What I think I'll earn freelancing in my first 12 months

Dear diary, today I’m going freelance.

What do copywriters earn? How to make a living copywriting? What to charge copywriting UK. How to freelance.

That’s something like my search history these last few months. Hopefully dumping them here makes this blog SEO-friendly.

Tee hee.

My decision to go freelance isn’t about money; it’s about having more time.

But let's look at money anyway. My thinking is that, for example, a rate of £400 a day and two days a week of work on average means I'll make £800 a week (gross). That’s probably the same or better than what a midweight agency copywriter earns. So, I'll only work two days a week? Great!

And wrong.

I need to spend money on my business to get it off the ground. It's my brand, after all. Overheads apparently include marketing, travel, networking and connecting, and so on.

Oh, and writing stupid blogs like this that no one will read.

Just for fun, I tried to tally up my time spent on launching Doghouse Copywriting into the world (just to get to day zero) at my chargeable rate. And how much do I owe myself?

I'll tell you that it's currently at five figures.

Ok Google, how to invoice yourself.

Ok Google, give me a good debt collection agency UK.

So, let me put on record three predictions for my freelance journey over the next 12 months.

One: I'll work more hours than I want to.

While it's all about having more time and a better work/life balance, I can't exactly just turn down jobs. I'm not there yet, but hopefully I can soon afford to be more picky.

Two: I'll earn more money than I thought.

This ties with the first one in that I'll be taking all kinds of work that comes my way. High hopes I know, but you gotta aim a little high sometimes.

Three: I'll never look back.

I may well not stick this out for the next 12 months, but something tells me this life is for me. Even if I'm coming back to it over a period of time, right now my feet are itchy so I have to let them take me some ways down this road.

And that's it, thank you diary.

Hopefully the follow up to this will be ‘what I actually earned freelancing in 2023/24’ and not ‘why I decided freelancing is not for me.’ The title of my end of year diary entry will be very telling.

I can’t wait.