It’s five years since I handed in my notice for the freelance life! I feel really lucky that I get to make a living designing cute things, messing around with code and mostly getting up whenever I like.
The main thing I’ve learned in the last year is how to do less work. That might sound crazy but turning down unprofitable stuff, charging more for my time and outsourcing things that others can do more quickly or efficiently than I can has made a huge difference in my life. I now take time off every day to watch TV or read or work on something for myself, go for walks most days and don’t stress about every little thing. It gives me time to think about new projects and where I want to be going, and keeps things interesting. I really believe you can’t have a successful business if you do everything yourself, or are chained to your computer 18 hours a day.
When I was trying to figure out a savings plan for my next Japan trip, I made a pie chart of my income breakdown from the last tax year. I’m pretty pleased with it, as I’m not relying too much on any one part of my income. My aim is to increase that purple section since that’s money that comes in every month without me doing much work for it. It includes things like licensing payments from sites like DENY, Zazzle etc, advertising (from SCK) and affiliate/referral payments.
I don’t often share my freelance work here, but you can always check out marcelinesmith.com. Even then, there’s loads of things that I can’t share yet. I should have a few cool things to add soon. And if you need a hand with your blog, shop or graphics, do give me a shout.
