Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

I can't believe we're mid-June already?! I've been looking back over my calendar for the first six months of the year and it's been a whirlwind. The start of the year was SLOW, and that continued until the end of March when I was really questioning whether the gravy train was about to come to an end.

And then April happened. Since then, my workload has been insane. The work is still out there, companies are very much still looking for freelancers. I love being busy, but it often means I'm scrabbling around working IN my business, not ON it. It doesn't give me much time for planning or strategy or figuring out how I'm going to play the next six months.

This makes it feel like I'm "just riding the waves". Which I guess isn't a bad thing, and it's something we kinda have to get used to as freelancers. Anyone else?

P.S. In my latest Instagram post, I shared some things your 9-5 boss would never let you do. 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 3 pieces for Shopify

👉 I created a content asset for Klaviyo

👉 I did some messaging research for a new client

👉 I wrote 1 piece for Jukebox Print

👉 I drafted some LinkedIn and X posts for a client

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~23

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~3

💰 Total revenue this week: £5,475

Want to advertise your business, course, product, program, or software to 7,500+ freelancers and creative business owners? Check out the affordable sponsorship options here.

​
Check out my three practical courses that have helped 500+ people get more clients, earn more money, and create better content.

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

A freelancer I spoke to last month had built a really solid roster in the tech startup space. Good clients, steady work, decent rates. And then... it just sort of dried up.

Not all at once, mind you. It happened very slowly, one contract at a time. I've noticed it happen in my own business too, where work in one field starts to get fewer and far between.

Sound familiar?

That's because it's happening across a lot of industries right now. Media, tech, crypto, even some corners of ecommerce. Companies that were spending freely on content and creative work have tightened up, pivoted their focus, or just... stalled. And the knock-on effect for freelancers is... interesting.

The first thing I want to say about this is: your old industry isn't necessarily dead. You might just need to "broaden your horizons", so to speak.

Start with the audit

Before you do anything else, it's worth getting honest about where your work has actually been coming from. Not where you think it's been coming from, but where it's really been coming from.

Go back through the last two or three years of clients and group them by industry. What patterns do you see? Which sectors have dropped off your roster? Which ones have grown?

For a lot of freelancers I speak to, this is a bit of a lightbulb moment. You realise you've been waiting for a particular type of client to come back, when actually, another type has already started filling the gap.

Once you can see the pattern clearly, it's much easier to make intentional decisions rather than just... hoping things pick back up.

Read the signals before you reach out

Once you know where you want to go, the next step is figuring out which companies are actually worth your time.

Not every company that looks like a potential client is one.

Some are mid-restructure and have frozen all external spend. Some have cut their marketing team and have no one to brief freelancers. Some are doing fine but have moved everything in-house.

So before you reach out to anyone, do a bit of digging.

Here's what I look for:

Their content is still moving. If a company is still regularly publishing blog posts, sending newsletters, updating their social channels, that's a sign someone has budget and someone is commissioning.

They're hiring, but not for everything. A company posting for a Head of Content is a good sign if you're a writer. It means they're building something, which usually means they need support in the meantime (hello, freelancer). But a company posting for five full-time writers at once might be going in-house and moving away from freelancers entirely.

They use freelancers already. Check LinkedIn. Are there people in their network with "freelance" in their title who've worked with them recently? Are they tagged in content posts? A company with a track record of working with freelancers is way more likely to hire another one than a company that's never tried it.

Their LinkedIn is active. Not just their company page, but their marketing team too. If the content manager or editor is posting, engaging, sharing work... they're plugged in and switched on.

They're obviously growing. Look at the press. Are they raising funding? Expanding into new markets? Launching a new product? Companies in growth mode almost always need more content and creative work than their in-house team can handle.

Where to look when your old industry has gone quiet

The practical bit: if your usual clients have stalled, the goal isn't to start from scratch. Instead, you want to find the nearest door.

Think about what's adjacent to what you know. If you've been writing for fintech, you probably know a lot about regulation, trust, consumer behaviour, all of which translates beautifully to insurtech, legaltech, or even more traditional financial services going through a digital rebrand.

If you've been doing design work for DTC brands, your understanding of conversion and customer psychology is just as relevant in B2B SaaS.

The mistake most freelancers make is thinking they need to completely reinvent themselves when an industry quietens down. You don't. You just need to reframe what you already know for a slightly different audience.

As always, happy freelancing 🙂

Lizzie ✨

This week, we have an B2B and B2C writer from York.

Where are you based? York, UK.

How long have you been freelancing? 10 years.

What do you do? B2B and B2C writing for small business, entrepreneurship, personal finance, and tech.

What's your revenue? £85,000.

This person freelances full time and this was not their highest earning year.

How much did you take as a salary?

£12,000 in salary and around £36,000 in dividends - this is the most I can take before the higher tax rate kicks in.

How much did you pay in taxes?

About £8,000 in corporation tax, £1,000 employers national insurance, and about £12,000 VAT.

What are your business expenses?

I travel for work, and pay an accountant and payroll clerk, plus I have subscriptions to Business Insider and The Times/Telegraph + ChatGPT, so in total probably £500 a month. I also paid for a wellness/health coach last year - 6 sessions for £500.

I don't work with subcontractors as such but there's a freelancer who passes me work and takes a cut - I paid her about £900 in commissions.
​​
Do you contribute to a pension or invest?

£500 a month plus if the account is looking healthy I'll put a lump sum in - in 2025 I added an extra £10,000 to my pension on top of the monthly payments.

Do you have any hot money-management tips?

I aim to have a year (or thereabouts) of cash in the business. This was useful when I had my kids, as I was able to pay myself a full wage while not working. It means I'm less anxious about the ebbs and flows in the short term. But when the coffers are looking bare, I'll work like a demon to get it back up to a year's buffer. This can take its toll but I think it's worth it.

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 ✨

Interested in sponsoring Friday Freelance Tips? Get your brand, product, or service in front of 7,500+ freelancers, entrepreneurs, and founders. See sponsorship options here.

Follow me on Instagram and on Linkedin, where you can see the behind-the-scenes of my business.