My Freelance Q1 2025 in Numbers

Helloooooo!

Is it too soon for "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," or is that only acceptable in peak summer?

How has Q1 been for you?

For me, it was full of… well, too many things. Emotionally, mentally, physically, professionally, and personally.

So I decided to do a Q1 recap and take you with me!

A quick goal expectations vs reality chart for you (more for me)!

I set these goals for myself at the end of last year, which you can check here!

Anyway, let’s do a retrospect of what went well, what could have been better, and next steps.

But first, let’s discuss the goals in detail.

Reading

The goal is to read 30 books in 2025, which means 2.5 books per month, which means 7-8 books by March end.

Here’s the progress:

• I read the first book of 2025 within 10 days.

• Picked another (Piranesi), finished 40%, then… just couldn’t pick it back again.

• Long slump. Decided to pick Forest of Enchantments—familiar read, picked up pace but got stuck at 80%.

• Picked up Men Without Women on the same day because, didn’t want another long reading slump. The first 2 stories were good. Third? Wayyy too superficial for me.

• Didn’t want to leave another book unfinished but also dreaded the slump, so I picked Eat Pray Love.

PS. I did finish The Forest of Enchantments on my train journey yesterday :)

Travelling

I didn’t set any goals for traveling in the first quarter. My sister’s getting married next month, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to travel before that.

But I did travel a lot.
Went to Delhi twice. Kolkata twice. Attended 2 weddings. Preparing for a third one.

Earnings

The year-long goal was to have one $5K month. Now, I didn’t set any timeline for it, nor any monthly income goals.

But the general idea of my freelancing business is to make at least as much as I used to in my full-time corporate job, which was ₹40K.

So Q1 target comes to: ₹1,20,000
Actual: ~₹1,09,400

LinkedIn Posting

Made a bold claim: Post every single day of 2025.
Q1 goal: 90 posts.

Gave up on that after January. But still tried to keep 3-4 posts a week.
Just checked: I posted more than 70 times! Claiming this as a win.

Retrospect: What Went Well vs. What Could Have Been Better

Unplanned Things That Happened!

Okay, I might be too stuck up upon the goals I set for myself that I almost overlooked the things that I did do. Unplanned stuff that I’m glad I did.

1. Started another newsletter in February called Fully Content. It’s all about writing, improving, and understanding B2B content.

2. I also started posting on Twitter (X, whatever), and it has been fun!

3. I also started to write just for the sake of it. More about reflections, thoughts, and perspectives.

Next Steps?

Wrap up most of the work, sit back, enjoy my sister’s wedding, take rest and come back better.

This is the first quarterly retrospect I did, and I think I’mma do it at the end of every quarter! What do you think?

Liked the idea? Go retrospect your goals and reply to me: how did it go?!

I wish you love, light, and lemons. (Go make some nimbu pain!)

See you next Friday!

Love,
Nikita