051: End Of Year, Baby!

Tune in to hear the last episode of 2022. P.s. I am taking a break from podcasting in the New Year. I will be back, but you'll have to start 2023 without me in your earbuds! 

Thank you for regularly tuning in and supporting the show. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season

- Jules

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Transcript

0:01

Hey, and welcome to the freelance dietician podcast. A show that teaches you how freelancing can help you meet your financial goals. While giving you space to unplug and enjoy your life. I'm your host. Julia is X Shefsky, a published freelance writer and nutrition and wellness space. And this is the final episode of the year and the final episode for the foreseeable future. Yep. You heard that right. I'm going to be doing a year-end review and we're going to start the episode right now.

Julia: 0:48

Hey everyone. Welcome to the last episode of 2022. This is also gonna be the final episode. I'm gonna publish for a while. That's right. I'm taking a break. I'm taking a break from podcasting and from doing the show and from social media next year. I don't know for how long to be honest. It has gotten to a point in my business and personal life where things are really exploding, which is all wonderful and it's the best case scenario and I just can't keep up with doing all the things. So something had to give and I decided that it would be the podcast for a little while. This past year, my first year of entrepreneurship, I spent a lot of exploring who I was as an adult, who I am as a person, what I like doing, what I envisioned my future looking, how I wanna spend my energy. I was still working and making money, but income wasn't my main priority. I wanted to make enough so that we could survive and our finances were secure, but it wasn't my goal. Next year, now that I feel settled and now that I feel connected with myself again, I want to start pushing myself and seeing what I'm capable of as a business owner. And that means having higher income goals and really putting myself out there to get projects and get clients to help me achieve that. So, yeah, I'll go into a little bit more about that later on in the episode. I wanted to start today by answering some listener questions and then I'm gonna do a year in review because as I mentioned, it was my first full year as an entrepreneur and it was a wild ride. Only positive things to say I regret nothing. Best decision of my life was quitting that job. Um, but yeah, it has its ups and downs. It's not all daisies and sunny days, that's for sure. let's start with the listener questions because the listeners are the most important part of this show. Without you guys there would be nothing. I'm just opening my screen here. These are my favorite. I'm gonna start with a lighthearted one I got, which was, how's your dog? First of all, thank you so much for asking. I appreciate that. He is doing wonderfully. He's approaching the three year mark, and I've heard from other dog owners that when your dog gets to three years, they're fully developed and they've just got their personalities they're grown up and I totally feel it with him. So obedient, so intuitive, like I guess I don't realize how much of a schedule we maintain because he knows at like clockwork, like when we're eating dinner or when we're gonna go out to do an errand or when we're getting ready for. It's pretty amazing. Uh, so yeah. All good. Best companion ever in the pandemic. Another question I got from a Canadian dietician was, what kind of goals do I put into my SDL tool? Uh, so for American listeners, your SDL tool is a basically a goal setting tool that's set out by our college, and we're required to fill it out annually. It's their way of making sure that we are keeping up with our dues, but also that we're keeping up with ongoing learning and staying current with the nutrition l. So there's these kind of core pillars that you can build your goals off of, and the tool is very intuitive. I would say for a writer, I mean, the most obvious place to start would be in nutrition communication. You could also certainly make a goal about integrating technology into nutrition communication. So if you're doing blogging, maybe you're gonna learn about seo, or you're gonna learn about what it means to produce a factually accurate article and how to cite your references properly. Uh, it could also. learning different marketing strategies to further your reach to make sure the audience is actually gonna see your content. If you're more interested in developing your nutrition knowledge because you wanna write about it, that could also be a great goal. And so you could say, next year, I'm making a blog all about X, Y, Z. To deepen my knowledge on this topic. I'm gonna be completing a course and I'm gonna apply the knowledge I learned there into my writing. Something like that. Alrighty, next question. Somebody asked me what I'll be posting on my new YouTube channel. Okay, I am not gonna answer this question, sorry. Because it's got nothing to do with nutrition or podcasting or freelancing. There's just no overlap with the show. I know you guys are curious, but there's just some things I gotta keep close to my heart so yeah, I'm not gonna share any details about that. The very last question I got was from a listener. Uh, I just wanna preface this by saying thank you so much for asking this question because you're not alone and feeling this way. And I have certainly been having those feelings at one point in my career as well. But her question was suggestions to. Sorry. Suggestions to keep going while feeling stuck at work, not belonging and just finding yourself. I wish I could give you a hug. I, I feel like I have been down that road and had those exact same thoughts. I don't know, of course, your specific circumstances, but there's definitely, I can relate to the sentiment of that question. I think the most important piece of advice I could offer you when you first start out is to have a really firm understanding of your why. Why are you pursuing freelance work or pursuing a side hustle? Why are you doing the thing? And then once you have that teased out, have it written on a piece of paper or sticky note or something that's very visible in front of you, and it can be your anchor. So when you have those days where you feel like giving up or you're not sure, or you're just having a bad moment, you can look at your reason why and be like, this is it. This is why I'm sticking it out for the long haul. And so examples of listeners who have written in their reasons why have included. I wanna freelance because of the income potential. I wanna have autonomy over my schedule. I want to have more freedom to be with my family. I want to just do things that I care about in nutrition that my nine to five does not prioritize because they have a different goal. All of those are really great examples of other listeners why's and I think if you haven't done that yet, start there. But if you have, keep a written reminder because it's so hard. You have to be your own cheerleader as well as being the freelancer and the accountant of your business and everything that comes. I would also like to add that taking a break, uh, and getting some distance between you and that thing that you're trying to build up, whether it's a freelance business or you know, whatever it is, taking a break can be the greatest gift you could give yourself. Whether it's one month, two months, three months, pick a timeline that will make sense for you and your goals, uh, and then see how you feel after that three month hiatus. I'm just using three month as an example. See how you. I think there's two probable scenarios. So the first is that you will have missed it and you'll come back so enthusiastic. So jazzed up, can't wait to get back into it, which is awesome. And the second scenario might be, oh wow, I didn't even miss that thing. Maybe I shouldn't keep doing it. And that is equally valuable information. And so freeing and it can be very eye-opening when I look at a lot of these successful RD entre. Who are online especially, uh, when they all started their pursuits, they were just trying things out, seeing how far they could get, they had certainly passion for what they were doing. But none of them ever expected to blow up and achieve the kind of wealth and success they have in the present day. And I think that's something really important is that, and I'm, I'm not saying listener, you do this, I, I'm projecting probably a bit for myself now, where you see the end product and then you just expect the journey will be very straightforward and you'll get there and it's gonna be, But in reality, it's never like that. It's always gonna be twisty, turvy, ups and downs. You're gonna face unique problems that are specific to your journey. Um, and the, the only common factor between all those people who are kind of in the quote unquote winner circle is that they had perseverance and they kept going. Um, and taking a break is a part of your journey forward. So consider that if it's a good time. in terms of belonging and not fitting in. I mean, I just wanna give you a. Growing is hard. Growing is so freaking hard, and the only words I can offer you of encouragement is just to keep going, keep trying new things, keep putting yourself out there I am sure that you're amazing and you do fit in, uh, but I certainly can relate to those sentiments at well as well. When I was at my last full-time job, like I just felt always fish out of water. Even in the dietetics community, I've always felt like a black sheep. Like I do not get excited about nutrition facts the same way my peers do. It's not that I don't think it's important. I know it's important, but it's just not something that's gonna make me jump outta bed and get excited. Like I see them get all pumped up for it and I'm just like, we are cut from two different cloths. like, what's wrong with me? So if you can relate to that at all, just know that it's okay. You don't have to be like everybody else. You just have to be you. I'm sure you're adding lots of value and light to people's lives, and I'm sure you're helping people, which I think is always amazing. Um, but if you want to get better connected with yourself, which I think is really tricky as an adult. When you're still shedding your nutrition student skin and you're developing as a adult, and I don't know what stage of life you're in, but soon maybe like growing a family, if that's in the cards for you. Uh, like it's a lot of evolutions that you need to go through and it can be very confusing. And sometimes you can look in the mirror and be like, I don't even recognize myself in my mor anymore. In my brain, I'm still the 22 year old university kid, but here I am, like close to. uh, what the heck is going on? There can be a big disconnect there. So to reconnect with yourself, I'll just offer you again, pieces of stuff that I've tried this past year, uh, crying when you need to reconnecting with friends and loved. This is kind of a weird one, but for me it was a huge game changer. Listening to music that you used to listen to when you were a teenager and when you were just dreaming as big as you possibly could. For me, it was a lot of Taylor Swift albums like OG Taylor Swift, and when I listened back to it, I am transported to that version of Julia who was just. Like just non apologetically dreaming and I miss that. I really miss that cuz adult Julia was way more practical and realistic. So. I think that you should try that. It's very, very interesting what it can make you feel and the nostalgia it can bring. It just like reminds you of what you used to find important because it's very likely that you still find a lot of those same values important in your adult life. So that's kind of a weird one, but I highly recommend it. Uh, and then just like doing things, so go to your local library. I'm sure they have free classes or seminars you could take. I did a knitting one through my local library. Uh, and then I also signed up for a local inexpensive stained glass class. I've never done either of those things, but I just signed up for them and tried them. And they were not nutrition related, not business related. It was just fun. And you know, whenever you do something new for the first time, you learn a lot about yourself. So those are my random kitchen sink suggestions. I don't know if that's helpful for you. I really hope it is. If it's not, please reach out to me cuz I just wanna make sure you feel supported. It can be so tough navigating those feelings. I'm gonna keep us moving along now and do the year. So just in case there's new listeners. Uh, last December, it was my last full month of work before I left my full-time job, and then January, 2022. So this year I started as an entrepreneur. And something that I've noticed compared to other RD entrepreneurs who did like a similar experience as me, you know, they were working full-time, built up a business, and then quit their job. Like they all say how much they loved their full-time job and. it was very difficult for them to make that decision, but ultimately, entrepreneurship just had way more potential. Um, so they took the plunge. And that is something that I, I am very interested in. Like, it, it just doesn't, it's very different from my experience. I did not love my full-time job. For me, developing my freelance business to a point where I could sustain myself was a life that allowed me to leave the job. Like seriously, I was in such bad mental shape from working there, and it's not because of anything horrible that was happening there, not at all. It was because of the strain of me forcing myself to be this person and this dietician. Who I was not. And that, that friction happens in all disciplines it's not just dietetics, like, you know, when you're doing something that's just not a good fit for you. Uh, I take my professional experiences to heart and very seriously, and I'm kind of intense about it. So for me, it probably affected me quite significantly. you know, I, I worked so hard to get to that spot and then to achieve it and then not be satisfied. It was devastating. I can't explain to you that kind of heartbreak unless you've been there, because it's just like you, like the worst fears come to your brain like, oh my God, did I just waste my time becoming a primary care dietician? Holy crap, this sucks. Like, what am I gonna do for the rest of my life? And it's a spiral and it's vicious snowball. So it was so hard. There's episodes about that, so I won't go too much into it. So come January of this year, it happened that a lot of the freelance projects I've been working on dried up, which means that I wasn't getting the consistent income anymore, and that was very scary. But I also was so happy that I had just left the job. I didn't care. And fortunately I was able to build a significant nest egg. So I wasn't too petrified about the money. I knew I could just find more work. Um, but in January and February I looked really rough. My family, Nick, my partner, like they were all looking at me like I was gonna fall over at any moment. I was so exhausted. Just the amount of hours I'd been working, it was too much. So anyway, I took a break. I basically had a forced break in January and February, which was not the plan, but no regrets. I, I remember every single day asking Nick, is it okay that I'm not working right now? Is that okay? Is it okay? I kept asking for permission and he's like, yes. Like, just go nourish yourself. Be a human being. and just start again when you feel ready. And him giving me that freedom or that permission, I guess, was everything. It's like making me teary eyed. Uh, he's so awesome. So what did I do? I literally went snowboarding. I just like had the best time ever and I just tried not to feel guilty about not working. But then in March I decided, okay, that's enough now. I feel restored. I need to get back on the horse. And thank. My freelance writing coach, Colleen Walsh, like she reached out to me in March and said, Hey, I know you've been taking a break, but don't take too long of a break because you don't want. Freelance business to just flop on its head because that's exactly what happened to her. And so she was just looking out and I actually really appreciated that nudge because it did really push me forward. And I said, yeah, I need to, I need to start taking this business pursuit actually really seriously. No I can't just be a business owner and on holiday the whole year, if only. So then in March, started pitching within five days, I got the biggest client I'd ever secured in my life. There's no secret formula to that, guys. It was literally just about doing the work, getting on the computer every day, sending out pitches. Um, and then that's how you see results with freelancing. You don't get a lot of free bees, so you have to actually do the work. Uh, and that was huge. And I remember feeling so elated, so ecstatic. Strong imposter syndrome because I felt like they're paying me so much. I don't know if I have skills that can meet their level, but whatever. I'm gonna do my best. And it ended up being really great. In March, I also released my first ever online course, which was all about Upwork. That was a lot of fun. It was exciting to publish it, but to be honest, I don't know if I would do a lot of coursework in the future. I remember reading off Teachable that only 7% of people ever actually complete a course, which for me is very disheartening cuz if I produce something, I want it to actually be helping people, not just sitting idly by. I know courses are a phenomenal business model, but I just worry that I'm, I just worry that I'm selling a dream instead of actually helping people achieve what they wanna achieve. Obviously I'm biased from my own experiences, I think that coaching is the only way that we really see people achieve the results that they hope to see. And obviously I've been through a few coaching programs myself, but I can't, I cannot be persuaded otherwise. It's the accountability and the one-on-one tailoring to your goals, I think that would really help you succeed. So I did offer a little bit of coaching and I had people do that and. Definitely enjoyed it so much more and the people who did it got way better results than just the people who signed up for the course. So I kind of proved my own theory. In the future, I would prioritize coaching. It's just something I believe in and you know, as a business owner you have to believe in your services and you have to sell what feels good, but otherwise nobody's gonna buy them. Like if you don't even believe in your own stuff, why would somebody else? And then in April I was working away, taking on a lot of coursework. I knew that I wanted to start making a bit more money, so I asked my current client if I could just get double the amount of work. Because like I tell you guys, if you wanna start making more money, go to the people who are already paying you. They know you, they like you. They, they're the most likely people to say yes. So I was really proud of that. That was a big milestone for me, for even asking. Uh, and I started to make more. and then in June, July and August. It basically became summer months and I took some time off the podcast and I just enjoyed my summer. It was the best summer of my life. I didn't do anything incredible, but I just felt healthy. I was biking to the local library to do my work. So incorporating that healthy living into my work life was huge. We did a couple trips with family. I saw my European family, they flew into Canada, which was so fun. I hadn't seen them in two years. The July trip where we went to a cottage, me and Nikki went to a cottage, which I have a podcast episode about. Uh, that was the first and only time where I've ever missed my nine to five job because he went on vacation and he was able to unplug and enjoy the holiday. But I went there and I realized very quickly that I would not be able to unplug. Like it's just too hard as a new business owner, um, even despite having boundaries and stuff, like it's just not the same. So yeah, that was a big learning experience. And in the future, uh, I just know that I'll always have a little bit of some brain juice dedicated towards my business, but maybe I could also hire some help in the future. So I just know if there's any fires happening, at least I have somebody who's able to tackle them. Yeah. And then in August my client got a new editor, um, and they had a very different vision from the style of writing and projects we've been working on. So in September we trialed, working together, and she just decided it wasn't gonna be a good fit and let me go. uh, and it was very amicable. Like she's a very strong editor and good at what she does. So like no bad blood by any means. It's very common that when you get a new editor, they clean house because like I said, they just have a clear vision of what they want and you either fit it or you try to adapt and you can't make the cut. And that's what happened to me. So no shame in it. I would say then in October, I was freaking out because I had enough money from other stuff I do to cover my mortgage, but it was a significant change in my income. And also I was kicking myself for not getting more clients rostered. Ugh. But you know what I did that I didn't wanna take on too many clients because I wanted to enjoy my summer. Like, you know, it's just hindsight's 2020. Moving forward into the month of October. I definitely spiraled a little bit, uh, which I've made some podcast episodes about, because I'd never been let go from anything in my life. As a high-achieving human being, it's humbling, but more so, it was very, uh, it just made me feel so bad. Like I just felt like I did a bad job and that was like the worst feeling to overcome. So, so yeah, it was tough. A lot of feelings to process there. And it just took its course. And then in November I was feeling top of my game again, and for the first time in my freelance career people were reaching out to me to work for them, which was so cool. They had seen my articles that had been published through other, They liked what I could talk about and they reached out to me so I didn't even have to pitch them. And that is like the holy grail of freelancing. And that's kind of how you know you made it. So I felt like this, like micro, micro level fame and it was exactly what I needed to put wind under my wings. So now I'm working with clients again. My docket is full. I have more than one, learning my lessons. And in the new year I'm actually planning to hire some help for my business, not a. it's actually gonna be a research assistant to basically do a lit review of different topics to make sure that what I'm, to make sure that whatever I'm producing is aligning with the most current evidence. Because when you write about a huge variety of nutrition areas, like it can be hard to stay on top of all of them. So that position is not open. So please don't message me trying to apply when it is open. I will let you guys know, but it's really cool. I'm excited that I'll have a chance to expand my. Yeah. And now here we are in December. So I wanted to get at least 70 k from writing alone in my freelance writing business. I can tell you guys, I did not get. But that's because I was only writing and earning money nine months out of the year instead of the full 12. If I had been doing the full 12, I would've gotten around 72 K somewhere on there. I just wanna say though, guys, if you make big goals and you don't achieve them, there is no shame in that. You did not fail. Just because I didn't hit the 70 K mark for the whole year. It doesn't mean my business has failed. I got very close. If anything, it's just given me a year's worth of data that I can now troubleshoot and tweak so that next year I know what I need to do to help me hit my financial goals. This year. It was the year of Julia, and I felt very privileged and fortunate that I could take my foot off the gas pedal a bit, work what I needed to, and then just live my life. And next year I feel fueled up and ready to go and I'm actually very hungry for a challenge. So in terms of income, I would like to be somewhere, I would like to double it. So basically around, I don't know. That's bad practice. Hold on, I'm getting my words fumbled up here. Let me start from. when you don't achieve a goal, the pros will tell you that you should create the same goal again so that you can achieve it, and then you graduate up and increase your goal. However, I'm cheating a little bit because. Based on my earnings, if I was working the full 12 months at my current income I would have achieved my goal. So that's why I feel a little bit comfortable saying this next goal. But I do wanna sit somewhere closer to 1 25, 1 45 mark in terms of revenue for my business, uh, from writing, but then also from doing cooking demos and other projects as well. And so that can sound astronomical, and it does, and it definitely makes me feel a little bit like. Holy crap. Those are big numbers, but I also know how I'm gonna get there. And a huge way to do that is to raise your rates as a freelancer. So I've raised my rates, which has significantly helped, especially because I can't increase the number of hours I'm working, but I can't increase how much I'm charging. I've also developed a new base rate, so I try to create these packages for my clients, and I've been doing them somewhere between, A base package is like seven$50. U s D, but now my new base package is gonna start at 3,500 US dollars, and so that's gonna also help me bring in more money. I think it's completely justified, especially after you've got a couple years of experience under your belt and you know what you're doing. I'm also gonna be starting my own nutrition blog, which I'm really excited. Uh, I mean, I could have technically, I guess, started one this year, but it was too much. Like, there are only so many hours in a week that I want to dedicate to my business. And even though it's bright and shiny and very tempting to get involved with all these different projects, it does, it can drain you out, unfortunately. So just being very mindful of that moving forwards. So, yeah, I hope that was inspiring. I hope that was a great rundown of my year. It's been such a blast sharing these updates with you guys. The podcast is my pride and joy, but I just have to take a step back from it because it, it's also not really monetized. I get a little bit of ad revenue from the show, but the podcast is just kind of a more expensive hobby and I need to be very mindful of where I'm investing my time and my finances moving forward. I am gonna sign off. I hope you guys have a very happy holiday season and a healthy new year, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we all are gonna be successful and our freelance pursuits in whatever capacity that takes form.

27:01

I'm not going to be available on social media. So please ask your freelancing questions and some of the RD groups, you know, there's a freelance writing group. There's the unconventional RD group. Maybe seek out your peers cause I'm not going to be responding to DMS or anything over the next couple of months. I'm doing a full break. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm going to be back before you know it and i can't wait to hear all the updates from you guys by.