Client inquiry stats & income breakdown 2025

Okay, let’s start this year with something interesting.

Numbers, numbers, numbers...

Last year I started tracking client statistics, income, and inquiry results consciously, and it opened my eyes to many things – what’s working in my business and what’s not. Last year’s post is here.

What’s important to me is seeing the effectiveness of each source.

Honestly, I didn’t change much in my approach last year, so the numbers are quite similar to the previous year. But I plan to fix that 🙂

Let’s dive in?

• 81% new leads – As always, most inquiries come from new clients. I love this because those who convert can stay for years. But it doesn’t always work that way, of course. Nevertheless, last year many old clients came back to me and I was very happy about that.

• 11 new clients gained – that’s an 11% conversion rate, pretty standard for sales. Planning to work on this in the new year (with positioning, oureach, etc.)

• 75% Social media beats all my records for how people find me. My top-winning source as last year. I worked a lot on my social media to make it a magnet for clients.

• Only 3 referrals from clients, but what I noticed is that I need to work on this separately by actually asking for referrals! That’s a goal for this year. We’ll see the stats next year.

• 26% of leads started ignoring me after the initial inquiry. Funny, because many of them didn’t even hear the price (which sometimes can “scare” people 🙂). Many of these people were inquiries from Dribbble, and I noticed that leads there are quite inactive and uninterested, even though there are many of them (about 1/3 of leads came from Dribbble).

• 20% Not the right fit – last year I was more selective and choosy about which projects I take on. Many projects were simply not interesting or not profitable for me (see the rule of three Ps in my previous blog).

• 26% brand illustration inquiries – my favorite! I try to make my portfolio reflect this, and apparently, it’s working well!

• 16% graphics for motion inquiries – also happy to work more on such projects because this was one of last year’s goals – checked off! ✔

2025 was the most profitable year in my career so far! Income increased by around 65% compared to 2024.

Main reasons:

• Went fully freelance (in 2024, I had a not-much-paying full-time job that I lost mid-year)

• Started charging more (life is expensive, taxes are insane)

• Positioned myself as an expert

• Added a few more income streams; although they’re small now, I love them and think they can bring more profit over time

• Got a new client with a long-term project ($19k CAD) – my most expensive project of 2025

• I save 35% for taxes every month, so that’s not my profit. I remember that when I quote fees to clients

• 85% – Obviously, the largest part of my income comes from freelance projects.

• 14,3% – My studio still brings in income, though I practically don’t work on it (no time).

• 0,7% total – Coaching calls and digital products remain a smaller income source, but it’s still nice to have as I LOVE what I’m doing!
  
  *By the way, I’ll be seriously updating my coaching approach with y’all, and will REALLY improve them to give you even more value, plus flexible options for different situations. Stay tuned!! Currently, I’m offering 1:1 sessions (details are here)

• 0,2% – Newsletter is a new source in 2025! I made subscriptions voluntary (of course), and it unlocks additional paid posts where I share more about tools, specific tactics, templates... I invest time and structure my thoughts to be useful to you so you can apply this in your freelance business! Always very happy and grateful for supporters, no matter paid or free – you make my day 💜 If you want to support my blog and what I do, you’re welcome to subscribe.

Bottom Line

Despite the big profit in 2025, a huge portion went to taxes, and the rest went to living expenses. The plan for this year is a minimum 10% income growth. I’m planning to work a lot – combining this with a baby has become harder, but it’s still doable (for me)! Can’t wait to share my updated THINGS with you (coaching, outreach, work approach, portfolio).

Wishing everyone a productive 2026!

Thank you for reading,

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