Think back to when you first went out on your own.

Remember those first few projects? Getting paid for your writing felt like magic, didn’t it?

You put in, say, 10 hours of work, and the client paid you $750.

Wow!

What made it magical was that the $750 was all for me. And I loved the idea that a few units of effort in would translate to a few units of compensation on the other end.

Eventually, we all get used to this kind of reward ratio. And we (rightfully) start expecting more. We may even get to a point where one hour of our time is often worth $300, $400, or more. Especially when a project goes real smoothly.

And for some solo professionals, this can start feeling odd. We feel a bit guilty that we’re earning that much on some or all of our client work.

Impostor syndrome kicks in. And that inner critic starts taking over our internal chatter.

In this week’s (short) podcast episode I get into these feelings of guilt and how to address them.

This is important stuff. Because if left ignored, these feelings will create a cascading effect of guilt and negativity that inevitably leads to self-sabotage.

I hope you find it useful.

Freelancing is amazing. Until it isn’t.

You wake up one morning and you realize that you’ve created a very demanding job for yourself.

And chances are, you take LESS time off than you ever did in any previous job you held.

Sometimes it even feels like you’re working for a tyrannical boss who makes you feel terrible any time you ask for a small break.

That boss, by the way, is YOU.

Sound familiar?

Not to Wendy Helfenbaum, my guest in this week’s episode. Wendy is an established freelance writer out of Montreal. And for the past 18+ years, she has taken 4 months off every year.

And when I say “time off,” I mean real, non-working time off. No client work. No working on the business. No marketing. No nothing.

Just time to be with her family. To decompress. To enjoy life. And to savor the freedom freelancing is supposed to afford us.

Just as impressive, Wendy has consistently maintained a 6-figure income for years—even while taking a full third of the year off.

I was super-excited to bring Wendy on the show to tell us how she does this. It was a very lively and insightful conversation. I learned so much, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.

This is a great follow-up to the wonderful conversation I had last month with Satta Sarma Hightower, where she discussed how she was able to take a 4-month maternity leave recently. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I urge you to give it a listen, because it complements this week’s episode really well.