My 2025 Year in Review

Numbers + lessons in year 7 of freelancing

Author

Sam Lauron
December 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Hello and welcome to my subscribers, old and new!

Did I intend to take a two-month break from writing my bi-weekly newsletter? No. But am I at least coming back feeling refreshed after my time away? Also no. However! I’m excited to wrap up the year with you all and am genuinely looking forward to another year of writing, sharing lessons, and hearing your stories in return.

Today I’m recapping the last year of freelancing. If you’ve been here for a while, then you know that I’ve had a weird year (like a lot of us!). I lost a few clients due to layoffs and budget cuts, resulting in a very quiet summer. But the slower period gave me a lot of space to figure out what I want my career to look like over the next few years. I also got to travel, read a lot, and just enjoy my free time so I can’t complain.

Before we dive in, here's last year’s recap if you’re curious!

📊 2025 freelancing by the numbers

  • Pieces written: 133 (a mix of blog posts, case studies, interviews, and thought leadership)

  • Invoices sent: 42

  • Total number of clients: 13

  • Number of new clients: 5

  • Number of clients lost: 3 (due to layoffs and budget cuts)

  • Highest-earning month: February

  • Lowest-earning month: July

  • Number of hours worked per week: ~20-30 (this really varied with my high and low seasons this year!)

✍️ Favorite articles written

My favorite work this year included creator economy content, customer interviews, and Austin-centric blog posts for one of my longest-running clients — a local boutique hotel 🤠

💌 Top Rough Draft Issues

These were your favorite newsletter issues this year, according to opens and clicks:

🖥️ Work highlights

🤝 Went to some in-person events with my local client, and it was so nice to get out from behind my desk and interact with people IRL again
🚀 Branched out from my usual writing niche (marketing tech) and got to learn about new industries
🎓 Gave career advice to a class of PR students at my alma mater

🤸 Personal highlights

🗼Traveled to Tokyo, Japan! This was my first time in Asia, but it certainly won’t be the last
🏃🏻‍♀️ Ran my first 10K
🏙️ Made another trip to one of my favorite cities, Chicago 💛
📚 Read 22 books (nearly double from last year!)
🍎 Went back to school (more on that soon 👀)

Lessons and takeaways

I’m cursing 2024 Sam who apparently described work as “steady” in last year’s recap post (🙄).

This year threw me some curveballs when I suddenly lost 3 clients in the span of two months. Income I relied on disappeared overnight and I felt myself scrambling to make it up. I wouldn’t say I got desperate, but I did work with companies outside of my usual niche and even lowered my rate by a bit to secure new projects. But I have no regrets! Here’s what I learned:

  • Be flexible: I’ve always said that I don’t believe you need a niche as a freelancer (and I still believe that), but this year really tested that theory. I worked with companies in the legal and healthcare spaces, which are well outside of my comfort zone. My work this year didn’t go entirely to plan, but I ended up challenging myself in new ways, so that’s what I’m taking away.

  • Money isn’t everything: My income has increased every year since 2019 — except this year. After losing a few clients at the beginning of the year, I ended up making less money than last year, despite securing new clients to try to make up for the losses. Was it a bummer? Of course. But I also realized that I had just been chasing the idea of making more each year without doing the math to figure out how much I really need to make to feel steady and secure.

  • Relationships matter: Work thankfully started to pick up again in the fall when I began working with three new clients. And I have relationships to thank for that! I’m incredibly grateful for former clients turned collaborators who referred me to new clients this year.

This year has been tough for many of us, whether freelancing or navigating the job market. So just know that if you’re feeling the effects of the unpredictable work world, you’re not alone! This was my 7th year of freelancing as a career, and while dealing with the highs and lows is never fun, I’ve learned that it does get more manageable the longer you do this.

How was this year for you? Please feel free to vent or share with me!

I’ll be spending the rest of the year reflecting on this year and planning for 2026, and I’m excited to get back into sending bi-weekly issues of Rough Draft. In the meantime, I hope you have a cozy end-of-year season. Thanks for being here, I’m grateful for this tiny corner of the internet ❤️ Cheers to another year of freelancing and figuring it out!

Enjoying this issue? Share it with a friend or subscribe below if you aren’t already subscribed.

Rough Draft is a bi-weekly newsletter where I share tips and musings on creating a freelance career from scratch. Subscribe here. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Threads, or my website. 👋 Have a question about freelancing? Submit it here!