Episode 35: New Year, New Goals

Hello, World!

2020 threw us a collective curveball, am I right? Thanks to a global pandemic transforming the way we worked this year, and uncertainty on many fronts, those of us carving out careers as equine media professionals have met our share of challenges this past year. But amid the chaos, there have been good things to come our way as well. Looking ahead, here at The Freelance Remuda, we thought we’d do a bit of reflecting on what we’ve learned this past year and share some of our individual (and Freelance Remuda) goals with you.

Looking back on your year, were there any particular challenges that shaped how you’ll be approaching 2021?

Kate: Honestly, my work didn’t change much, other than less travel, and neither did my husband’s job. I work from home, and kept doing so, and he was considered essential with his job at Discount Tire. However, we did have a BIG change in September 2020, when he left his job and we sold our house, moving into a fifth wheel. We can’t wait to pursue more travel while I visit sources for Morris Equine magazine articles in 2021!

The other big challenge this year was with my horse. We were in a truck wreck and he got hurt in the trailer, plus some other health issues, so I has to retire him. it really took away a lot of my goals for the year. like Stock Horse of Texas World and AQHA World. So I really had to reevaluate my horse goals, and that was the most disappointing.

Abigail: The pandemic sent my 5-year-old and 7-year-old kids home from school. In all it was 23 weeks of virtual school for my first grader, which was challenging to balance work with orchestrating schooling. Also, the pandemic and some shifts in the horse magazine world, there was a lot of restructuring and budget concerns, so I lost some regular clients and a lot of work. But it was in the middle of full-time schooling my kids, so it was good timing. But it was really tough. It wasn’t all bad—I did a lot of working out, had some zoom happy hours and got through it.

 Kate: There were a lot of highlights from our Freelance Remuda Facebook group. Some people had some major accomplishments, despite the challenges. Tell me about some highlights of 2020?

Abigail: Took a copywriting class and gained new clients in different avenues. Copywriting is really fun and I’m learning a lot about businesses in different industries. And my work has picked back up. I had some great quality time with my family—like a bonus year with my kindergartner/1st grader. 

And amid all the restructuring of magazines, seeing friends rise to leadership positions and getting to collaborate more with both on-staff and freelance colleagues has been really fun.

And I also wrote more profiles this year than ever before. Like this one for APHA’s Chrome magazine about Terry Bradshaw (And I took the photos and cover photo!) It’s really stretched me because profiles are a challenge to cover someone’s life—there are a lot of ways to tell their story.

Kate: This year I continued working with Morris Equine Group’s many publications. We as a company got a new publication—NRHA’s The Reiner, and my colleague Kelsey Hruska is now the editor, so it’s been great to work closely with her. Continuing to work with Reined Cow Horse News as managing editor of their publication. Reined cow horse is such a fun industry for me. Just getting to attend the inaugural Eastern Derby, and still being able to go to the Snaffle Bit Futurity, even with Covid protocols. Still being able to horse show, that was cool to see.

I had three covers that I’m so proud of – the first being a shot on the May WH issue, second for Quarter Horse News and the other the RCHN SBF program cover.

Otherwise, the highlight of the year was taking my husband with me on the trip I made to South Dakota/Wyoming/Nebraska. He had so much fun, we got to gather cattle in beautiful country and I was FINALLY able to travel big time since early in the year. 

I really hope everyone was able to have some highlights this past year. 2020 really threw the book at us. Hopefully 2021 will be a little easier for everyone, with fewer challenges coming from the outside.

Abigail: I’m so glad Robert got to come with you on your trip and see you work. I spent a lot of time with my husband Zach in 2020 too—mostly just working out together with Camp Gladiator’s virtual workouts. That has actually been a highlight—working out and getting healthy together.

Kate: I think that’s so cool that your kids get up on the weekend and workout with you. It’s been such a strange year for people, working from home and starting a new routine and then going back to work, kind of. We’re all kind of like freshman on campus, not knowing what’s going on or where things are. I can’t imagine how it is for kids going back and forth from homeschool to school!

What are some things you’ve learned from going through 2020?

 Abigail: I went over this with my husband and we like to do reflections on the year. It felt a bit negative, but not all bad. I’ve learned that losing clients is not necessarily the end of the world. Life went on, I got some more time with my family, and it was OK. Being forced to take a break allowed me to get over burnout. It is actually easier for me to work now, I’m more productive, because I had that time off.

I know you’ve been talking about having healthy breaks away from work now is really key. You really can’t continue to push through burnout forever.

I will never again take steady work for granted. Every time an editor or a potential client emails me, I am thankful. I didn’t know what 2021’s work would look like, but so far it’s holding steady.

Having a flexible job made pivoting with virtual learning challenging, but not as much as if I had an office job. I really appreciated that this year!

Zoom, Facetime and Marco Polo were so helpful in maintaining connections with friends and family. Not as good as pre-pandemic, but enough that I know when we can gather in person, we’ll be able to pick back up where we left off.

 Kate: What is Marco Polo?

Abigail: It’s like video voicemails. And you can have a group chat. We can have a conversation, but one person at a time.

Kate: Some of the things you said about flexibility in work and not getting burned out is really important. I am sure some freelancers felt the same way. Flexibility and being able to pivot is so important.

Now that we live in an RV, I realized a belief I’ve had for awhile that we just do.not.need.all.the.things. I’ve really enjoyed living in the RV. It is easier to clean for sure! And it’s nice to get outside more. I just need to adjust my office area and it will be perfect.As long as I get to my seek with internet and get my work done, they allow me to work from anywhere, and I’m so thankful. I think a lot of company’s have come to the realization that people can be productive in other environments.

I also learned what it is like to live with my husband when he isn’t under the pressure of his job. He’s fun and lighthearted and much more laid back. It’s been a lot of fun to be around him more this year.

 Workwise, I realized that the COVID issues businesses faced caused them to make cuts to staffs and products. Trying to do as much as possible for my job forces me to rework my habits. I need more time without a computer. More outside time. More animal time – even though Bernie is now semi-retired since he was injured in our August wreck, I need to hang with him for my peace of mind, you know? Connections with friends, family, things like that were hammered home this year. 

 Turning our thoughts to what’s ahead, what are some goals / dreams you have for the new year? (work or personal)

Kate: I haven’t put down all my assignments in a planner yet, but I know when I do that the stress will hit. So far my goals are to maintain a good balance between mindfulness with my family and friends and work. And I would like to do a few more articles and training pieces for The Reiner. We’ve changed up Reined Cow Horse News with some more pieces in the member roundup section, which I’m excited about, and a shorter training piece. So just enhancing the products that we’re offering by giving people more information is one of our work goals and it’s kind of turned into personal goals too.

I don’t have a ton of different goals like some freelancers may have. I want to continue maintaining and exceeding the quality of work that I’m putting out. And I want to get some new ground covered this year with some new people, places and stories to tell. There are so many stories to tell in the horse world and they’re not mainstream. They’re a little bit off the beaten path, and I really want to tell those.

And of course, keep good connections with family and maintain solid friendships if I can, even while we’re traveling around.

Abigail: Expand copywriting work and stretching myself in that area of writing. Streamline work processes - I feel like I’m always trying to do this, and I’ve gotten better at that but I want to continue… because I really want to turn content in early to make room for last-minute assignments.

Personally—travel with my family again—we’re dreaming of going abroad again someday, and connect with friends post-covid protocols.

I didn’t mention it earlier, but we lost all of our pets in 2020. Two of our elderly pets passed away. That’s been sad. But we’re looking forward to getting some kittens this month, and hopefully a dog later this year.

Kate: It’s going to be an interesting year, and with the Freelance Remuda some folks may have had some job changes or going freelance, I think what we’re doing is more important than ever. What do you think we should do for Freelance Remuda in 2020.

Abigail: Yes, with all the restructuring and job losses, I think there’s more freelancers than ever, but there’s more of a need for good freelancers at the same time. I think the Freelance Remuda is really valuable because it gives editors and content buyers a place to find qualified freelancers.

Some of the goals I have for us, still producing our podcast with guests in different creative niches, meeting up at the AHP Equine Media Conference which s going to be in North Texas this year. I’m hoping, pandemic allows, that our Freelance Remuda folks can get together there.

And continuing our mentorship program. I absolutely love seeing folks who have gone through our mentorship program going out there and killing it. It brings both of us so much joy. I just love seeing people pursue and achieve their dreams, with tools that we gave them.

 Kate: I think the mentorship program—Allison Rehnborg got her first cover this year, Katie Navarra—she didn’t go through the mentorship program but she was on our podcast and blog, went full time freelance this year. We just want to continue to grow the equine media community as a whole. Editors need people who are super efficient, diligent and professional in how they work. As an editor, I will emphasize that.

As a company, Morris contracts our videography work, social media work, as well as writers and photographers. There’s so many ways to get into this niche and so many ways to be creative. I think we can keep educating folks with our podcast and the blog posts and inform of what’s out there work wise. Just keep lifting us all up.

Abigail: I think we found this year that freelancers, we’re used to being at home, but we still need community. We still need time to commiserate, and also celebrate. We want to be that place and that resource.

Thanks for sitting in with us on this episode. We’re here for you and we’re cheering you on—reach out and let us know what you want to hear from us in this space. We hope your 2021 is your best year yet.