Owning My Own Business, Year 1

I officially started my own business on December 28, 2011; that's when I filed the paperwork with the county clerk.

For those who don't know the backstory, I was working in marketing until June 2011, when I was laid off and the company was bought out. I did some freelance work until I got a new job in October, but that job was not a good fit for me, and I continued freelancing on the side. My Christmas gift to myself last year was to quit my job and work for myself full time.

I have two different stories as to how I named my business. The fake story is that I had flowers painted over my bedroom door as a child, and that Matt plans to be a professor when he gets out of school. The real story is that my dad kept trying to get me to buy lame URLs with numbers on the end (his favorite was "media131.com") because no one would ever remember a website name that contained more than eight characters, and I was bound and determined to prove him wrong and come up with a "pretty" name.

I didn't know what to expect when I decided to be my own boss, but it has been incredibly hard and incredibly rewarding. I read somewhere that 95% of businesses fold within the first five years, and I can see why that happens; you go into it with lofty expectations of what your work and life will look like, and then you realize you've just taken on like, six jobs instead of one. So when I decided I wanted to do freelance copywriting and graphic design, I also became the CEO and the accounting department and the marketing department and the administrative assistant and the sales team.

It's kind of crazy, but I love wearing all those hats. (Especially after Matt helped me set up Excel spreadsheets, without which I would probably be doing my accounting in a notebook or something.) I really like that my day-to-day can be filled with any combination of writing, meeting with clients, designing, networking, administrative tasks and thinking creatively. I've had the chance to work for some incredible clients and do some really fun, exciting work. It keeps me on my toes.

It was a bit rocky starting off (and I needed that learning curve!), and I'm still not quite to the place I hoped I would be a year in, but Matt and I have discussed the game plan moving forward, and I feel confident that with more hard work in 2013, I can achieve my professional and personal goals and be more successful at what I'm doing. I think I've set myself up for an even better year two.

What big goals do you have for 2013? What would you do if you could work for yourself?