By Karen Hendricks

This post is the first of an occasional series I’m calling “Diary of a Journalist,” to offer transparent insight into the behind-the-scenes, inner-workings of the journalism profession, especially freelance journalism.

I recently did an audit of my freelance business.

This is where you add up all your earnings from all your clients from the past year—that’s step one. In my case, I was very blessed to have 9 different clients in 2023. Step two, you also total or calculate the number of hours you worked. This can be tricky to calculate as a freelancer, because I feel as though I’m almost always working, even when ideas come to me in the shower or while I’m running. But I took two weeks completely off in 2023, so that means I worked 50 weeks, and I average 50 hours a week. So that’s a total of 2,500 hours. The problem, as a freelancer, is that not all my hours are billable. I’m normally paid per project. So it’s up to me to maximize my time and become as efficient as possible. But sometimes writing just isn’t efficient… I’m not a machine. But I digress.

Step three, you divide your annual earnings or salary by your hours and that gives you… your average hourly rate. While I love my work, and I love and believe in journalism, my number absolutely depressed me. It was painful for me to see my value reduced to this number.

The motivation behind this exercise? It can help you evaluate which clients or media outlets to continue writing for, and which to leave behind, in order to—in essence—raise your hourly rate.

This was all swirling in my head today, as I traveled to and from several interviews. I always feel blessed to meet the most fascinating, talented people, and today was no exception. There are so many things about my career that I truly love.

Journalism feeds my soul. And I’d like to think that my journalism helps readers better understand what is going on in their communities and the world. That would be my mission statement, to explain the why of what I’m doing. It’s not the money. But society places the value on the salary. People sometimes look down on me for being a freelancer, for being a journalist. But that’s their judgement.

While it’s important for me to look out for myself and negotiate higher rates when possible, it’s also essential that I remember my “why” and my mission. What a balancing act.

Today, as I was driving home and having these thoughts, the most amazing sunburst came out from behind the cloudy, rainy skies. I took it as a sign that I’m right where I need to be.

As a Christian, I am not defined by my salary. My true worth is found in being a child of God, in using the talents God gave to me to His glory, and hopefully touching others through my journalism by inspiring, informing and connecting them to the greater issues, community and world around them.