2021 : Annual Business Review

This post was original posted on Elevate Data Visualization Learning Community behind the paywall and is now available here for free as Elevate closed its door in 2025.

Context

I live in Los Angeles, California. This is my second full year of full time freelancing but I have been freelancing on/off for more than six years in different fields (journalism, brand design).

Finances

Alright, let's start with my favorite subject: moneyyyy.

This year, I made just a bit more money than last year. My official goal was to make $100,000 and the unofficial one to make $130,000.

I didn't achieve these goals. Not because I made less, but because I didn't track my invoices. That's one of the things that has proven to be very very difficult: being able to be paid on time. Especially when there are a lot of clients to track down with different payment systems, it becomes harder to know who paid you, when and how.

This week, I finally got paid for the $40k+ outstanding bills I had! And I'm still owed over $5k...

More numbers:

Best Paid Project: $32,000 from a big evil corporation
Least Paid Project: $350 for a data illustration

Average for Web Design: $8.7k, in my opinion this is way too low. I shouldn't take any website project under $10,000.
Average for Data Visualization / Illustration: $900ish and this is not a very precise number as the scale of the work behind the data visualization can vary. This feels low, I'd like to reach a range closer to $1.5-$3k.
Average for Branding: $4,300, this is also way too low. At that point, any brand design work should start at least at $7,000.

Clients & Projects

This year, I had 20 clients and 30 projects. And I don't know how I feel about this number. It seems like a lot. However, I do get bored when I work with the same client too often, especially if it's not a creative agency with diverse briefs and needs. I have tried retainers in the past and it hasn't felt satisfying. I hope I try again this year and maybe establish better relationships that allow for maintained creativity and long-term clients.

Nothing surprising here but my roster of inquiries is mainly Creative Agencies, followed by Big Corporations and Non-Profit/Governmental Agencies. I would love to do more Press work soon but I haven't find a way to reach out to them the right way yet.

Sometimes, you're too busy. Sometimes you get ghosted. Sometimes, it's simply not the right fit. This year, I've been ghosted less than last year, which is great! However, I have struggled to find the right clients. I'm often contacted by people in the wrong industries or trying to promote unethical products (hello Chevy News Road Magazine). This tells me I need to work harder on my brand and marketing to ensure I reach the right audience.

I've also heard that one is supposed to only take 30% of all inquiries. Right now, I'm saying no 48% of the time. Next year: saying more "no" is the goal!

Favorite Client Moments

Giorgia Lupi (<3): I got to work with the Pentagram - Lupi team. The project was complicated and isn't public. It also wasn't a dream project but Lupi's team is absolutely amazing to work with. I hope I'll have the chance to do work with them again soon.

New Fav Collaborators: Often for bigger projects, I get to work with other creatives. Sometimes, I bring them on, sometimes the client bring their own team. This year, I got to work with the very talented web designers Andre Vitorio and Julio Cesar, and motion designer Gergo Varga.

Infogr8: the smoothest project I've ever had. Special shoutout to Alli Torban for recommending me.

Biggest Client Disappointment

Calm: I was invited to work with Calm, the app, for a series of data illustrations on mental health research. Unfortunately, the person in charge of the project left the company and no one took over the project.

Marketing

I am REALLY excited about these figures.

The winner: Behance
I've been putting a lot of effort in Behance to attract better clients and it has really paid off. My main target being Creative Directors, I know it is the right platform and I should keep exploring how to perform even better there.

The benefits of colleagues
I also believe that the number of Industry Referrals I got really shows that it's important to maintain good relationship with clients AND with other creatives, whether they are other Elevate members or some designers online you've never met! The latter may also recommend you to their clients for their dataviz needs. I've received work from plenty of other data visualization designers (Alli! Duncan!) but also I have passed work to others when I couldn't or didn't want to take the job.

I believe in cultivating a network preciously for the benefits to all of us and our clients. It's not about competition, it's about collaboration.

Conclusion

This has been a good business year. One figure missing here is how much I've worked. I often had weeks of 60+ hours which didn't feel healthy at all. My goal this year is to maintain my financial goal of 100k, lower the numbers of clients, and get a lot more rest!

I only had time for one large personal project, a collaboration with the Kat Kat jewelery studio, working on the Elevate membership program and some instagram posts. Next year, I hope I'll have time for more.

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