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Hit $10k in a single month for the first time and it scared me more than I expected | Freelance Survival - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

sandragrant•5mo ago

Hit $10k in a single month for the first time and it scared me more than I expected

I've been freelancing for about 18 months and always thought hitting that big number would feel amazing, but when I actually cleared $10,397 last month I panicked about taxes and inconsistent work for days. What got me was realizing I had no real system to keep that momentum going, just luck with a couple big projects. Has anyone else hit a milestone and felt more stressed than happy, and how do you handle the letdown the next month?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_murphy5mo ago

$10k in one month and you're complaining? That's wild to me. My biggest month has been like $4,200 and I was over the moon, not stressed at all. You got lucky with big projects so what? That's how freelancing works sometimes. Just put half of it aside for taxes like everyone says and enjoy the win while it lasts. The letdown next month is just reality catching up, not something to panic over. You're acting like hitting a high number is a problem when most people would kill for that problem.

schmidt.iris5mo ago

You're acting like hitting a high number is a problem" - yeah I get that, but it's not the number itself that's the problem. I had a $9k month once and felt the same way she did. For me, it was the fear that I'd never hit that again, like I'd somehow used up all my luck. What worked was I stopped focusing on the monthly total and started tracking my hourly rate instead. That way, even if I made less, I knew I was still being paid well for my time. Helps keep the panic down when the next month is slower.

rowanw915mo ago

my buddy tom hit 12k one month working on a house reno project and he told me he spent the next three weeks stressing so bad he couldn't sleep. he'd made more in those 30 days than his old job paid in four months, but the next month he got like 2k because nothing lined up and he seriously thought about quitting freelancing altogether. what helped him was he started keeping a spreadsheet of all his leads and projects, not just the money coming in but what was in the pipeline too. that way he could see the slow months before they hit and plan for them, instead of feeling blindsided every time his income dropped. he still has ups and downs but at least he's not waking up at 3am sweating about it anymore.