Jesse Orndorff

2013 By The Numbers, A Year In Review

Field & practice

After stumbling across Patrick McKenzie’s year in review blog post, I thought it might be helpful if I published my financials and a review of my business. This is very uncomfortable for me, but I think this can help other designers looking to make the move to freelancing.

2013 was my fourth year of full time freelancing and was by best year in terms of income. A large portion of my business last year was repeat clients and a few new NGOs who stumbled across my site. The more I work with NGOs and help them solve some complex problems, the more I want to dive into that niche.

From freelance and consulting work my gross profit was $132,661.

I set aside 20% of my gross receipts for taxes and that usually has me covered incase anything crazy comes up. So for this year, $27,000 is set away for the IRS.

Additional costs: $3000 for insurance (We live out of the US most of the year so this is lower than most others). $5,600 was spent on software, $1,500 for hosting and domains, $4,000 for travel, $500 on advertising, and $1000 on new hardware.

A few things to note: I didn’t calculate in my office & utilities since in 2013 I worked from home. This will change in 2014 since I’ve opted to get an office space to work from. I also took some losses on a couple of business areas, including Taste Phnom and Halogy. Also, bank fees are not included with these calculations, a rough estimate is about 4% for banking fees on billable income.

What I’ve learned this year… This year was a year of learning and growth.

  1. I’m still not charging enough per hour. For most of the year my rate was $65/hour, but I’ve since upped that to $100. I’m also trying to book out by week, rather than by hour to better plan my time (I will note that I am booked through October already for this year).
  2. Cut out non-revenue generating areas of business. Taste Phnom has been a total flop. It was a good test of the market for an iOS app for the Cambodia market, but I think we are just too early to market. Business owners have been unreceptive to the idea of mobile advertising. While Halogy is non-revenue generating, I am planning on spending time investing more into this platform and bring this to a positive number.
  3. Watch those monthly costs. Through the various SaaS services I use, I am paying about $460 a month in software fees. This has grown significantly over the last two years, switching from Adobe CS5 to Creative Cloud has upped the cost. Also I moved from Google apps to Office 365, which is more expensive, but I find myself much more productive in the MS suite of products.
  4. Good developers are hard to find right now. I am getting way more development requests than design requests. Finding a good developer is hard right now. I get a lot of requests from people who have been burned by their previous developer. People need stuff made and developers are in demand right now.

Some of the good stuff…

  1. Travel This year my wife and I got to take a fantastic trip to Malaysia. We spent two weeks traveling throughout the country. Cameron Highlands was by far, the most beautiful place I’ve been. Also being in Cambodia allows for us to take regular trips to the ocean, which is always wonderful. Nothing like kicking back on the sand, with a beer, watching the sunset.

  2. Speaking I was invited by the US embassy to speak at two of their two tech camps in Phnom Penh. It was a great experience and I loved being able to teach Cambodians more about web design and development. I am looking forward to speaking at more events in 2014.

  3. Meeting New People In Cambodia people come and go a lot. But this year I’ve been able to build some relationships with good friends who will be here awhile. It’s nice to be able to invest in friendships that will last for awhile.

The tough stuff…

  1. Poor Health This year I worked my ass off. Probably harder than I have ever worked before and it’s taken a toll on me. My health is dramatically worse than it has been. Over the last two years, I’ve gained close to 50 pounds, went from running five days a week to about one day, and I have an eye twitch that won’t go away.
  2. Lack of Focus On Work/Life Balance Freelancing is a great way to live. You get to live where you want and do something you’re passionate about. But when your income is directly tied to your time, it becomes a challenge to have a healthy work/life balance. It has become clear to me that 2014 needs to be focused on a healthy life balance. While this might mean less income for the business, it’s important so I don’t burnout.
  3. Exercise More Exercise is an amazing way to reduce stress. I was running almost everyday but that has been reduced significantly over the last two years. So far in 2014 I’ve started playing soccer twice a week and I am working on getting back into running shape, I’ve got a long way to go, but it’s needed. At one point this last year, I went three weeks between runs, the level of stress I felt was unbearable and had me re-thinking my choice of profession.

2013 Has Been A Great Year This has been a great year, full of travel, friends, and family. I am truly blessed to be able to do what I do. Most importantly, I am able to support my wife in her career and help women who have been involved in sex work get the life skills that will help them in the future.

I am looking forward to what 2014 has to offer.