I like reading monthly recaps that delve into peoples’ lives, don’t you? There’s something enticing about seeing how others live, so imma indulge you guys in this from now on… Lucky you!

Instead of just an “I did this, this, this, this, and this” type post each month, I’m going to cover my life as a freelancer, including the things I’ve learnt and the mistakes I’ve made, as well as the places I’ve been and the videos I’ve uploaded on YouTube.

Let’s begin for July (seriously, how is July over already?!).

Freelance Work

This month has been kind of hit and miss with my freelance work. The first week or so of July was manic as a close family member was diagnosed with a terminal illness so I was rallying around seeing family and generally staying as far away from my laptop as possible. When you’re faced with death work kind of becomes meaningless and, if I’m honest, I still haven’t really got back into the swing of things yet.

Then I took a week off to go to Berlin and, well, I’m pretty sure my bank account will suffer at the end of the month. Sometimes, as a freelancer, you just have to accept that life throws you lemons sometimes.

What did I write this month?

Despite this, I’ve still written quite a lot this month. I’ve written 25 pieces which total around 14,500 words. Not too shoddy, considering.

Amongst these, I wrote a piece for a flight attendant site, a few hotel pieces for a long-term client, four posts celebrating contemporary artists, a lengthy post about packing hacks, and a piece about travelling in the UK. As well as writing I’ve been co-ordinating and assisting in the planning of an art show I’m helping put on in Reykjavik in October. That’s involved outreach, artist interviews, grant writing, and marketing.

Things I’ve learnt about freelancing this month

This month has been full of learning curves and new strategies. As I near the one year mark of freelancing, I’ve been brainstorming ways I can boost my business and find higher paying clients and brands that I feel a great connection with. I’ve started to venture a little bit out of the travel niche, and have been writing for art galleries and fashion brands too.

The biggest thing I’ve changed this month is the way in which I go about finding clients. Sure, I still browse UpWork and Elance, but I’m finding myself scrolling past jobs I would have applied for in the past. I also regularly check job sites, but I want to be more proactive with my approach.

So, this month, I’ve started reaching out to potential clients for the first time ever. I find them via Twitter (usually they’ve followed me on my Wanderful World account so there’s a connection there already) and I shoot off a Letter of Intention. I’ve sent about 8-10 out so far and have already had three bites, so I’m excited to see how this method progresses over the next few weeks.

Where have I travelled this month?

If you read this week’s earlier post you’ll know that I spent four wonderful days in Berlin last week. I’ve visited before but really wanted to go back and explore more. Let me tell you this, if you haven’t been to Berlin yet or are a bit blasé about visiting – don’t be! It’s definitely up there with my favourite cities of all time.

As well as enjoying the local bar and restaurant scene, I visited the major historic attractions and explored lots of the street art that the city’s famous for. You know when you’ve found a good city? When you can’t wait to go back for more… and I certainly can’t wait to do that!

What have I been uploading on YouTube?

Some of you might know that I started a YouTube channel towards the end of my time in Spain, where I upload videos about freelancing, writing, and travel. So far there are just four videos on there, but I’ve had good feedback and will continue with some more (hopefully!) great visual content over the next couple of months.

5 Things to do Before You Go Freelance

The Best Things About Being a Freelancer

The Worst Things About Being a Freelancer

How to Create a Portfolio When You’re Starting Out

Best of the blog this month

• Beer and Backstreets: A Cultural and Creative Guide to Berlin
• How Starting a Blog Can Instantly Boost Your Writing Career
• What is Professionalism? And How to Not Make Enemies
• 5 of the Best Cities in Europe for Freelancers

What’s the plan for next month?

I want to start setting up some streams of passive income so that when I do go away I’m not worried about how much of a cut I’m going to have to take from my next pay check. I’m mostly looking into affiliate links which will both help readers of this blog and Wanderarti as well as earn me a little money on the side.

I’ll also continue to reach out to clients for freelance work instead of waiting for them to come to me, and I’ll report back on how that goes next month!

In terms of travel I don’t have much on the horizon for August. I’ve got a trip to Yorkshire planned with my mum and sister in the middle of the month which I’m excited about as I’ve never been north of the Midlands before!

It’s also my birthday at the end of August, and I’ll be hitting a quarter of a century (the big 2-5). I’m still not sure how I feel about this (or about how quickly time is going!), so I’m sure there’ll be some age-related quarter-life-crisis ramblings on the blog in the next few weeks – forgive me?!

Okay your turn!

Did you enjoy reading this re-cap? What other information would you like to know about my freelancing life and just my life in general? I’m willing to bare all!