2023 Year in Review: A transparent breakdown of my business
+ what's to come in 2024
I’m a sucker for a good year in review, and since I took the last two weeks off to rest and clear my brain (and watch many, many movies), I thought I’d spend the first working day of the year looking back before leaping forward.
I was incredibly inspired by my friend Libby Connolly’s The First Three Years transparent breakdown of her business, and borrowed much of her format for this post.
We’re gonna go deep and wide! It will even get cut off if you’re viewing in your email, so make sure you hit “view more.”
If you’re a fellow independent, I hope this helps you feel a little less alone. If you’re someone who employs independents, or are thinking about working for yourself, I hope this sheds some light into the highs and struggles into a career path that can look murky from the outside.
➡️ Overall:
Honestly, this year wasn’t the easiest! I was laid off in Q1 and returned to working for myself.
I feel like I know more than ever before about how to run my business, yet have found it harder than ever to secure high-paying projects.
Looking back, I’d describe 2023 in one word as “Baking” - many experiences that helped me learn about myself, my business, and what I want next.
2024’s word will be “Leap” and full of big changes. More on that below 😊
🗓 Significant events:
February 2023: Experienced a round of layoffs at Groove, where I served as Head of Marketing. Little did I know this would be part of a larger shift of tech layoffs across many companies this year. While saddened to no longer be working with this team on this product that I believed in, I felt confident about next steps returning to freelancing because of my past layoff experience, and having already worked for myself.
April 2023: I did feel a lack of motivation and direction in my return to independent work, since I had gone full-time with Groove less than a year prior in order to find focus on one brand and collaboration with a smart team. I joined IndeCollective’s 10-week cohort to supercharge the transformation of making freelancing more sustainable for me long-term. Through this process, I niched down, learned how to professionalize my business even more, and felt more comfortable with my own personal brand.
June 2023: Co-pitched my first major brand refresh project with a designer friend I met in IndeCollective, Libby Connolly (mentioned above). I realized how much I wanted to grow my business through collaborating with others, rather than growing a team and managing. While this project went to a more established agency, it was the first of several co-pitches. Also, recorded and released my first YouTube video, and recorded my podcast miniseries. Both a first for me in content creation, and have proved creatively rewarding!
August 2023: This is when I started to realize the slow down in project approvals and decrease in budgets was a larger trend being felt across many people (and always a trend in late summer). I hustled like crazy to pick up projects, mostly through connections in micro communities, but realized this isn’t sustainable in the long term.
October 2023: Kicked off a month long stay in Paraty, a small beach town in Brazil, to see if we could see ourselves living there. We loved it! This put into motion the start of my major shifts to come in 2024: moving to Paraty and running my own pousada (a Brazilian version of a B&B - more on this below). Also, started publishing my side project
online. We shifted from a goal of print due to budget and time constraints, but I was excited to get these stories we’d worked so hard on out there.December 2023: Realized after a year of thinking a lot about my business, I could do with some time off, so took over two weeks off to spend time with my family in Ohio and rest. I didn’t want to even think about work, so I could prep myself for 2024.
📊 By the numbers:
Unless otherwise noted, this is for my own business, starting March 2023 after my layoff.
I wish I could share budgets sent, discovery calls booked, and why budgets were passed on, but unfortunately my admin skills and tracking were lacking this year! (Lex Roman, if you’re reading this, I’m hiding in shame).
15 clients
Project types:
5 projects
4 hourly
2 consulting power hours
2 trades
1 retainer
13 industries, including:
Agency
Alcohol
Artist
Community
CPG
E-commerce
Fashion
Future of Work
Hospitality
Jewelry
Tech
Thought Leader
VC Fund
Project by service:
8 brand strategy
7 copywriting
3 editorial
1 data entry
1 content coordination
$700 average invoice/client (not including retainer client)
*Biggest challenge: Signing off on projects with budgets that reflected larger scopes of work and my expertise
1 job interview. I was not actively searching.
51 days OoO (7.3 weeks). This includes public holidays (we’re lucky to have a lot in Brazil!), and a short break after getting laid off.
-46% income decrease from 2022 (This includes income from full-time employment)
Infinite:
Times my friends gave me pep talks
Hours Carlos spent talking me through work challenges
Number of super smart and generous fellow freelancers and work connections who offered advice and support
😬 Biggest challenge:
Beyond paying the bills, dipping into savings, then reminding myself that’s what it’s there for, it was maintaining a healthy mindset while navigating an up & down economy over the good course of a year. I’ve been really, really hard on myself, something I’m still working on overcoming.
When you work for yourself, so much of your career is within your control, but also so much of it isn’t. The always wise Alison Coward told me recently that our goal as small business owners is to know there will always be changes and forces outside of our control, but to try to make our business as stable as possible, and zoom out and focus on the big picture.
On a practical level, as I mentioned in the numbers section above, I had a hard time selling larger projects with significant budgets, which means you spend more time context switching and doing client admin. I’d love to dig in deeper with a few select brands.
❤️ Favorites:
Listening - Favorite work music (and my perennial top Spotify track):
“Dawn” - Dario Marianelli from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack
Listening - Favorite fun music:
“Cuff It” - Beyonce
Listening - Favorite motivational music:
“A Vida é Uma Aventura” by Maglore (“Life is an adventure”)
Listening - Favorite podcast:
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (more on this here and here)
Reading - Largest impact on my career:
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara - a reminder of the power we can have on others (and the power it can have on our business!)
You are a Badass by Jen Sincero - a much-needed pep talk
Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon - a heavy dose of inspiration
Reading - Favorites for pleasure:
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Devotions by Mary Oliver
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Conversations on Love by Natasha Dunn
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin
Goodbye Without Leaving by Laurie Colwin
Shine On, Bright & Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin
The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg
Visiting - Favorite place:
New to me: Palermo, Sicily for my friend Kirtika’s bachelorette party
Already familiar: Rio de Janeiro for New Year’s, meeting my friend Marina’s baby for the first time, and a special trip from my friends Amanda and Dan from the US:
and Paraty, Brazil with Amanda and Dan, and for a month’s test drive:
Dining: Favorite dish
The seafood spaghetti eaten sitting on the wall by the water at Bar Urca in Rio de Janeiro
Buying - Favorite purchase:
This commissioned painting based on a photo of my beloved and dearly departed Grandma Baad, by Miguel Thomé:
Favorite project:
Working directly with founders at Pollen, Pareto and Sorette to bring their brand voice and messaging to life
Watching: Favorite movies
Barbie, Theater Camp and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1
Watching: Favorite TV:
Peaky Blinders, The Golden Bachelor, The Last of Us, The Boys
Feeling: Favorite experience
Watching Penny swim every day on the beach during our month in Paraty
Connecting: Most supportive communities for experienced independents:
New experiences:
Creating a podcast
Biggest learning: I loved doing interview formats. Best to create a MVP - for me, this was a one-off miniseries. More learnings here.
Starting a YouTube channel
Biggest learning: Mix up content formats to find the one you find most energizing. For me, getting on long form video was that! Also, recording and editing the first video is incredibly painful, then gets so much easier.
Writing a workbook for sale on Gumroad
Biggest learning: Digital products are hard to sell for very little revenue (unless you sell a ton). Best to do if you have a large audience.
Creating Social Health Champions
Biggest learning: I started this in “beta,” so haven’t put that much effort into it, on purpose. I’d like to grow it alongside others this year, so it can be useful for others!
💡 Biggest light bulb moments:
Brand strategy = creating resonance. I heard so many people tell me this year that they didn’t really understand “brand” or why it was important. But it’s made to look more complicated than it is. It took me a lot of time to get to this simple explanation. I lay out my framework here.
Selling larger, ongoing projects or retainers is ideal. Less admin, fewer time spent on sales, and you can dive in deeper with a brand and team. I did a lot of this before this year, but this was harder to get approved in 2023.
Always optimize your entire growth flywheel, not just visibility and getting in front of new people.
I really have no interest in TikTok or short form video, sorry! Maybe this will change one day??
I loved podcasting and interviewing people as a way of deeper networking. Shouldn’t be a surprise for an extrovert like me, but my very first podcast interview was this year, kicking off the creation of my podcast miniseries.
Who I thought was my buyer may not really be my buyer. Who is investing in a strong brand has changed, and will likely continue to change. I don’t want to spend my time convincing people who don’t see the value of brand.
Not all communities are created equal. Try to find people as close as possible to your path or the path you want to be on. This includes who you follow on social media, whose newsletters you get, etc. Give your attention to those who get you and inspire you.
I really crave work that involves other people, and where I can see an experiential affect from the work I’m doing. When I look back at what I most miss from my work at Shake Shack and Sofar Sounds, it’s seeing that people went to shows, ate out with family and friends, had new experiences, made new connections with their community.
Hence, my greatest insight was that now is the time I’m ready to prioritize my dream of running a pousada (bed & breakfast/motel), alongside my brand strategy work. More to come on this in 2024 - please send me all the good thoughts!
💪 What’s next in 2024?
Major goal: Shifting to portfolio career
Move to Paraty and run my own pousada this year. Keep working on select, special brand strategy projects alongside this.
To Cocreate - I want to collaborate with new and current connections:
Libby Connolly
Human NYC
Elizabeth Goodspeed
Jay Acunzo
Kendra Gaylord
Paige Wassel
Self Aware Studio
Steven Michael Crane
Tatiana Figueiredo
And you? Hit me up!
To Dream - Types of brands I’d love to help build:
Hospitality:
Thoughtful travel
Lively restaurants
Social clubs
Boutique hotels
Unique short-term rentals
Social health:
New solutions for social connection and gathering
Anti conspicuous consumption:
Vintage and second-hand sellers
Items built to last
Those who zig when others zag:
Original thinkers
Founders thinking outside the box
Companies built to last
Thoughtful content creators:
Publishers
Niche YouTubers
Newsletter writers
More years in review I recommend:
As mentioned, Libby Connolly’s The First Three Years
- ’s for
Kara Detwiller’s review of her first year full-time freelancing
One final update!
Starting today, I’m going to turn on a paid subscription for this newsletter. But! I’m keeping all content available to all, whether you pay or not, for now.
If you decide to pay, it would support the time and effort that goes into these posts and sharing learnings like the ones I shared in this one. It’s $5/month or $50/year.
In the future, I may add gated, exclusive content for paid subscribers, but for now your subscription would just be an indication of support of my work writing these newsletters and creating longer form content on YouTube ❤️
If you work in marketing or this newsletter is related to your business, you can likely charge it as a business expense (always double check with your accountant though).
Thank you for reading, subscribing, supporting! Happy New Year & Feliz Ano Novo! May 2024 be your most vibrant, dreams-realizing year yet!
Love your reflections here and appreciate your transparency! This year has been a wild ride!
Loved this piece!