The Receipts: How I Made $100K in Six Months

When I first started my portfolio career1 just over a year ago, these types of posts (the kind that give you a real, unfiltered look under the hood) were life-saving. When you’re starting out—especially when you’re spiraling under the stress of not having a steady paycheck—seeing exactly how someone built their independent career helped calm those heart palpitations for a few blessed minutes.

In the beginning of my journey, I was scouring Reddit, Substack, freelance boards, and Slack groups. I posted more on LinkedIn in three months than I have in my 16+ year career. I booked Office Hours with people like Erika Veurink (no longer offered, but her newsletter “Long Live” is worth subscribing to!) and Grace Abbott (who will make you feel so seen). I joined coffee chats at mallory contois’ Old Girl’s Club and Cat Canada’s Re:Brand and did an eye-watering amount of cold outreach.

I mentioned a few months ago that I also looked up things like “sell feet photos” in desperate moments—only to clear my cookies quickly because it’s a little bit more, ahem, involved than a snap of your feet on the carpet.

What was most helpful for me were not vague “…and then I eventually got some clients” stories. I wanted exact A-to-Z recipes for what people did to find and land the gigs. I wanted to see the receipts.

So here’s mine.