Turns Out “Showing Up” Was the Whole Plan

People ask me this a lot lately: “How do you manage, as a freelancer?”

Believe it or not, some still think it’s not a real job. 🤷🏾‍♀️

It’s usually said with a specific kind of concern in their voice—the “must be nice, but also, aren’t you terrified” tone. Fair question. Here’s the honest answer.

A few years ago, I would have said…

I was lucky. I had one main, regular client I could always count on. Steady work, steady income, steady everything. It let me be selective about other projects, take on passion work that didn’t pay much (or at all), and generally feel like freelancing was a solved problem for me. Yada, yada, yada…

For a long time, my answer was easy (if a little smug). I didn’t realize how much of my “management” was actually just luck wearing a work ethic costume. (Well, there was a lot of work ethic in there, too.)

But…

We parted ways earlier this year. (If you read the last post, this is the same pivot I mentioned—the one that also cost me my baby project.) It wasn’t dramatic. It just… ended, the way these things sometimes do. One day you have a foundation, the next you’re figuring out what you’re standing on.

For the first time in a long time, I’ve had to actually scramble. Apply. Pitch. Follow up. Get ghosted. Follow up again. Get a “we’ve decided to go in another direction.”

So, how do I manage now?

Honestly? Hustle. That’s the whole secret, and it’s not a very satisfying one.

Some days are good—a reply comes in, a call goes well, a project lands.

Some days are not—radio silence, a “we went with someone else.”

Some days I’m oh-so-productive, knocking out applications and follow-ups like it’s a sport. Other days I don’t want to get out of bed (and I don’t, and that’s allowed, too).

There’s no system I can hand you. No five-step framework. Just: keep applying. Keep showing up, even on the bed days, even just a little.

At the end of the day, I know—not hope, know—things will turn out okay. Not because I have proof (like a savings account that will keep me alive for even a month if I get 0 income). But because I’ve kept showing up before, and it’s worked out. That’s the only evidence I’ve got. Turns out it’s enough.

So if you’re asking because you’re going through your own version of this… same. We’re figuring it out in real time, you and me both.