In January I left a comfortable salary with nothing lined up except two maybes and a spreadsheet. Everyone asks the same question, and nobody asks it directly: what did it pay? So here is the whole ledger, unrounded, including the months I’d rather not print.
The short version: less than my old salary for four months, more for two, and a kind of freedom the spreadsheet has no column for. The long version starts with the worst month, because that’s the one that almost sent me back.
The ledger, month by month
| Month | Invoiced | Collected | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | $1,850 | $1,850 | One small retainer |
| February | $940 | $440 | The ghost client |
| March | $3,200 | $3,200 | First real project |
| April | $2,750 | $2,750 | Referral month |
| May | $5,400 | $4,900 | Two clients at once |
| June | $6,100 | $6,100 | Raised my rate |
“February taught me more about pricing than any book — a $500 unpaid invoice is a very expensive tutor.”
What changed between February and June wasn’t skill. It was the boring machinery around the work: deposits up front, a contract template, saying the rate out loud without flinching. The work itself was the same work I’d been doing on salary — it turns out the difference was never the work.
Would I recommend it? I’d recommend the spreadsheet. Keep one honest ledger before you leap, and one honest ledger after, and let those two documents argue it out.