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This is my sixth anniversary as a freelance indexer! It was the end of October, 2012, that I left my job at Harbour Publishing and moved back to Vancouver with the intention to work for myself. That first year I received only a few projects, which I have to admit I used as an opportunity to travel. Since I have started, though, I have worked on (or will, once I finish what is currently on my desktop) 224 projects. Work certainly picked up, especially starting my third year. I don’t have an exact count of books indexed, but including books from when I worked in-house, I think I am somewhere in the range of 210-230 indexes written. Someday it would be really neat to be in a room with all of the books I have worked on. For the most part I work on the computer with digital files, so to see the actual physical product all around me would be amazing.  

I’ve been doing some reflection on my business. When I started, part of the motivation was to see if I could start a viable business. I think I can now say, with the support of all of the publishers, editors, and authors who have entrusted their books to me, that I have. I am thankful for the relationships that I have built with clients and colleagues. It is a great little community that I had no idea existed when I started. 

Recently, I’ve been asking myself, “What’s next?” I don’t see this as a negative question, and for the time being I plan to continue in this work. I think every business changes over time, either in response to the market or due to changes in the people working in the business. I know I have definitely changed in the last few years. Some of my reasons for freelancing have either been fulfilled or are no longer applicable, which I think is worth reflecting on. I have also been feeling like the pace I have been working at over the last few months is unsustainable. Being a one-person business, I am not doing myself, or my clients, a favour if I burn out. 

I have decided to take January and maybe February (I’ll see how I feel when I get there) off as a sabbatical. I am a bit nervous as I have never done this before. This is not intended to be a holiday, and for the most part I will stay in Edmonton. I am still working on the details, but I hope to use the time for a mixture of rest; reflection and strategizing for the next few years, both in business and in life (which are very much intertwined, especially as a freelancer); and to get caught up on some projects and tasks I’ve been neglecting. I hope to emerge with a renewed sense of purpose and a more sustainable approach to work and life. I see the sabbatical as an opportunity to grow.

I am sure that I will have more to write later on the sabbatical, as I continue to prepare and then once I’ve completed it. For now, I am looking forward to it. It does feel like the right time. When indexing, it is easy to get caught up in the small details of each project and to not see the big picture of my business and life. I look forward to taking a step back and getting a sense for what the next six years might look like.