Half way through the year - how are we doing?
Hello everyone,
As promised I want to share a meaty-ish reflection ahead of taking a few weeks off and I want to focus on the large question of ‘how is working for myself going?’.
At the start of the year, I laid out the following goals - I want to reflect on each and share an update against all of them.
a) Publish 4-5 books - sell 1000 of the new books and 150 from our back catalogue. Have each one pop off.
We’ve published two books and so far, I have sold 369 books.
88 online
91 to stores
190 in person at book fairs/workshops.
I think, looking at this, we’re doing pretty well - I’m confident that I’ll get pretty close to 1000 by the end of the year. We’ve got three new books to share (though MANY fewer in person events).
The real question I have is how to get more online sales, as these are the lowest, yet offer the best bang-for-buck in terms of profit/ease.
Additionally, I am starting to apply for fairs that I cannot be at, instead finding people in the local area who can be at the event. Taking out the flight and accommodation cost and providing a small payment is a good way forward here. Given that I’ve sold more in person than the other two avenues combined, this can’t be ignored!
b) Sell out of Sunshine, Ambient Pressure and Site Specific (all of these titles have <50 copies left)
Sunshine - sold out
Ambient Pressure + Site Specific = <5 copies each
This will happen in the next month I think.
c) Launch a new website with significant branding updates AND a line of merch, sell out of our first run of new merch.
Website is done, merch is coming in August. Branding is NOTICEABLY better and loads of folks have commented :)
d) Run 15 workshops - a more professional, varied and expansive workshop program.
Including the work I’m doing at Universities I’ve definitely run 15 workshops. A bit frustratingly the second half of the year’s workshops haven’t been selling as well as the first half - which I think is a good learning for me, and that’s ok. I think I’ve found what seems to be reliable (1 or 2 day workshops, promo codes and $250-$350 price points).
Including the paid work I did for RMIT I’ve brought in around $14000 from workshops.
e) Spend February-May doing a lot of fill in teaching work
Ha! Well February-April was very quiet here. Since then it’s been a lot more and, realistically I’ll need to do about 100 more fill in teaching days over the rest of this year.
f) In June no longer need to do any more fill in teaching work.
Did not come anywhere close to achieving this. Too much money went out to branding costs, publishing costs and life costs. Not enough money came in via online sales.
That’s ok :)
g) Each of the three exhibitions are chances to showcase my creativity and skill as an artist - I want three exceptionally amazing exhibitions, great documentation and to really show everyone that when I am given an opportunity I push myself and it goes hard.
Well….
This one didn’t quite come together. The first exhibition I had went well, and gave me the chance to try something, but I think it looked a bit too casual for what I’d like. But, on the other hand, it was nice to get it out there and done.
The second (in Broken Hill) isn’t happening!
The third/fourth are 5-9 months away so, you know, I hope they achieve this :)
h) Publish my own work and have the launch in Melbourne feel so fun and supportive
This has been pushed to 2026 :)
i) Be in a financial position to purchase a new to me car in 2026
Seems unlikely! But our regular car is going great so it’s also ok.
k) Put SOME money into my superannuation in June, 2025.
Absolutely did not do outside of the paid work I had, where superannuation is automatically deducted :)
Overall, I think what I can say is that I am doing ok but not great at working for myself AND bringing in enough money to live a financially secure life.
Without the fill in teaching I’d be totally stuffed and, given what the first half of the year looked like, I am going to spend the second half being much more frugal and focused.
…and I’ve actually started to enjoy the fill in teaching work a bit. Or enjoy is maybe too strong a word - I’m in a bit of a routine and I work in a way where I can do other work while baby sitting the teenagers and that suits me well enough. I don’t mind having to do this nearly as much as I feared and, at the end of the day, I actually think it’s become a good fit. It’s truly something I can put in enough effort to do a good job, be appreciated by the schools, but also bring my laptop and do Tall Poppy work, etc, and it’s a good pay to effort ratio.
This looks like almost no travel (after this trip and the trip to Perth), a lot more events in Australia, and consistently doing a lot of fill in teaching work.
I was also able to take on two clients to do some book design work/consulting work and I’d like to take on a few more.
So, revising these goals, I’d say, by the end of 2025 I’d like to:
1) Have sold 1000 books
2) Have sold $20,000 worth of workshops
3) Have sold 100 pieces of merchandise
4) Hosted 4 launches/pop ups
5) Have taken on 4 clients for book design/consulting work
6) Have re-made my personal website to reflect my work and attract more payment
7) Have at least $10,000 in savings for 2026
8) Have my next personal book designed with a release date in place
9) Have four events teed up for 2026
10) Be debt free!
11) I need a much better sales and profit tracking system, I am working on designing one atm - it’s not the most interesting but it makes a huge difference
Looking at this year so far I suppose the question I’ve not talked about is ‘will it ever be possible for working for myself to be the only way I bring in money?’ and the answer to that question is a really gentle ‘maybe’. I’d need three things to change for this to happen. Firstly, I need to sell more stuff - and part of that is having more stuff to sell. Secondly, I need to drop costs - three of the five books we’re doing this year could be made more affordably, but due to a lot of things we weren’t able to make that happen (usually it’s just time, if we want a book to be printed overseas we need an additional 3+ months). Thirdly, I need to avoid having large business costs (re-branding) - however these are necessary, so I guess it’s the case that when there are large business costs I will need to earn more money to cover these.
Finally, I want to end by reflecting on my experience and emotions a bit. For all the challenges, uncertainty and financial stress I am still really enjoying this experience. I realised a few weeks ago that I had not spent any time in the last 12 months whinging about work, a manager, wondering if the grass was greener, etc. I had spent so much of the last 5-10 years talking with friends about how I felt so restrained and stifled working in the jobs I had - not because the work was a bad fit, but because I didn’t cope well working under others - everyone felt like a micromanager (and some were!). As one small example, I just want to extrapolate that - my wellbeing is very high and the challenges I face in making this work financially are real, but the positives in terms of mood, energy, community, creativity, autonomy and disposition are also incredibly real. I don’t mind struggling a bit for cash if it means I’m not struggling to cope.
I’m going to take a few weeks off and write to you all again in mid-July. I’ll have done two events by then and be back in Australia
To wrap up:
1) Please consider checking out We Were Just Little Boys
2) We’ve also released our next book quietly Distant Calls in Fading Light - this is a limited pre-order and people only have 1 month to order it
3) If you’d like to sign up to a workshop I’ve got plenty coming up
4) I’m off to France to launch a book in Paris (Ithaque Gallery, July 4th, 7-9PM we’re launching We Were Just Little Boys and having a pop up!) and then hit up the book fair in Arles - if you’re there please stop by and have a chat
5) If you’re in Perth/WA please have a look at the workshops I’m running with PCP
Please drop me a line with any questions, suggestions or thoughts :)
Matt