2021 -

2021 was my first actual first year of freelancing. And I had it all set up: A feature in the works, journalism pitches accepted, and a content marketing contract.

Though, life threw a brick at that one with a planned pregnancy with complications that slowed me down and drained my brain energy while requiring about 1 billion doctor visits.

Overall, it was still an excellent year that ended with a tiny baby entering our family.

As a freelancer, I got my first real taste of a content marketing agency when I was contracted by Huge. I worked on a team creating content for a fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. I got to work on infographics and brochures and even wrote landing page copy.

While I was nearing my leave, I continued adding new clients and decided to take some time to test out how I would fare doing freelance work on the science journalism side of the coin. I worked on several reference pieces with LiveScience and on some write-ups for Life’s Little Mysteries.

I wrote a series of data stories based on vaccine hesitancy survey data from Verywell Health and some additional news stories based on other data.

Freelance Business Update

In 2021, I made $57,121.95 from 13 clients. My hourly rate steadily rose throughout the year, with my average at $82.62, and I took one month of parental leave in December 2021. My highest invoiced month was March 2021, with $8,231.25 invoiced.

My lowest month was December when I was on leave at $1,875.00 invoiced, and January, when I was starting and invoiced for $2,112.50 of work. I also took a hit over the summer when the Huge contract ended, and I was looking for work that wouldn’t have me responsible for things during my leave.