From ‘Business Is Booming’ To Broke

Okay. That headline is sensationalist to say the least. But what are you meant to do when you go from the best year of your self employed working life to your worst and you didn’t see it coming.

Because I didn’t.

Business is booming is what I should have been saying in 2024-2025. Because it was. I had my best ever year in over ten years of trading. But then it all fell apart.

Interestingly enough, it is apparently quite a common phenomenon. Feeling despondent, I Googled it – just like we all do when we are feeling down or unwell; expecting Dr Google to sort our problems. Google AI overview does say it is often self inflicted – and whilst I am sure I am not innocent in all of my business failings in the past year, a lot of it was out of my hands.

There have been multiple LinkedIn posts by people in all sorts of industries talking about this phenomenon.

Photo by Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash

How or why does it happen?

There’s a few reasons.

• Complacency – you have got used to working in a certain way and it has brought brilliant results – business is booming. Instead of pivoting when things start to head South, you carry on and end up on a downward trajectory.
• Unable to scale – Whilst you have had your best year, you seem to have hit a dead end. You can’t grow anymore without making some big changes and you might not be equipped to do that just yet. Thus the only way is down.
• Missing the early signs – I definitely missed some signs but I think I saw the others which is why I have managed to stay afloat slightly rather than completely sinking. I’ve not been completely broke but my income has taken a hit of more than 50% and some of that is definitely on me.

What Happened To Me?

I’ve been blogging for over 15 years now, doing freelance writing for almost as long and doing virtual assistance for around nine years. My freelance writing has been for a variety of clients across the years but my VA work was generally centred around the blogging and content creation space – working for other bloggers by managing their emails or scheduling their social media.

As a blogger, I started to see a downturn in work as the Cost of Living crisis set in and I knew this could potentially affect my VA income. One of my clients asked to downgrade packages – she gave me notice of this before it came into effect thankfully – and I agreed because I’d rather have some work than none at all. Plus she was a friend and still is and I know that she would have continued at her higher package if she could.

I started to pivot and I managed to put some money aside to live off should stuff head any further South. I still had her as a client although on decreased hours plus I had a few other regular clients and a couple of as and when clients who came to me for specific projects.

Then the proverbial poo hit the proverbial fan. In the space of four months, I had a number of financial hits. These included:

• My 1 year old daughter having an undiagnosed UTI which caused a febrile seizure which in turn caused her to stop breathing – her Dad had to bring her back; I had to take time off work and so did he as she recovered
• My partner broke his rib at work a few weeks later during the busiest time of year as a delivery driver – he ended up on Statutory Sick Pay and things were tight
• My oldest son’s birthday, Christmas, my oldest daughters birthday – all had to be accounted for
• Finally, my youngest sons birth. I got told on the Friday that I needed to come in and have him on the Saturday via C-section – two weeks before his due date. I didn’t take my laptop or anything because I expected to be home again by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. This didn’t happen – I didn’t have the C-section until the Thursday so again, work suffered and my partner took paternity leave a week earlier than he needed to because of this – another financial hit! Would you like to read his birth story?

As you can imagine, all those savings I had as a buffer went. We needed to survive – we needed food to eat, we had bills to pay and children to clothe. Money just doesn’t last long in these situations.

I thought that was the end of it than BAM. My other regular client had to end her contract due to not being able to afford me anymore, again due to the Cost of Living crisis.

Freelance writing clients disappeared into the ether.

Blog post work seemed scarce. I’ve been lucky to have some regular work from some people which has helped to pay the rent and my other bills during this time but it has been tough.

Everyone seems to be going through the same. Every blog opportunity, every VA posting I see on LinkedIn or other social media, any job opportunity I see – hundreds of people applying for something that will only benefit a handful of people, if that. We are all fighting to be fed from the same trough and it’s a tough pill to swallow.

Things still aren’t the same. I’m still looking for more VA clients although I have recently took on a few more smaller contracts. Blog work is still fairly scarce although I feel like I am starting to see an uptick finally. Freelance writing has pretty much fallen by the wayside.

What Am I Doing To Combat This?

Well…I have been in survival mode for pretty much a year when it comes to this. I’ve been applying for work and networking but it has been slim pickings for much of 2025 and early 2026. However I have got a few ideas to take me forward into the new tax year and to start afresh – including doing some more with this site (as well as doing lots of background admin to get it up to scratch) and refreshing my work website.

I cannot get a job outside the home right now due to having a baby, a toddler and a daughter who goes to school in the next village over. Childcare for all of them would cost more than I would be able to earn outside the house and although I could claim some of it back, it wouldn’t be worth it.

I’m positive however that a change is going to come and I hope you will come along on the journey with me.

R x