freelancing, my aim was to earn as much as I did in my old job. Safe to say, for the first few months, this certainly wasn’t the case. I had expected this and yet still struggled to feel secure in it. But then, about six months in, I suddenly started having a string of really good months. I took on some shift work for a magazine and got tight with the editors of another, and suddenly I was earning far more than my previous job. I was also working more hours though, and I was beyond exhausted by the end of each day.

But freelancing means everything can change, and it did. The magazine lowered their freelance budget, and the editors hired additional help, and suddenly my monthly salary plummeted again, through no fault of mine. That’s just how freelancing is, and yet it always sucks. It feels like you’ve suddenly been shoved outside into the snow on Christmas Eve at the hands of Ebenezer Scrooge.

My takeaway is that several good months shouldn’t change your expectations of what you want to earn each month, as you’ll be disappointed when you don’t hit that absurdly high bar for the fourth month in a row. Let those high months be outliers, and the lower months as well. And certainly don’t increase your spending as a result!

2. It can be lonely

Everyone warns you about this and yet you can’t really avoid it. I just wrote extensively about feeling lonely, so I won’t go into too much detail again here. Freelancing is a lonely job. I’m quite introverte, so that works for me, but that plus travelling on my own means the loneliness can hit really suddenly. I can go a whole day without speaking to anyone.

So here’s how I try to avoid feeling too lonely as a freelancer:

• Schedule catch-up calls with your friends, or in my case, two of my old colleagues. We’re all doing something different now and don’t message much, but every other week we hop into a Google Hangout for an hour.
• Ideally, you’d call with friends, but that can be hard with schedules. So I send catch up voice notes with one of my good friends. I listen to those on my daily walks, and it feels like a little social boost. On that note: go for walks! Get out of the house.
• Find other freelancers and people in your industry online! Not for networking, but just to have people who get it. I love supporting fellow writers so much.

3. You can call yourself whatever you want

For the longest time, I didn’t feel like I was allowed to call myself a journalist. I felt like I had to write for traditional newspapers or print to be a journalist, while my work was all for the online space and places like Betches, Insider, and Marie Claire. But introducing myself as a writer also led to confusion, as people assumed this meant I was an author (not yet!).

I’ve finally realised that you can call yourself whatever you want as a freelancer. Literally, you’re the boss. Give yourself a promotion and a fancy title. Change your email sign-off, who’s going to call you out? I’m a journalist because I know I am.

4. Get help for the parts you hate

Everyone has those parts of their job that they hate. If you work at a company, you usually try to unload these to the intern or newest hire (before they realise it isn’t technically a part of their job description). As a freelancer, you suddenly lack some newbie to give your worst tasks to, and so you feel stuck with them. But what if I told you that this didn’t have to be the case?

About a year into freelancing for myself, I was overwhelmed by my workload, as usual. I also had a bunch of tasks for my own brand that I had been putting off, such as creating a digital portfolio and a Linktree. I just couldn’t find the time to do it, and when such time came around, I had zero interest.

I remembered that a friend of mine works as a VA so I reached out, assuming she wouldn’t want the task as it wasn’t fixed monthly hours, just one-off projects. She was actually super interested in just one-off work! Five paid hours later, I had an incredible digital portfolio and Linktree, along with a new colour scheme and logos. It was such a relief to have this task off my shoulders and she did a far better job than I would have, that’s for sure.

I’m lucky to be at a place where I can pay for a few hours a month for this VA, but I see the time it saves me, and the work I could complete in that time. It also reduces my stress and workload, so it’s worth the small cost. Whether it’s invoices, emails, portfolios or something else, get help when you need it. Perhaps having someone come to clean your place once a week would give you more time to work, or order your groceries. See what help you need and make it happen, I’ve already given my new VA three more tasks!

5. Life can get in the way

It’s been a tough year, to put it lightly. I’m not going to go into too much details, but a family member got really sick and didn’t make it. My point is that life happens very suddenly. One minute you’re working in cute cafes and planning your travels, and the nex, you’re fitting work into caring for a sick person. I’ve never felt so grateful to be freelance, as it gave me the time and flexibility to be there for him and my family. But it was also really difficult to balance such a creative career with caring for someone. It was hard to know that my work and salary wouldn’t be covered if I didn’t have the time to finish assignments. I pushed myself to the limits trying to be the best caregiver and still do 100% of my work.

Looking back, I wish I’d worked less and been with my family more. I wish I hadn’t added stress onto an already stressful time. I could’ve taken a smaller salary for a few months and not saved anything or even dipped into my savings. I could’ve explained the situation to clients and pushed deadlines.

This isn’t about living in regrets, as what happened is what happened. My point is that life is unexpected, work can come and go, and people can come and go. You won’t regret working less, I’m sure of that.

6. Enjoy the dips (no really)

Aside from one set monthly client, the rest of my work really varies. Sometimes I have nothing, and sometimes I have so much work. While I can influence this a bit, with pitching to editors, I’m also at the mercy of trends, news, and holiday schedules. So rationally, when I don’t have a lot of work, I should just enjoy the peace and not bully myself for it.

As you can expect, this is not what I do. If my week looks a little too empty, I start panic-pitching anyone and everyone and worrying about a reduced income. Then, all of a sudden, I’ll have too much work. I know, I know, what a privileged issue to have! It is, but it’s also very stressful and exhausting to write multiple long pieces in a day. Even when I’m busy, I can’t say no to more work, I just forever exist in this hungry limbo.

I want to learn to follow the unpredictable pace of my workload. To enjoy the peace of a slower week when it comes around, because other times will be chaotic and overwhelming. I complain about not having the time or energy to work on my writing, and then I desperately try to get more work whenever a lull occurs.

So this right now is me enjoying a quieter day to write for myself.

7. Work out what counts as an expense

Okay, I’m not an accountant, and it differs per country, so I can’t tell you what counts as a freelancing expense. It also seems very risky legally to give any such advice, and I don’t want to be sued or incriminate myself. So all I’ll say is that there are quite a few things that actually count as business expenses because you use them for your business. Not just obvious things like a keyboard or mouse, but things for your home office or desk. If you meet a client and buy coffee or take the train, that might be a business expense! Check how it applies to your region, but it’s certainly worth researching.

8. Design your days and weeks

I had a week between graduating from university and starting my last job, so a 9-5 is all I really know. When I started freelancing, I immediately adopted the same 9-5, five days a week, schedule as everyone warns you about work-life balance when you’re self-employed. But after doing this for fifteen months, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps I’m limiting myself. Sometimes I struggle to work eight hours when I’m constantly creating. Sometimes I find myself procrastinating after lunch and then typing away at 6 pm (i.e. right now!).

Maybe it’s okay to work on a Saturday or Sunday every once in a while, as shops are way quieter during the week and flights are cheaper on a Tuesday. Or maybe I don’t need always to do five days if I’m earning enough and don’t have any immediate deadlines. I don’t have the exact answer to freelance scheduling yet, and perhaps there isn’t even one. I want to be more malleable with my days and weeks, and do what works for me.

9. Make sure you’re still enjoying it

Slightly controversial opinion, but I think you should enjoy your life. I’m just kidding, I know we all strive for this. Yet a lot of us end up living for the weekend. I recognise life isn’t always so simple, and there are commitments and unavoidable tasks, but I do think you should work to build a life you enjoy most of the time. Maybe not every single day, but 4/7 days? Does that sound manageable?

As a freelance writer, I don’t mind getting up each morning the way I used to. That might also be the result of 10mg of Lexapro, but the point stands. It’s largely about privilege and things out of our control, but anything that you can change to enjoy your life more, do it!

If you don’t enjoy being freelance, then look for a different job you’d enjoy more. Freelancing is tough and comes with a lot of baggage. Being a freelance journalist means confronting weekly, if not daily, rejection. It means financial uncertainty, a lot of pressure, and fewer social interactions. So you have to love it to make it worth it.

I’ve learned to frequently check that I still love it. I realised that I’m not spending enough time on my own writing, and sometimes I take work just to have work, which isn’t why I signed up to do this. I need to keep focusing on what I love about this job and prioritising those aspects.

There you have it: my nine lessons from fifteen months of freelance journalism, including beng able to finally call myself a journalist. Whatever industry you’re in, or whether you’re freelancing or just curious, I hope you can take something from this. To round us off, I just want to remind you that you’re the boss of your business, and a boss has a moral obligation to take care of its employees, so look after yourself! I know I need to do a better job at that, before I end up reporting myself to HR (my mum).