Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

I usually take this time of year to reflect on the first 6 months and think about what I'm going to do for the remainder of the year.

But at the moment, everything feels so up in the air that it feels pointless even trying to plan right now. If you also feel this way, you're absolutely not alone. I'm hoping this week's topic will help you with this!

P.S. In my latest Instagram post, I share exactly how much I made in July, including my total revenue and expenses. Check it out here. And don't forget to give me a follow for regular tips and tricks!

Here's what I've been up to this week work-wise:

👉 I refreshed 4 pieces for Shopify

👉 I wrote 2 pieces (for Jukebox Print and a new client)

👉 I ran edits on a piece for a new client

👉 I wrote some LinkedIn and X posts for a client

👉 I paid my corp tax and personal tax 🫣

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~26

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~2

💰 Total revenue this week: £4,125

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Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

If you're thinking about freelancing, or you've just gone freelance and you're staring at a blank calendar wondering where the work is going to come from, or if you're a seasoned freelancer thinking about your next Big Move... here's what I'd do before anything else.

I'd write a list of every single person I know.

Start with a brain dump

Grab a document, a notebook, whatever.

Now write down every person you can think of. Old colleagues. Former bosses. People you sat next to at a conference yonks ago. Friends from university. Your cousin's husband who works in marketing. Your old manager who left the company but you still follow on LinkedIn. Someone you did a group project with in 2014.

Don't filter yet, just get the names down.

I actually ran this exercise with a cohort of students recently, and every single one of them was stunned by how long their list got.

These were people who'd told me they didn't really know that many people and yet ended up with 50, sometimes more, names on a page.

Your network is ALWAYS bigger than it feels, because most of it is sitting in the back of your memory rather than right in front of you.

Sort them into hot, warm, and cold

Once the list exists, go through it and sort each name into one of three buckets:

Hot: people you're in regular contact with, who know your work well, and who you'd feel completely comfortable messaging today.

Warm: people you know well but haven't spoken to in a while, or people you know a little less well but still have a good connection with.

Cold: people you technically know or have met, but there's distance there. You'd need to reintroduce yourself or rebuild context before asking for anything.

Work the hot list first

Take your hot list and send each person a message. Email, text, DM, whatever fits the relationship. Keep it short and direct. Something like:

You're telling people who already like and trust you that you're open for business, and giving them an easy way to either take you up on it or pass it along to someone who might.

Two spots is a good number to lead with, by the way. It's specific enough to feel scarce enough that it doesn't sound like you're desperate for anything that moves.

You can of course adjust it based on your actual capacity... we're not out here to trick people.

Then move to warm, then cold

Once you've sent the hot list messages and started getting replies, move down to your warm contacts. These messages might need a line or two of context first, a reminder of how you know each other, before you make the same ask.

Cold contacts come last, and they'll usually need a different approach entirely: a comment on something they posted, a genuine reason to reconnect, before any kind of 'pitch'.

Why this works better than almost anything else

New freelancers spend enormous energy on things that take months to pay off: building a portfolio site, posting on LinkedIn, cold-pitching strangers, optimising a profile on a freelance marketplace. All of that has its place... eventually. None of it replaces the fact that the fastest path to your first (or next) client is someone who already knows you're good at your job.

People want to help people they like. Most of them just don't know you're available, because you haven't told them.

I teach this system in way more detail in The Hello Effect, which I'm opening up to cohort #2 in Sept. Make sure you're on the waitlist (here) if you want in as I'll only be announcing it there.

As always, happy freelancing 🙂

Lizzie ✨

This week, we have a B2C writer from California.

Where are you based? California.

How long have you been freelancing? 2 years.

What do you do? B2C writer for insurance and nonprofit SaaS companies.

What's your revenue? $72,000 (this is my fiscal year, which begins in July when i started freelancing full-time).

This person freelances full-time and this was their highest earning year.

How much did you take as a salary?

I honestly don't have a great system for this yet, so I can't really say. All my money goes into one checking accuont. My goal this year is to be more strategic about moving money around and being intentional about a salary.

How much did you pay in taxes?

Last tax year I earned about $52K, and I paid about $8K in taxes, including both state and federal. I moved states midway through the year, so my taxes were pretty confusing. I just got a letter from the IRS and it looks like I entered one of my forms incorrectly and may need to pay more.

What are your business expenses?

About $60 per month on software (Canva Pro and invoicing software). I go to a co-working space once or twice a week which averages about $200 per month.

I also invested in some profressional development - a freelancers conference, a monthly freelancing community, and a mentorship session with Lizzie. Together this totaled about $760 for the year.

I moved house and bought a new desk, desk chair, and drawers. I also had to buy a new computer last year which was unfortunate.
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Do you contribute to a pension or invest?

I have a retirement account from my old job, which I haven't contributed since I've been freelancing. But I plan to put in a fairly significant lump sum this year, and contribute to it annually after that.

Right now, it's all in my checking. But my goal for this year is to move it between a high-yield savings, retirement, and an HSA account to pay for some dental work.

I think I really valued the liquidity for a while. I've been freelancing two years, and the first 6 months I averaged $2K a month pre-taxes living in Boston and in a bi-coastal long distance relationship (expensive).

Even though I was pretty thrifty (I ate a lot of rice and chicken and not much else), I still ate into a good amount of the saving cushion I had from my previous job. In the second year I did a cross-country move (also expensive). This is the first year I've felt stable enough in business and life to start thinking more strategically about my finacnes.

Any personal money-management or cash flow tip you'd like to share with others?

Generally, I try to live below my means, which has helped me build decent savings throughout my life. I lived with roommates for all of my 20s, use the library religiously, and buy a lot of stuff second-hand. Though I do allow myself to splurge on things that I know enjoy, like good food, and travelling to see friends and family. I'm also trying to learn about financial management and investing 1 step at a time. Finacnial planning can feel a little scary and existential as you really have to think ahead to what you want your life to look like in the long-term.

I recently learned about Health Savings Accounts, which has a big tax benefit and can be used for all kinds of health-related stuff. Filing my taxes myself for the first time this year (in previous years I'd worked with a family friend-CPA), has helped me think more strategically about my money this coming year. I'm planning to get some dental work done this year, so an HSA feels like a good place to start.

We need more Freelance Money Diaries entries! I'm forever grateful to anyone who shares their finances with us (you can do it totally anonymously!).

Click the button below to do yours!

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

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