It was very exciting this week to find that the income from the business has now surpassed the amount I was earning (including superannuation) as an employee. This doesn’t mean that I’m now earning more than I used to, because there are lots of expenses to come out of that amount. However, I now have most of the equipment and software that I need, so future running costs should be low compared to this year. Also, most of the income from this financial year was earned since the business really took off in January, so the potential is there to do better in the next financial year.
All of this confirms my feeling that going freelance was the right thing to do. I love the flexibility, the challenges, the opportunity to branch out into different areas and the sense of achievement. I’ve also really enjoyed forging relationships with clients and subcontractors, and have managed to find myriad ways to combat the potential isolation of working for myself. Sadly, I didn’t get on to the shortlist of the competition I entered with my business plan, but preparing the entry was a useful exercise in itself, and I’m now fired up to create a new plan for the coming financial year.