Unfortunately, 2025 didn’t move in a straight line.
It started strong with momentum carried over from a great holiday season, clarity on my copywriting and content strategy pursuits, and optimism in my client and income projections.
Q1 and Q2 felt promising, even exciting, as my initial goals were met. I didn’t yet know how fragile momentum could be — or how important building a sustainable freelance business would become.
In March, I had the privilege of presenting a highly anticipated workshop for a freelancer summit that demonstrated how Trello (and similar software) can be used for project, client, and task management—helping other soloprenuers navigate the struggles of multiple clients and competing tasks with more ease. It led to me writing a free resource, Wandering Less, Winning More: Project Management Made Simple.
In April, I organized a local meetup for fellow copywriters within my network. It was great to connect with friends face-to-face and encourage one another.
Then Q3 hit. Factors and influences outside of my control dried up my pipeline and forced my reoccurring clients to end or postpone work.
Suddenly, I found myself with no paying clients and a deathly quiet inbox. It was the kind of silence that forces hard questions.
I hit the outreach hard and received either crickets or rejection notes. I was desperate to keep my fledging business alive but also had the pressure of keeping a roof over my family’s head, the bills paid, and food on the table.
So I hit the job market road running (again) and submitted almost a hundred applications for every type of job I was slightly qualified for: full-time, part-time, contract, in-person, hybrid, remote. I went through four rounds of interviews for a local company and made it to the final round. I received all the signs that it was a fantastic fit and was even making plans to buy a second car so I could make the 45-minute commute five days a week…
Rejected.
That made rejection 481 since my layoff experience in July of 2023, and with no money coming in from Waymarks either, I did want any parent in desperate times has to do. For four months, we relied on the kindness and generosity of two local food banks to keep my kids fed. The dwindling money in our savings went to paying the mortgage and utilities.
And then a referral in Q4 saved the day. I landed a full website redesign project for a construction company, and I could breathe just a tiny bit again.
What 2025 Taught Me
2025 was a year of discovery in the truest sense.
I discovered that grit isn’t glamorous, but it’s real.
I discovered what worked with my business and what didn’t.
I discovered how fragile momentum can during times of economic uncertainty and political chaos.
This was the year of learning how quickly things can shift (for good or for bad), persevering through long dry spells, trying new things, pivoting when things didn’t work out, and getting radically honest with what I want Waymarks to become.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no tidy story arc to share. Just determination, recalibration, and choosing to keep going for the sake of my family even when everything in me wanted to quit.
“Never give up. Never surrender.”
—Galaxy Quest motto
My Guiding Word for 2026 Is Anchored
After a year like that, I knew 2026 needed to be different. I wasn’t starting this time with an optomistic outlook and prediction on anything, let alone my business. Over the last two weeks, I’ve spent a great deal of my free time reflecting on where I’ve been, what I’ve survived, what I’ve overcome, and what goals weren’t achieved.
Slowly, a guiding word for 2026 came into focus:
Anchored.
Anchored is what I didn’t have enough of in 2025. Looking back, it truly felt like I was a ship being tossed about aimlessly by wind and waves completely outside of my control. I do not want to repeat a year like that.
For Waymarks, anchored looks like:
- Retainers as the backbone, not a bonus
- Clear offers, clear scope, and predictable rhythms
- Long-term client relationships instead of feast-or-famine cycles
Basically, a sustainable freelance business that can withstand slow seasons without panic—or draining what is left of our now tiny savings. Anchored, for me, means finally building a sustainable freelance business that can weather slow seasons without panic.
For me, on a personal level, anchored looks like:
- Starting each day slower
- Prioritizing my physical and mental wellbeing
- Spending more quality time with my children and husband
- Letting go of the financial anxiety that has been weighing me down for 2.5 years
Anchored doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, but it softens the swings. Most importantly to me, it turns survival into sustainability—the kind required to build a sustainable freelance business over the long term.
I’ve been in survival mode for too long.
Looking Ahead to a More Sustainable Freelance Business
To be honest, I have a lot of mixed feelings about 2025. I feel both severe disappointment and pride at how I—and my family—survived. It wasn’t easy, and we didn’t do it completely alone, either. We had support from family and friends. But I’m proud that I didn’t disappear when it got hard—and I mean really hard.
As we welcome in a new year with new possibilities, 2026 isn’t about proving I can survive. Been there, done that.
It’s about building something that holds.
So this year, my question is simple:
Does this anchor me — or does it pull me back into survival mode?
Here’s to steadier ground, clearer direction, and a business built to last. 🥂
