my 2024 freelancing recap

i love reading other people’s end of year recaps so decided to do my own. after i fell into freelancing quite unexpectedly i got curious about whether i could write more. at first i clung to personal stories but as my confidence grew in myself i ventured out to other topics. i love telling other people’s stories and learning new things and spent the back half of the year trying to land more reported pieces.

after my second piece went live at the end of the april, i decided it was time to set a target for myself. call it the sales rep in me but i love working against a goal. using a very scientific approach (read: not at all), i decided to aim for making $500 a month.

based on what i know now, that could be writing anywhere from 2 to 10 articles depending on the outlet. being naive about what freelance rates are probably worked in my favor.

so how’d i do, what’d i learn and what’s next? here’s the deets:

i exceeded my goal of making $500 a month

all said and done, i got paid for 49 pieces out of the 68 that got published. why the unpaid pieces? freelancing is weird – it felt like i had to have published pieces to prove to new editors that i could write, but that’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. in order to have clips you need to be published, but to be published you need clips.

for one outlet i continued to write to build my portfolio after their freelancing budget got cut, and for one outlet i traded feedback sessions in lieu of payment. smart? dumb? i’m still not sure, but hoping next year to get paid for more pieces.

anywho, for the pieces i got paid for, i made a grand total of $8995. my goal of $500 a month would have meant aiming for $4500 for 2024 as i wasn’t freelancing the whole year so i ended up almost 200% to target. dang that last $5! still pretty good, if you ask me.

that’s before taxes as all freelancing jobs are 1099s, so my net earnings are less. on average, that means each piece paid about $183 before taxes. is that high? low? i’m not sure. rates are murky in the freelance world so i have no clue if that’s bad or good.

while my type-a personality would have really really loved to hit $10,000 for a more even number, i am proud that i hit and exceeded what i randomly set out to make.

i landed bylines with nine different outlets

after landing my first paid piece my sales mentality took over. i was hungry for more, and set about pitching. a lot. i don’t have exact numbers for how much i pitched this year but every business day i tried to pitch at least twice, so on the low end that’s about 370 pitches but there were some days that i pitched more. my guess is that i pitched 500+ times.

i ended up with bylines in Motherly, Business Insider, Fit&Well, PS (formerly PopSugar), Scary Mommy, Eater Carolinas, INDY Week, Raleigh Magazine and The Everymom. for someone who is used to knowing what a good conversion rate is from sales, i’m a bit blind here.

i know pitching is hard, but i have no clue is my acceptance rate was dismal, average or above average but i’m pretty chuffed i managed bylines in some of the publications i’ve been reading for awhile now.

i learned. a lot.

freelancing is hard. there are a lot of talented writers out there who have been doing this for far longer than i have and as i learned throughout the year, budgets are pretty tight for freelancers. three of the publications i worked for this year experienced lay-offs, including the one i kept working for for ‘exposure.’

pitching is hard, but it’s also a lot like sales. for 15 years i’ve pitched software, services and marketplaces. it’s a lot like freelancing in many ways, and i think my sales experience helped me here.

i’m used to trying to figure out who to pitch and would like to think that my sales emails are a small part of why i’ve always been a top performer at my day job. i’m also very used to rejection (or just general silence), which there is plenty of in this world.

you have to keep proving yourself. i’ve worked with the same editor at various publications on multiple pieces and still get the stock standard rejection email for pitches and frequently strike out on pitch ideas.

i’m learning that you’re only as good as your last piece, and you have to keep proving that you’ve got good ideas and solid writing. maybe some day this changes and editors know ideas you send are solid ones that you’ll deliver great work for? idk, will keep you posted.

there are some really kind people in this world. i have had some really kind editors this year with one in particular who really took me under her wing and spent time giving me feedback and suggestions. many editors took time to explain why a pitch wasn’t a fit, which is really helpful. i was worried that editors would be scary and expect my writing to reflect a seasoned journalist’s, but i found them all encouraging to a newbie.

what’s next?

i want to keep writing. ideally more. it makes me happy, and fulfills a piece of me i didn’t know needed fulfilling until i started writing.

2024 showed me that i am capable of freelancing, even if i didn’t always believe in myself. for 2025 i want to land pitches at more outlets, and want to put myself out there for my dream publications, even if i get rejected. in sales, they say the more no’s you get the closer you are to a yes which i’m not sure is actually the case in freelancing, but it’s the mentality i’m adopting for now.

this year i want to actually track my pitches so that i know what my conversion rate is. i want to learn more about seo and best practices when writing.

i want to try to double what i published this year. that means aiming for 136 pieces for 2025, or just over 11 a month. this seems like an absolutely insane goal that makes me hyperventilate a bit, especially since i just took on more responsibilities in my day job.

but if a goal doesn’t scare you, is it even worth going after?

2024 was a great learning year and i’m thankful for all that i learned and all that i accomplished. onward!