Leaning into the Trends

This month’s newsletter covers the financials of my fifth year running a single person design and development studio

Last year’s self-employment analysis revealed many trends and insights.¹ To recap: I stabilized my income over the first four years. I did not raise my prices. I had difficulty balancing personal and commercial work. While last year gave me the best work-life balance of my 17-year career, it was also my lowest-earning year. Going into this year, I made some conscious decisions. I raised my rates. I front-loaded my work. Here are the results so far.

Before looking at this year’s numbers, were there downsides to a more balanced schedule? Yes. In July, I realized I was going to earn much less. This affected both my personal budget and my business. I had savings to use, but it did not feel good. I felt a wave of anxiety toward the end of the year. Money was tight, and I was searching for more work. I accepted some projects that I would not have taken if I was not stressed about income. Was it worth it for a great year of balance? Yes. I have no regrets. Could the end of the year have been less stressful? Yes. That is why I leaned into commercial work this year. If I front-load the income, I may reduce stress later. So far, I have earned much more than in past cycles. I am on track for a record year.

I got here by raising my prices and taking on more work. I increased my rates to match inflation. I estimate how many hours a project will take. I divide those hours by how many I will work each month. Then I offer clients a monthly retainer. This model is helpful for clients. It gives them a predictable cost and supports a more collaborative process. The price increase helped, but it did not double my income. The extra work did. As I said before, I took on unwanted projects when I was under pressure. To avoid that, I took a new approach this year. With support from my family and therapist, I decided to say yes only to work that interests me. I followed the energy of the moment. I also chose to trust in abundance. I did not expect this side effect: when the work is exciting, it no longer feels like work. This has been a big positive. I do not think I can maintain this pace all year.

The graphs and numbers reflect these choices. My personal work dropped from 37 percent to 11 percent. My sales and subscriptions also declined. This is not a surprise. I still maintain a few projects that receive occasional support. However, I have few chances to ask for donations or to charge for access. My website traffic is down. Also, there was a short time when my apps were removed from the App Store. That happened when I switched from an individual account to an organization account. These things explain the decline. I still have a long-term goal to rely less on client work. For now, that goal will wait.

The chart showing Commercial (blue) and Personal (green) work explains two key ideas from the last five years. In 2021, I wanted better balance between personal and client work. I thought that was the reason I ran my own business. This past year, I changed direction. I embraced the client work that came my way. With that shift, I doubled my income. That success brought confidence. That confidence made me more excited to work with my clients. This created a positive loop. At the same time, I feel like I am hitting the limits of what one person can manage. We will have to wait until next year to see how well front-loading income works. Until then, see you next month.

—Jono

1. Earning My Self-Employed Degree