Balancing personal and professional lives is challenging enough when building a freelance business. But throw in a major life transition like divorce or a breakup, and it can feel downright daunting.
In this episode, we’ve invited three remarkable students from the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy—Cleo, Nicole, and Dorothy—to shed light on what it’s like to navigate a breakup while freelancing. While divorce is a life event that no one hopes to face, they all show us why it doesn’t have to spell the end of your business (or your life!) and that you can come out stronger on the other side. Listen in to hear their personal stories of managing breakups alongside freelancing responsibilities, practical tips for handling work and emotions, and the importance of leaning into community.
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A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:08] Nicki and Kate are joined by CCA students and copywriters Cleo, Nicole, and Dorothy, to discuss what it’s like to make a career transition while you’re also in the middle of making a major life transition.
[5:28] Cleo shares her story of starting a business and having a baby during the pandemic, navigating a subsequent divorce, and how freelancing has provided financial stability and flexibility as a single parent.
[8:00] Nicole talks about managing her business during her partner’s addiction and how recovering from the breakup led to significant growth.
[9:30] Dorothy tells us about ending a 21-year marriage, the impact on her health, and how her freelance business helped her gain financial independence and stability post-divorce.
[11:35] Balancing work with the weight of personal life challenges was a learning experience that pushed Cleo to take self-care seriously, accept her limits, and prioritize rest to manage both work and parenting responsibilities.
[13:40] Nicole’s biggest tip for balancing work and personal challenges is to leave yourself white space for big life transitions because they can drain you unpredictably.
[15:26] Dorothy found that leaving a chronically stressful situation freed up her energy for constructive purposes, allowing her brain and body to heal. Freelancing gives people flexibility to take breaks and process emotions.
[19:04] A mindfulness practice like yoga can be very helpful to reintegrate your mind and your body.
[20:42] The end of a bad relationship can often provide newfound energy and focus for building a business.
[23:48] Dorothy stresses the importance of having a supportive network, both personally and professionally, during tough times like divorce or breakup. The CCA Next Level community helped to keep her grounded and focused.
[28:42] Cleo shares how being a freelancer has allowed her to choose clients she enjoys working with and Nicole gives an example of how one client showed empathy during her divorce.
[31:20] Celebrating small wins is important, especially during tough personal situations. Dorothy shares how celebrating income milestones post-separation helped to keep her focused. (She even achieved a 123% increase in annual revenue compared to the year before her breakup!)
[34:23] The panel discusses financial abuse within relationships and how this can impact a person’s ability to leave. Dorothy shares her own experience of financial abuse, while Nicole and Cleo reflect on the newfound financial freedom they gained post-breakup.
[41:53] The panel reflects on when they knew something had to change and how these experiences have influenced their approach to dating. (Fellow freelancers get a big thumbs up!).
[46:32] Journaling can be a therapeutic practice during difficult times and revisiting entries can help identify patterns and gain clarity on personal experiences and emotions.
[48:47] Society often has a negative view of being single or divorced but Cleo reminds us that there can be a lot of freedom, joy, and independence in singlehood.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“Coming out on the other side, it has been amazing and it has just given me so much freedom to build the life that I want and the business that I want, the schedule I want and the lifestyle I want. All of that stuff and I think especially if you have kids, especially young kids, the freelancing makes it so much easier to be a single parent.” – Cleo
“After the breakup, I did feel stronger financially and also being able to make money choices for yourself, you’re not relying on someone else’s income, you’re not trying to take care of someone else. From an income standpoint, you can make decisions, invest in your own business, invest in yourself in ways that you couldn’t before, at least that was my experience. I think in 2023, I had a lot more business expenses, choices I made, coaching, and all of those investments led to an increase ultimately in gross revenue. So the freedom to make choices in money was huge for me.” – Nicole
“I do think the confidence and the amount of growth that I went through being a freelancer and having my own business, I really think set me up to be able to handle that in a way that I wouldn’t have. I just think there’s so much growth in having to take that responsibility for your own life the way you do when you’re a freelancer, having to just build that confidence and that trust in yourself and in your own resilience that really helped when I was going through that situation.” – Cleo
“Your professional community can be really, really awesome and supportive. I know Cleo and Dorothy because we’re all in Next Level and the three of us have been talking about our breakups for a while. Connecting with the two of them has been amazing and so important and we met in a professional setting but when we realized we are going through the same thing, we just starting chatting and getting closer to each other and I love these guys and it’s been such an important part of my healing in life.” – Nicole
“So many lives are just what they’re supposed to be now because this community exists.” – Dorothy
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- Copywriting Lets This Mom Live Life on Her Own Terms
- Building a Copywriting Business as a Mom – with Kate K, Dorothy & Jen
- Thriving as a Neurodivergent Copywriter – Cleo’s Story
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
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Last Updated on April 23, 2025
