A Year of Independent Work in the Books

An analysis of my first year running a small business

When I started this newsletter last year I was concerned about entering the professional world as an independent contributor. Despite this looming feeling, I also felt that if I, a sole proprietor, was able to weather my financial obligations during the throws of lockdown, then I should have confidence in the years that succeed the pandemic. Fortunately, I have been able to keep busy this last year.

The above graphic shows my revenue from the last twelve months. Not surprising there are clear valleys and peaks. While I was busy each month, the ebb and flow of my income was the result of how invoicing worked with projects of different scopes. What surprised me about this graphic was that the income generated from my personal work, like the sales from apps like Patatap, constitute only one percent of my income. Compare that to the graphic below:

Albeit a loose approximation, I am able to track the number of commits I make to source code repositories of both client work (commercial) and personal projects. In this graphic, the distribution between commercial and personal work is more in line with how much energy I put into the two.

With this new insight in mind, I aim to make year two’s income more reflective of the way I spend my time. That is eighty percent on client work and twenty percent on personal work. As I mull over this, I wish you work-life balance and spring success,

—Jono