How to Navigate Different Seasons in Freelance Editing

Apr 5

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I’ve been thinking a ton about different seasons of life lately, and it’s made me realize there are also different seasons we go through in our businesses.

The ugly truth is that not all seasons in our businesses are positive. Just like in life, it’s completely normal to go through hard times. Unfortunately, it’s easy to feel like a failure for experiencing a less-than-incredible season, which is a narrative that needs to be rewritten.

In this episode of The Modern Editor Podcast, I’m walking you through the variety of seasons you may experience in your editing business so that you can normalize it instead of wondering if you’re doing something wrong.

Welcome back to the podcast. I thought it would be fun to talk about the different seasons you can experience in your freelance editing business. I’ve been thinking a lot about seasons of life lately, and oftentimes it’s more on a personal level, right? So there’s things like seasons of parenting young kids, or seasons of caregiving of some sort, or maybe you are going through a season of trying to get a certain diagnosis or an illness, seasons of self-care, et cetera.
And that’s all great, and I talk about it a lot, but I also wanna talk about the seasons we can experience in our businesses, which are still very much a part of us, because without us, our businesses don’t exist. So I wanted to chat about them because one, some of you might not be aware of them, and two, I want to reassure you that it’s all completely normal.
Welcome to The Modern Editor Podcast, where we talk about all things editing and what it’s like to run an editorial business in today’s world. I’m your host, Tara Whitaker. Let’s get to it.
Welcome back edibuddies. Today we’re gonna talk about the different seasons you can experience in your freelance editing business.
Now this is not an official list. There’s no research to back it up or anything. These are seasons that I have come up with because I’ve personally experienced each and every one of them, most of them multiple times.
So my plan today is to talk about all those seasons that I could think of, what they entail, then also give you some reassurance if you’re currently in a sticky season or a less than desirable season or seasons.
Now here’s my little spiel. First, like I said, these are all completely normal to experience. You are not a bad business owner if you’ve experienced one of these, if you’ve experienced them multiple times. There’s nothing wrong with you if you haven’t experienced one of them yet at all.
Nothing is out of bounds here. Like anything can happen, right? There’s so many variables that go into our businesses, so yes, these are all normal, but they’re not a requirement or a measuring stick of how you’re doing as a business owner. Seasons can be weeks or months or sometimes years. I’ll tell you about the one I’m in that has been going on for over a year.
They can shift back and forth. They can happen simultaneously. Again, no rhyme or reason. They can be nerve-wracking if you aren’t aware of them. They can make you feel guilty if you feel like you shouldn’t be in this season or why am I experiencing this season again? Here we go again, all normal. No shame here. Just simply awareness and maybe some commiseration if you’ve experienced the same ones I have.
So here are the seasons I’ve come up with in no particular order. I started trying to put them in an order and then realized that that was not gonna be feasible because we experience these at different times.
So the first one is a learning season. Especially when you’re first starting your business, you are clearly going to be in a learning season. You’ve gotta learn the skills, right? And you gotta learn how to run a business, or it can happen when you’re doing something new. Maybe you’re adding a new service, maybe you’re wanting to become a coach or something like that, or you’ve gotta learn how to do something.
You need to learn all the things. So of course this is gonna be a focus during that season. The one thing I just wanna mention is that try not to let it turn into a procrasti-learning season. And what that means is where you’re learning instead of taking action. No idea what that season is like. I’ve never procrasti-learned in my life. Ha ha.
Another season that’s self-explanatory is the planning season. If you’re launching your business, I suspect you’re doing a lot of planning. If you’re launching a new service, if you are creating a marketing campaign, if you are speaking at an event and you need to plan how to get there if it’s in person or what you’re speaking about or any of those things. That can happen throughout your business, right? Learning and planning, they’re gonna happen a lot. They’re very common, right?
The next one is also common, which is a networking or a marketing season, and that’s where you’re focusing on—ah ha—networking and/or marketing. Now I mentioned this because I just had a real-world example that I wanted to share that I was very proud of for doing it this way when in the past I would not have. So I recently sponsored a coffee chat, or a networking session, at the Women in Publishing Summit. So I paid a fee and I got access to lots of different things about, uh, talking about the Freelance Editors Club. And then I was also given a virtual sponsor booth, and then I, of course, was at the networking event that I sponsored.
So I attended the sponsor booth, answered questions straight for like 75 minutes, and then attended the networking session where I answered questions for a very long time. To me, it was a very long time, but it was probably like 40 minutes. And then I attended most of the other just general networking events.
I only attended one educational session. Now of course the summit was full of educational sessions, but I wasn’t there to learn. Ha ha. I know I have access to the recordings. I plan on watching them later, but I was there live to talk about the Freelance Editors Club, how it can benefit editors, and then I was also sharing our member directory so authors can find editors because there’s lots of authors at this event.
In the past, I would’ve felt extremely guilty for not taking full advantage of everything that the summit had to offer. Right? I’ve done that. This was my fourth year attending and the first year I was like, well, I’ve gotta attend everything. I gotta get my money’s worth right? And I exhausted myself to the extreme because it is four days.
It’s less stuff nowadays, but back then it was four days and it was jam-packed from morning to night. And I should have known better ’cause I know myself, but I did not go to any other sessions except for that one. This year, because I’m not in a learning season, I am in a networking/marketing season and I got what I needed to out of it and I kept my mental health and energy top of mind because had I not, I would’ve burned out, which we’ll talk about a little later.
So that’s an example because guilt comes into this a lot. Shame comes into this a lot, and I wanna just reiterate that it is okay to do an event, attend an event, and just get out of it what you want or need. You don’t have to take full advantage, just like the Freelance Editors Club. You do not have to do everything that we do in there at all. It’s like ice cream in the freezer, like Sharon McMahon says, it’s there when you need it. That’s it. There’s no pressure.
Okay, moving on to the CEO season. So this is where you focus on your business, not in your business. Now in your business for us means we’re editing, which is, I’m gonna guess, uh, a pretty core piece of our business because without it, we’re not really editors. Right?
And if you wanna learn more about this whole concept of on and in your business, go listen to episode five. But your CEO season is where you’re making those big-picture plans, making like longer-term goals, decisions. It’s a lot of just the non-editing things, and this can be a tough one because like I just said, if we don’t edit, we don’t have a business.
So it’s important that we keep that CEO hat close by and don’t let it, you know, I’m trying to think of something clever and I can’t, don’t let it move too far away because yes, we have to edit, but we also need to do things like pay our taxes and figure out what we wanna do in life and what kind of services we want to offer, and da, da, da.
So this CEO season will overlap a lot. I highly doubt, given the nature of what we do, unless you’re in a dry season, which we’ll also talk about, you’re gonna have, you know, months to be a CEO. You’re gonna be a CEO, as well as other things. So this season will overlap, but you never know. Maybe there’s gonna be a time frame where you set aside some time and you only wear your CEO hat. Anything goes, right? It’s our businesses, all right?
You can also be in a pivot or expansion season. This one can be a doozy in good or bad ways. Maybe you’ve been editing a while and you’re like, I’m getting bored, I need to do something else. I need to add something. Maybe you feel a pull to try something else.
Maybe you want to not offer a service anymore because it’s not aligned, or you just don’t wanna do it anymore. You don’t enjoy it. Exciting, right, but also scary. And depending on how quickly you take action, this season could be, you know, relatively short or it could extend into a longer period of time if you’re pivoting massively with your business. Yeah, it’s gonna take longer. Or if you have to think about it quite a bit, which I tend to do and kind of overthink, so my seasons tend to be a little longer because of that.
There’s also a maintenance season. This is where you are literally just maintaining everything. You’re not expanding, you’re not pivoting, you’re not blowing things up, you’re just chilling. This can feel really amazing. It’s okay. I know at the end of all of my podcast episodes, I say keep learning and keep growing. I think those always happen regardless. But in a maintenance season, you are still learning and growing but maintenance in the way that I am explaining is you’re just rocking and rolling. You’re chugging along. You’ve got your clients, you’re doing the thing, you know, it’s just steady as she goes, which can be great.
But I did wanna mention, just remember to try not to get complacent. Enjoy it, but don’t, you know, don’t get complacent because guess who has done that in the past and then had it bite me big time. But a maintenance season is just fine. I also wanted to say that because yes, we all learn and grow all the time, but I don’t want you to get caught up in a hustle culture or a gotta go, go, go a million miles an hour at all times of the day, all days of the week, month, year. Like, it’s okay to just maintain. Honestly, that might be your goal and it’s a great goal. So maintenance season.
Kind of on the flip side of that: dry seasons. Dry seasons suck. Full stop. But they happen to all of us, and they usually happen multiple times. It’s business. Like, I was trying to think of a business that would never have dips and peaks and go back and forth and have busy seasons and slow periods, and I couldn’t think of any, or the ones I could think of weren’t appropriate for the podcast.
So no matter what industry you’re in, no matter what you do, you’re going to experience ebbs and flows. And yes, freelancing is definitely known for that. So it happens. Now, it can happen due to lack of marketing or you know, maybe you got a little complacent—again, been there—but it can also happen due to things way outside of our control. Which is even honestly more annoying to me because then I can’t fix it.
You know, like the economy and the state of the world and you know, things that happen to us that we don’t have control over. That plays a part in dry seasons and you just have to ride it out, which is, I wish I had better advice for that, but being in this 14 years, I know you just have to ride it out, feel the feelings and the suck as it happens, but it will change. It will. Or the next season, maybe you just blow everything up.
Okay, I say this because the thought of just blowing everything up is something that happens to me maybe more often than I should admit. Usually it happens when things aren’t going my way. Or I’m, you know, pitching a fit or having a pity party ’cause you know, we just have to do that sometimes. That’s where a community comes into play, where you’re like, I just need to whine, people left the club and I can’t, you know, I just, you just need to whine and that’s what your people are for.
But it can also happen when things don’t feel aligned anymore. Maybe you’re not offering the services you want, or you’re not serving the clients that you want, or, you know, so many other things. It is valid to blow it all up. Just be careful and make sure you think carefully before you do, but the feeling of wanting to blow everything up can happen more frequently. They’re very different things, the thought and then the season. Usually the thoughts last not very long, especially if you process them properly, and, you know, have the support that you need. But if it becomes a season where you’re like, forget it all, I’m just gonna quit and I’m gonna, you know, find another like, W2 job and dah dah, dah, that might be the case. That is a perfectly valid option. Just make sure you think it through and it’s not because you’re doing something like me and things aren’t just going the way you want them to.
Alright, a back-end season, which now that I’m saying that out loud sounds kind of funny, but what I mean is fixing or adjusting your back-end systems and processes, so things like platforms that you use or maybe you got a new accounting or invoicing software, or you got something like HoneyBook or Dubsado and you’re setting all that up and doing the automated emails and the templates and all of that stuff. That’s what I mean by back end.
And this is the one that I am admitting to being in for over a year. Without going down a huge rabbit hole, I have been combining platforms or planning on combining platforms for the Freelance Editors Club for a year due to multiple, uh, mental roadblocks.
It took a long time to do, but I’m finally doing it now thanks to the business retreat I went on a couple months ago and some lovely people who helped me get over those. But that’s what I mean by the back end. It’s the processes that your clients really won’t see. They’ll experience them, but they don’t know how, you know, HoneyBook works or templates or any of that stuff.
If you need to tweak or refine or you’re totally changing the way you do things, this can take a long time. This season can take a while. Hopefully it doesn’t take you as long as it’s been taking me, but just so you know, it can take a bit.
Then on the flip side, there’s the front-end season, which also sounds funny, but by this I mean changing things that are outward facing. Things like your branding, your logos, your website, maybe the way your social media profiles look. I’m also currently in this season, although much shorter because I have a new website coming soon and it’s, I don’t know if it’s the greatest to do the front and the back at the same time, which also sounds weird—oh my goodness. You never know what you’re gonna hear on The Modern Editor…but front-end things that clients, potential clients, people see, right? People see your website. They don’t see your Dubsado automations and stuff.
So, you know, things like a website and branding can take a while or it can be as simple as just tweaking some social media profiles or, you know, fixing your about page or updating it on your website. It can be as long or short as you need.
And then the last season I’ve come up with is the burnout season. If you’re a first-time listener, you probably won’t know this; longtime listeners, bear with me very quickly. But I have talked about my experiences with burnout here on the podcast before because I got hit hard and it took a long time to get out of. And there are other episodes where I talk about that. There are also other episodes that I’ve done that will help you try to avoid it as much as possible because I had to learn the hard way, unfortunately, and burn myself out to oblivion.
But it’s a season, right? And you know, you might think, well, burnout maybe for a couple months depending on the level. No, mine was many, many, many, many months, far longer than I ever expected. Maybe the takeaway from this episode is seasons take longer than you think they will. Which I feel like is everything in life, to be honest. I’m also super impatient and everything takes longer, but burnout can take a very long time ’cause it is a whole encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and you know, it takes some time depending on the level.
So I hope you never experience a burnout season. If you do, I’m so sorry. I do have resources for you on the podcast or I’m always happy to talk to people about it, like no strings attached, like just editor to editor because I know how tough it can be and how stressful, and I don’t want that for any of you, if at all possible.
So there we have it. Those are the seasons I’ve come up with and experienced as a freelance editing business owner. I hope that gave you some insight, or I’m hoping you feel maybe a little less alone by hearing about these. There’s no shame in them. But it’s also nice to know that, you know, they’re normal and there’s nothing right or wrong with you if you find yourself in a mess of seasons like I have countless times. It’s all part of the journey, I promise.
So until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and remember we always do that, and remember that seasons will come and go.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode. If you enjoy The Modern Editor Podcast, I would be so grateful if you left a review over on Apple Podcasts or wherever you consume podcasts. And don’t forget, you can head to TaraWhitaker.com to connect with me and stay in touch. We’ll chat again soon.

Not All Business Owners Experience the Same Seasons

Before we dive into my list of seasons, I want to preface this and say you don’t HAVE to experience each one. They aren’t a rite of passage that makes you a better business owner.

There are so many variables in business, so not all freelance editors will experience the same seasons. Even if we did all go through the same seasons, we would go through them in different ways.

The list below is not in any kind of order. Some seasons last weeks while others last months. Some seasons overlap with other seasons. Some seasons go away and come back. Nothing is out of bounds here 🤪

The Learning Season

While this list isn’t in order, it’s common to go through a learning season when you first start your business. There are so many new skills you have to learn to run a business.

The learning season also comes around anytime you do something new in your business, like add a new service, switch to a new platform, or move into a new niche.

Learning seasons are important, but it’s also easy to fall into the trap of learning without taking action. These seasons can quickly lead to procrastination on your goals if you aren’t careful (what I lovingly call procrasti-learning).

The Planning Season

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Anytime you launch a new business, product, service, or marketing campaign, you need to plan for it. Beware of procrasti-planning here too!

The Networking Season

Another common season is the networking and/or marketing season. Recently, I sponsored a coffee chat at the Women in Publishing Summit, which gave me a platform to talk about the Freelance Editors Club.

The summit offers both networking and educational sessions, and I decided to focus my time and energy on the networking sessions. I recognized that I’m in a networking season in my business, and the best way to make the most of the summit was to network as much as possible.

Doing this gave me so many opportunities to talk about the Freelance Editors Club. In the past, I would’ve felt guilty for skipping out on the educational sessions, but this time I was honest with myself that I’m not in a learning season. I fully embraced I’m in a networking and marketing season and scheduled myself accordingly.

The CEO Season

In a CEO season, your focus is ON your business, not IN your business. There’s a difference.

IN your business = editing work, admin, bookkeeping, etc.

ON your business = big-picture plans and long-term goals

As editors, CEO seasons are tough because if we don’t edit, we don’t have a business. However, we can’t ignore our CEO tasks either. Things like paying taxes and designing our services all fall under the CEO’s umbrella.

Learn more about the difference between working in your business and on your business in this episode.

The Pivot or Expansion Season

Have you ever felt bored in your business? Maybe you’ve been editing for a while and it isn’t filling you with excitement anymore. It could be time to try something new or make a pivot in your business.

This season can be exciting and daunting at the same time. Depending on how much you’re pivoting, it could be a short or long season. The key is to lean in and follow your curiosity.

The Maintenance Season

This is another self-explanatory one. Sometimes there are seasons in your business where you aren’t adding anything new but simply maintaining what you’re doing. You’re just chilling, which can feel really amazing.

You can still learn and grow in a maintenance season, but you aren’t taking any drastic swings. You’re chugging along with your current clients.

Maintenance seasons are great because they give you a break from the busy. They teach you that you don’t have to be go-go-go all the time. As long as you keep learning and don’t become complacent, maintenance seasons are awesome.

The Dry Season

Dry seasons suck, full stop. Unfortunately, they happen to all of us (usually multiple times). All industries experience dips and peaks, but it’s especially normal in the freelancing world.

Sometimes dry seasons are due to things that are within our control, like a lack of marketing, but other times they’re outside our control. As much as they suck, sometimes you just have to ride them out and remind yourself that it will change.

I encourage you to lean on your community during dry seasons. They can give you the space to vent or troubleshoot about what’s going on.

The Back-End Season

You’re going to encounter a period of time where you need to focus on your back-end systems and processes. Maybe you’re switching to a new invoicing software or setting up automated emails.

The back end of your business is the part your clients don’t see, but it keeps everything running smoothly. It’s easy to ignore these systems and focus on day-to-day tasks, but your business will start to suffer if you do that for too long.

Back-end seasons can take a while, so it’s important not to put them off.

The Front-End Season

On the flip side of the back-end season is the front-end season, which is when you work on the outward-facing part of your business. This includes your branding, logos, website, and social media presence.

A front-end season can be as simple as making a few tweaks or as major as doing a full website overhaul.

The Burnout Season

I’ve talked about my long burnout seasons several times on the podcast. I thought they were never going to end, but they did. Burnout takes a physical, mental, and emotional toll on your body, and unfortunately, there’s no way to rush the process.

The best thing you can do is implement practices that help you avoid burnout before things get too dark. I’m always willing to talk about my burnout experience, editor to editor, if it helps you avoid what I went through ❤️