The Mid-year Review 2025

Mid-year reflections that are more about feelings than figures

Here we are again, halfway through another year of freelancing, designing, and living creatively. I've found these retrospectives invaluable for staying connected to my intentions and creating pause points to reflect on and celebrate the journey.

Last year, many of you resonated with my transparent mid-year review, and I loved reading about your own experiences. There's something powerful about these glimpses into each other's worlds—not for comparison, but for connection and inspiration.

So here's how 2025 has unfolded so far, month by month, with all the messy, beautiful reality that comes with building a freelance life.

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2025 month by month

January

Life: Started the year with an incredible trip to New York for my Odyssey Works Residency Program kickoff, saw the Luna Luna exhibit, began working with a local landscape designer on a home design project (venturing into new creative territory!)

Work: Project work for Huzzah Studio was oh so slow (grossing less than 50% of my typical monthly revenue), I spent time working on tax organization and prep, 2025 planning, and residency program homework.

February

Life: Celebrated Valentine's Day with my partner and up at a magical Pas de Deux themed dinner at my favorite Sonoma spot, designed a connective experience for a residency classmate with the traveling altar project, participated in Julia Sherman’s Great American Granola Exchange.

Work: Small projects began with the Progressive Voters Guide site redesign (launching soon) and Butcher's Bone Broth (what a delicious client to have especially as an existing customer). I co-facilitated the Freelance for Life Horizons Workshop focused on 2025 planning and held a Legal for Freelancers Workshop with my amazing legal team.

March

Life: I took the moto out for International Female Ride Day with a great group of women riders, hosted my birthday brunch with some gal pals, dined at On Connection’s Immersive Dining + Art Experience at Brian Madden Studio, built a maquette for my residency’s play narrative project.

Work: I hosted founder and chef Thomas Odermatt of Butcher’s Co for fun company video shoot in my mid-century kitchen, I kicked off email strategy support with a favorite collaborator Nicole (of Copy Poetics), and participated in the Business Club at my local Groundfloor coworking space.

April

Life: I met up with friend/client Suprita (of Feta) at the Mill Valley library (love a good creative meetup in inspiring spaces), attended the SF Art Fair at Hotel del Sol, fostered a quirky pup Betty for a week, and spent lots of weekend time with plants and shopping my local farmers market.

Work: I taught another cohort of Designing Your Freelance Business, hosted the first F4L luncheon at my house (building community IRL feels so good), attended Lex Roman’s amazingly fun speed networking event, and took some biz dev meetings over IRL coffee.

May

Life: I saw the Frankenstein Ballet (haunting and beautiful) with a dear friend, attended a local Kindredly gathering, had a stunning dinner on the land at Red Dot Ranch hosted by On Connection, and saw a Wayne Thiebaud exhibition.

Work: I attended the Upscale Conference where I reconnected with former students and colleagues, led a Butcher's Co creative strategy offsite and began working on their bottle packaging designs, and was a guest on my FAVORITE business podcast: Off the Grid (listen in here).

June

Life: I took Lena Wolff’s Sashiko workshop (Japanese hand-stitching), started watercolor classes at a farm, protested at the No Kings Rally, toured Ken Fulk’s Magic Factory studio among other inspiring SF Design Week events, dressed up for my friend’s western-disco themed wedding party, and wrapped the month with a trip to Los Angeles for a whirlwind museum exhibition crawl!

Work: I reconnected with former client Menovation for some app design polish, kicked off a summer research study on sensory design for my residency program (more on that soon), hosted Reform Cafe during SF Design Week, and I got interviewed for Chris Nguyen’s UX Playbook vlog “The Design of Everyday People”- catch the episode here!

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Feelings over figures

Huzzah Studio (my experience design studio)

Financially, 2025 has been unlike any year I’ve experienced in my 9 years of running a business. It started off slow…like really really slow. Projects took their time showing up, and momentum didn’t build until halfway through the year. At first, that was disorienting. But as the year has unfolded, it’s also revealed itself to be expansive in new, dreamy ways: I’ve stepped into projects stretching beyond my typical scope. Things like packaging design, museum exhibition design for my residency (a longtime dream), and even landscape design (albeit for a very personal project).

Embracing spaciousness is part of what made me say yes to enrolling in the Odyssey Works residency to begin with, and remembering that devoting time to deep research, reflection, and creative exploration is just as valuable.

• 4 clients so far (4 last year)

  • 2 new (a referral from Freelance for Life community member Christine of DesignGal!, and a cold intro via OGC Slack group)

  • 1 returning (my returning client I support with smaller projects)

  • 1 returning (we’ve worked together over the years for 3 different companies now!)

• Project types

  • 3 flat-fee projects

  • 2 retainers

• Client type/industry

  • Health & Wellness

  • Food & Beverage CPG

  • Social Impact

Freelance for Life (my teaching, coaching, freelance content)

I’ve continued with Freelance for Life offerings (with a few more in my back pocket) though will be pausing on any bigger launches for the remainder of the year to make space for my residency work.

• 2 cohorts of "Designing Your Freelance Business" in January and April

• 2 workshops (2025 Horizons Workshop & Legal for Freelancers Workshop)

• Monthly free Shoptalk sessions (reach out if you’d like to join us!)

• First F4L luncheon at my house - IRL community building hosting & connecting people who met through my courses!

• Reform Cafe during SF Design Week

• 2 podcast interviews (Off the Grid podcast & The Design of Everyday People)

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It always comes as a surprise (and delight) to go back in time to review all of the beauty that has unfolded throughout a year…and to see how easily we forget the details of our days.

Here's to the beautiful mess of building a creative life in a broken world.

May only the best come to you,

Sarah

P.S. I'd love to hear how 2025 is unfolding for you. What's challenging you? What's feeling good? Where are you finding magic in the mundane? Drop a comment below or hit reply. I read and respond to every single one!

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