Lessons From Striking Out on my Own

Thoughts on consulting, writing, and figuring out what I want my life to look like three years after I started Anchor Change

Apr 17, 2024

I’m writing this Sunday on the eve of the solar eclipse last week. Those who follow these things astrologically know these are quite volatile times. A lot is happening. Energies can feel up and down, and old feelings can surface.

I’ve been grappling with the fact that I enjoy my work, but I’m also not happy. I’ve been drained, going nonstop. I’ve taken on too much and lost the routine, but I’ve realized that I must avoid burning out.

It’s also a little past my three-year anniversary of starting Anchor Change, the business. One of the newsletters many of you expressed interest in me writing was about what I’ve learned in going out on my own. Since I spent much of the last two weeks thinking about how to get back on track, I thought this was a good time to write this.

I won’t explain how I decided to leave Facebook or how I’ve been mapping out my next steps. You can see previous newsletters on all of those here. Also, if you are looking for practical advice on everything from picking a business name to designing a logo and setting up email, I have a Google doc here.

Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics.

If you are out on your own - whether by choice or not - or thinking about going out alone, here are ten things I’ve learned.

Invest in yourself. You are worth investing in. You have things to offer the world that no one else does. Be willing to take the bet on yourself because if you won’t bet on yourself, it’s hard to ask anyone else to. If you have the means, consider how much money you are willing to put into yourself every year. For me, this has taken the form of travel - especially to conferences - coaching, a photoshoot, and setting up my Wikipedia page.
It’s scary and not scary all at once. You can do all the planning in the world, make all the spreadsheets, and have everything calculated out, but it’s still scary as hell to make the leap. But there was a peace I realized I had, too, when I sat down to make the final decision to do this. It was the thing I had to do, and it wasn’t as scary. At the end of the day, you never know if it’s going to work out. All you can do is try and put the work in.
Discover your niche. There are plenty of people out there who say generic things. What’s your unique approach? What can people get from you that they can’t get from anyone else? Are you putting those thoughts out into the world over and over and over again? People don’t become experts overnight, but as you all know, my thing is elections - and the last five years about all the elections happening this year. I also talk about broader trust and safety issues, but elections are my jam. Every newsletter I write, every reporter I talk to, and every client I work with continues to build up that expertise.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and figure out what you like and don’t like. One thing that helped me decide to go out on my own was going on a job interview. I quickly realized I was not mentally able to do that. I needed - no, I craved - the freedom of working for myself. After that, every client has allowed me to understand what types of work I do or don’t like. In 2022, I realized that I had taken on too many clients, and I didn’t like how full my schedule was. When Duco came to me in late November about joining them, I had already had two years of working for them as an expert. I knew what to expect, and it wouldn’t be like taking a full-time job at another company. Instead, it has turbocharged my consulting, and they agreed to let me keep writing the newsletter. This experimentation mindset has made me pause recently to think about what changes I need to make to how I’m doing things to be happier.
Don’t overthink it. At Facebook, there was a poster that said, “Done is Better than Perfect.” That has certainly been my mantra on many things. There’s a difference between giving time and space to strategize and overthinking. I think there’s a ton of value in letting ideas simmer for a while. I also think you can sometimes overthink things and get paralyzed about putting anything out there. I tend not to spend much time re-reading and re-writing my newsletters. I use Grammarly to help with copy editing, and there are some I’ll sleep on, but overall, I just try to get them out the door and hope for the best.
Get into a routine. I haven’t had a normal routine for over a decade. When someone asks me what a typical day looks like, I say that doesn’t exist. That said, there are some routines I’ve gotten into to help me work better. The first was realizing I am most productive in the mornings, and I like my Fridays with as few meetings as possible. And, absolutely no Friday meetings in the afternoon - especially in the summer. So, I block those off and honor them as much as possible. I also forced myself to write every week when I started the newsletter. It was even better when I worked with a coach to set up a schedule for when I sent new posts. It now feels really weird if I even try to go off schedule.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. When I began thinking about starting a newsletter, I had extremely low self-esteem in my writing skills. Sure, I was a journalism major, but I hadn’t written regularly for a long time. I can’t remember where I got the idea to reach out to a writing coach, but I worked with two - Jonathan Rick and Michael Connelly - to build my confidence back up. I hired people on Upwork to help with research. I hired a part-time admin (she’s looking for work if anyone needs one!), and last year, I did a handful of sessions with
Sarah Fay Writers at Work
to improve my Substack strategy.
Bruce Mehlman
was also very generous with his advice. Help is out there. Be sure to shop around and understand what help you actually need. Before I found Sarah, I had talked to many brand consultants, but I could tell immediately that they weren’t exactly what I needed. I found Sarah via Substack notes, and after our first meeting, I knew she was the thought partner I needed right away.
Get a good business/wealth advisor. I talked to many people who had gone out independently before deciding. In DC, there are plenty of consultants to go around. I got two great pieces of advice from two different people. The first introduced me to her business advisor. She knew exactly what I needed. She said you need someone who knows what they’re doing to reassure you that you have the funds to make this happen. She said to talk to Joe Cope at Cope Corrales. I did and he and his team have been amazing partners.
Diversify your income streams. The other advice I got was from someone who made me do a 180 in how I thought about job security. He said, Katie, a full-time job can lay you off any time (this was well over a year before the massive tech layoffs happened. You can have multiple clients when you are a consultant, so if one goes away, you have other income streams. Since then, I’ve continued thinking about diversifying my work and, ideally, having passive income streams. I have the newsletter, the Panic Responsibly merch site, and Duco. Before Duco, I had the projects I was doing for them as an expert, along with work at the Bipartisan Policy Center, International Republican Institute, and Integrity Institute.
Pricing is an art, not a science. This lesson continues to frustrate the hell out of me. I asked many people how to price my work, and everyone said there is no formula. You just have to figure out what people will pay you. The one lesson I can give here is one that Sidney, the CEO of Duco, gave me. That is to do as little at an hourly rate as possible. Instead, charge per project. We do this at Duco because many of our experts work quickly, and doing good work takes more than just an hour-long call with a client. By making it project-based, you ensure you are paid what you are worth and that your clients get the best product possible.

I will add a bonus one that I can’t believe I didn’t think about until I reached the end. Take time off. I’m horrible at this, but I'm trying to get better. I knew I should have taken a spring break this year because I didn’t last year, and I got burnt out then, too. I did it again this year. I didn’t do it because I have a lot of time off later this Summer and Fall, but rest assured; I will not make this mistake next year.

One of the things I realized was that I let my schedule get out of whack and needed to restructure how I was spending my time. I must block more time off for deep work and say no to more meetings. I’m thinking about doing some videos to answer common questions I get from folks. That’s part of the reason for doing this newsletter, too. It’s all a way for me to help folks still, but do so at scale.

I also reconfirmed how much I love writing and creating content. I love thinking about how to tackle hard problems. I also want the time to have a garden, go on walks, and not feel like I have to constantly produce (by the way, this is a pressure I put on myself and myself alone). I have so much I want to say, but I need the patience to be ok that it’s not all right away.

Lastly, none of this is easy. I try not to put a facade on that and be honest about where I struggle in this newsletter. Recently, on a few calls, people have said how easy I make it look, and trust me, I have doubts every day. But, by trying, experimenting, and pivoting when needed, I’ve built something pretty cool in three years that I’m proud of. And, even better, I have a lot of plans for the future. Thanks for being on this ride with me.

Anchor Change with Katie Harbath

Discussion about this post