Today, I celebrate a decade of freelancing/self-employment.

Something funny happens when you give notice at a job: people ask you what you’re going to do next. So when I put in my notice at Groupon a decade ago, after burning out twice, I did it because I was on the edge of a third burnout. I had enough saved up at the time and very few expenses so I was able to leave without thinking of what I’d do next. But because people kept asking, I ended up scrambling for an answer and blurted out, “I’m starting a business! I’m going to do coffee crawls!”

Wow, I was so naive. Fast forward through creating and ending that business, part-time jobs, a “full-time” client that paid me as a consultant, and offering and stopping services, here I am.

One decade is a long time. If you’ve been following along in my journey, you’ll know that I like to celebrate the wins, no matter how small. My freelance-versary is a big win: it’s marked in my calendar, I usually do something to celebrate it, and I write one of these posts to mark where I was in the journey. You can read my 9-year post from last year here.

Here are 10 lessons I’ve learned from 10 years of freelancing: