2017- Year in Review

Stephen Godfrey on a train in Heber, Utah

It’s time to look at how well I did in 2017. I’ve done yearly reviews before but never in a consistent place. But since freelancing is such a big part of my life I’m putting my yearly reviews here from now on.

And I’ll cover 2017 by stealing this format from Nathan Barry asking two simple questions: What Went Well? What Didn’t Go Well?

Also, I’ll include an income report and review my earnings for 2017 (spoiler warning: I nailed it).

Before we begin please note that I wrote this article for me. I write this because it forces me to review the past so I can learn from it. But I publish it because I think it can help you in some way. So feel free to read along, but any criticism (or praise) is not necessary.

What Went Well

I started a new ebook about Imposter Syndrome. And by the end of 2017 I finished the 1st draft of up to 25000 words. Not a lengthy tomb, but still enough material to be valuable. You can check out the more about it at impostertherapy.com. I think this book will help people who feel like they are a fake, a fraud, or a phoney. I also think it will help people to overcome self-doubt, fear, and even lonliness.

My new book on Imposter Syndrome

I took the plunge and joined the DYFA academy (Double Your Freelancing). I really respect Brennan Dunn and knew that I could learn some good things from the academy (Brennan took the Academy down because it was too hard to scale, but it was still a great purchase). Best part is that I gained new friends. I’ve enjoyed my one-on-one talks with Branden, Samantha, Anthony, James, Ari, Luke, and more. Also, it’s been great to get to know the mentors of DYFA like Kurt, Brennan, Matt, Liston, and Jonathan. Not only were the lessons super-valuable, I’m still friends with the people there, and we still have a mastermind that we do to this day.

In 2017 I made a good effort to eat lunch with friends. Even so much that I got sick of Thai food and banned it from my list! (I still like it, but I’ll try different things for the next year) Still I wish I were more social and in my mind there are some barriers to that. But I could do way better about planning events outside the home (games nights, guys nights, movies, camping, hiking, building trebuchets, etc). Looking back I had some great lunches with Bradley, AJ, Spencer, Brent, Kevin, and Cody

I also learned how to work this year. Really work. In the beginning I struggled to balance it all (balancing everything today is still a fight but I’m better at it). Then towards the latter end of the year I learned how to focus, and how to dive into my work. I learned how to be more responsible, and it all clicked for me. I went from having $7,000 months being the norm to having $14,000 or $15,000 months.

And with that success I paid off a lot of debt this year. I think I paid off two student loans (my Canadian loan and the Marriott school loan), and a whole host of bills including the doctor, the dentist, and our Verizon bill.

Also I read a lot of books. For me, the perfect night is at the end of a day of hard work, sitting on my bed or on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket and a caught up in a good book.

Fitness wise I’m healthy and trim, but I wouldn’t say I’m in shape. Eating right and having a high metabolism does wonders for that. Also, I’ve slept fairly well this past year. This year I did the miracle morning for a few months, and it’s been great to have my own private time. I found that I avoided doing the savErs portion of the list, so on those mornings I do the exercise first. It got to the point where I’d pull out the yoga mat without really thinking about it. Also, there were some sections of time when I did pushups but I’d always stop after a month.

I gave a few talks this year and that was good. I’d like to give more talks and even speak at a conference (hint, hint). In 2017 I talked at:

• BYU about starting a consulting practice.
• Girl Develop It about freelancing,
• World Tech Academy about using Wordpress and freelancing

Not a stunning first start, but I do love to teach and to train. I’d love to talk more and one day make paid trainings are part of my portfolio.

And I was a pretty good husband and father. I went to every event my kids had, and tried to serve them through cooking meals and playing with them. Still I realize that I often avoid them. My kids can get really crazy sometimes and I don’t know how to handle that. Maybe it’s because I work from home, and so I don’t get to divide out my day from being a father and being a business owner. Still, it’s good to be a dad and I’m grateful for my kids.

What Did Not Go Well

Our 1999 Honda Accord died. And I also learned the importance of changing out the transmission fluid regularly. Coincidence that those two items are in the same paragraph? I think not. So we got a newer car (and a car loan) sooner than I would have liked, but it’s made things so much easier. We got a Honda CRV with 89,000 miles, and so far it runs really well. Plus it’s made it so much easier to transport the kids.

Stephen Godfrey in his new CRV!

Working at home is still rough. I do my best work when the kids are at school and the house is clean and quiet. And as much as I’ve sound-proofed my office door, the office is right next to the family room. And it doesn’t work well. My wife and I are talking about me working outside the home, or building a tiny-house office, or buying a Whisper Room, but we are still weighing our options. I just need a quiet place to work. I don’t mind working in an office with others, but most adults don’t hit and scream at each other (well, at least not at the office). Granted I am grateful for the office that I do have, I just would like it to be quieter.

Eliana and Finn Godfrey at Big Springs Idaho

And I didn’t do well with achieving goals. I felt that I lacked vision, purpose, and direction. It was so easy just to work for the clients that I had, trade time for money, and just coast with my current success. Sure, I improved and did some things, but felt like I should be striving for some greater purpose and meaning in my life. And I felt that I’m hiding from what I’m suppose to be doing (whatever that is supposed to be). Inside me is someone bold, strong, competent, and powerful. This year will be different. This is the year I change.

Stephen and Sarah Godfrey in Yellowstone National Park

Last year I was not good at playing. Even though I’d like to play more. We did a few small day trips, went camping once (our neighbours got drunk and played country music really loud till the wee hours, but it’s all part of the fun), and even went to Yellowstone. So I’d like to play more. If anyone in Utah wants to go camping, explore, or just play boardgames I’m down.

Income From 2017

I nailed it this year. It was my most profitable year in freelancing ever and I feel like I could do even better.

Though it’s interesting. I kept thinking that I wasn’t doing well, and I often would focus on my failings. Then I heard the following quotes that helped put things in perspective for me.

• “Well it sounds like you are killing it” - Brennan Dunn
• “You are killing it!” - Liston Witherill
• “Holy 5#!t Stephen” - Samantha Nienow (technically, this quote is from 2018, but I wanted to put it down on paper so I didn’t forget it.

Also I had some great talks with my kind and patient wife. She helped me to see where I am at, and see my life with a true perspective. I’m grateful for her help.

Now, on to the finances!

Before I disclose everything please note that these numbers will be off a little from what my accountant submits for my taxes. The numbers in here are general reporting from my time tracking system but dates and times for my invoices may be different.

Runway

At the time of writing, I have about 9 months of post-tax runway. I need about $5,500 to meet my monthly obligations, and if I didn’t have any income for 9 months I could live without doing any work. And it’s been a great source of peace for me.

If you don’t have more than 3 months you need to make that a priority. Once I hit the 6-month mark my stress decreased, I started pitching projects at higher rates, and didn’t worry much if I lost a proposal. It’s a total game changer.

Consulting

Wham! Kapow! Shazam! (I Nailed it!)

Actual and real numbers from my time tracking system (Harvest Time Tracking)

In other words I did really well in 2017. Total earnings came in at $128,765 USD. My best month was $20,800 and my lowest was $4,500. The best month happened when I scored a rush project for mx.com building out their main website (I did about 40% of their site), and the lowest month was in January. I had a pretty empty pipeline at the time and was still scrambling to fill it.

Just for history sake In 2016 I made $87,975 USD from consulting so that’s a 46% increase. Not too shabby.

Also, I’m grateful for the clients that I had and have. I worked on projects for:

• Bank of American Fork
• MX
• People’s Town and Country Bank
• Kizan Managment/Turnkey Storage
• Ping Identity (in partnership with Red Rider Creative)
• ActionTrak
• Change Your Heart
• Nahunta Hall

W2 (or employment) Income

A big fat whopping zero. And I plan to keep it that way. I could see myself partnering in a promising startup, or working for a company that provides an immense source of meaning and value, but it would have to be a sweet deal.

Products

I barely pitched my products in 2017. I have two courses on freelancing and they’ve already helped some students win new freelance projects. The first course has 3 modules on choosing a niche, finding clients, and pricing and billing. The 2nd course builds off of the 1st one and has a bunch of templates, contracts, proposals, and some additional lessons that I learned from freelancing. I put a lot of work into them, and I think that they are worth more what I am charging ($100, and $300 respectively). Finally, I gave a serious discount (which I don’t think I’ll do again) to some students at BYU so the final amount isn’t a multiple of the normal price.

Total earnings from Products in 2017 was $685 USD.

Overall

Stephen and Sarah Godfrey on a hike near Pleasant Grove, Utah

I look back and feel proud of what I accomplished. I paid off about 5 sources of debt (2 student loans, our phones, and large dentist and doctor bills), and I feel great about that. All this success is mostly due from having the courage to take on new projects when they come, treating clients well, and having great clients that have repeat work. I don’t even look for clients much because I have all the work I want.

But I think I can do better than just trading time for money. I’ve seen some great people do well with products or high end consulting (People such as Brennan Dunn, Jeff Goins, John Sonmez, Patrick McKenzie, and Sean Mccabe), and I know that most of that has just been because of good old fashioned hustle, courage, and hard work. So if they can get where they are with hard work then I can do the same.

So it’s time to take things to the next level. I want to have more time to do the things I love, and to take on projects that challenge me a little more. While I am grateful for all that I have and am proud of what I’ve done, I know I can do better so I’ll seek for that. What do I seek? I seek to improve, to progress, to have a life full of meaning.

Goals

Finally here are my goals for 2018. I think I’ll put them up here so I be publically accountable.

1. Find a quiet office where I can work (someplace close, build a tiny house, soundproof my office, are all options)
2. Build out 3 more raised garden beds, and install a watering system
3. Do more microadventures. At least 3 this year. (Anyone up for some overnight backpacking adventures? Ping me via email at ‘stevegodfrey’ with the gmail extension )
4. Finish my 3rd and 4th drafts of my Imposter Syndrome book for Developers, and launch it!
5. Redo my Freelance College site, and launch my courses (officially)

-Stephen Godfrey

P.S You deserve to have better clients, better project, and higher paying projects. And I can help you to get there. Join over 1000 people in my freelancing community, and learn how to make $10,000 a month through freelancing.

Back to articles