How Rachel Tracy broke free from the freelance writing hamster wheel, added $30K in strategy income, and got her spark back

This one-on-one freelance business coaching case study shows how copywriter Rachel Tracy broke free from burnout, replaced deadline-driven work with high-value strategy projects, and added $30K in new income—all in six months. Through personalized coaching, she rediscovered her spark, redesigned her offers, and built a freelance business she actually enjoys again.

For over a decade Rachel Tracy had cranked out one freelance writing project after another. She had the type of consistent income that freelancers dream about, but she had lost the creative spark. She was completely burned out and bored.

“I had been working as a copywriter for about twelve years on this endless hamster wheel of blog posts and random copywriting projects,” Rachel said. “I had really lost a lot of my desire for the work.”

Rachel didn’t want to quit freelancing. She liked the flexibility, and her son is her number one priority. But she also couldn’t keep going at the same pace.

She booked a complimentary strategy session with me to get a better idea of where she might take her business next.

The Challenge

Burnout was Rachel’s main problem. She depended on freelancing for her entire income, and she couldn’t fire her clients, blow up what she’d built, and start over.

She wasn’t exactly sure how to redesign the business while also running it:

“I was looking for someone to help me break out of the burnout cycle, get off that hamster wheel, and really help me take my business to the next level so that it was something I was interested in again.”

Rachel’s other problem was the work itself.

Getting paid to write had once energized her, but it wasn’t exciting anymore. Now she just saw an endless train of deadlines.

Most of the work wasn’t strategic either. It wasn’t taking her in the direction she really wanted to go, and it wasn’t making a measurable impact for clients. They’d ask her to write blog posts based on project briefs and keywords that didn’t align with their goals, strategy, or positioning.

She wanted a seat at the strategy table, and she wanted to start replacing “hands” work (writing) with more “head” work (advisory, strategy, ideation).

Rachel knew that she needed more than generic advice and productivity tips:

“I was drawn to Austin because he clearly knew my challenges from the inside, had been there himself, and had worked with lots of people in my specific situation.”

The Journey

Rachel and I started by identifying the patterns that were keeping her stuck in low-energy, low-leverage work. Then, we created a custom business roadmap with the goal of reimagining her positioning, messaging, pricing, and offers.

Not too long after, the fog started to lift for Rachel:

“Austin is really easy to talk to. It felt more like bouncing ideas off of a friend or a colleague than a traditional business coach sort of set up.”

I helped Rachel navigate the scope, pricing, deliverables, process, and frameworks for her strategy offers, and she landed her first paid strategy engagements.

The strategy work was more interesting and challenging. It paid more. And it covered her investment in coaching several times over:

“Before the coaching engagement even ended, I had booked enough strategy work to cover the cost of the engagement.”

Rachel also began packaging up and delivering her ideas as a form of consulting:

“Even with just one client, I've added $6,000 a year to what they're paying me for ideas that previously they had been getting for free. So that feels huge to me.”

The Result

By the time our six months of coaching wrapped up, everything looked different for Rachel, including her mindset, her energy, her work, and her income.

Here are some of the highlights:

• $30,000 in new strategy business booked since coaching started
• $6,000 in annual recurring income from a client paying for ideas
• Full month off in July (with the same planned for December)
• Fresh enthusiasm for her business and creative work

Rachel put it best

Here’s what Rachel had to say about her experience working with me:

“On a bigger scale, the coaching engagement really took me out of the rut that I was in. It gave me a new perspective on my business, a better idea of what I want out of it, and what the unique value is that I bring to projects. And so, it's just got me thinking differently, and it's really helped bring back some of what I initially got into this for. So I’m super excited about that and also really excited about having been able to take July off this year and probably December as well. So I feel like overall this project has been a huge success for me. Thank you, Austin.”

Your Turn

If, like Rachel, you’re a freelancer who feels bored, overbooked, or burned out—stuck on the hamster wheel—then let’s talk about the direction you want to go instead.

Freelancers work so hard to build our businesses, and sometimes, it’s like we’re cursed by our own success. The business grows up organically around you, and then one day, it starts being too much. Too complex. Too dense. Suffocating.

For me, the real canary in the coal mine was when I started to resent the thing that used to bring me so much joy: writing.

I knew I had to take drastic action to preserve that love of writing and get my passion back.

Maybe you’ve already reached that same conclusion the way Rachel did. Or maybe you haven’t burned out yet, just plateaued.

In both cases, answer these questions, and let’s discuss your situation.

Even if we don’t end up working together, I’ll do my very best to point you in the right direction.‍️