This Is How Much I Made As A Full-Time Freelance MMA Writer In 2020
or Things Could Have Been A Lot Worse
Welcome to the latest C’mon Now MMA newsletter. This newsletter is focused on mixed martial arts. This is the place where I’ll share my thoughts on all the goings-on in MMA. Those thoughts could range from media criticism to advice for folks looking to get into MMA writing to why certain fighters or managers are not good for the sport.
In this edition, I share my income as a full-time freelance writer and my expectations in the coming year.
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Oh, I’m Trent Reinsmith, you can follow me on Twitter.
First - some background on how I’m able to cover MMA as a full-time freelancer.
From an earlier blog, “This Is How The Sausage Is Made Or How I Can Make A Living As A Freelance MMA Writer.” (This is a small part of the blog, so if you’re interested in reading in a lot more detail, click on the link).
When I was 18, I got a job in a warehouse. I worked my way up to supervisor. I banked most of the money I made there and my 401K did well. I bought a house for $55K and when I moved to Baltimore; I sold it for $180K. Now I have a nice house in Baltimore on a quiet block of single-family homes. The place has a big yard and a lot of trees, which are great until fall, and the mortgage is manageable between my girlfriend and me.
That warehouse job had me working 10-16 hours a day, six days a week for 15 or so years. With all those hours, all I could do was save money, since I had no time to do anything but work. With that, I could build up enough retirement funds that I set myself up. I got lucky and unless the market crashes, I should be okay in the future.
I probably wouldn’t work like that now, since I had no life for those years. On the upside, I can write about MMA for a living and I guess that’s good.
In 2018, my income was $55,855.68. I made a significant portion of that outside of writing, working on an MMA related project.
In 2019, my income dropped to $39,614.73. Again, some of that was related to the project that I mention above. If you figure on a 40-hour workweek, I made about $19 an hour. I don’t work 40-hour weeks. I usually do between 50-60 when you figure in research and other miscellaneous things. That translates to somewhere between $12-$15 per hour.
My estimated taxes of about 20 percent came out of that $39,614.73. I also invested $7,500 of that in my retirement fund.
Okay, here’s what happened in 2020:
I lost what was probably my biggest source of freelance income because of a combination of factors. The first was because COVID-19 shut down the business for a bit. It was during that time off while the business got sorted out that I found out the owners of the business did not appreciate some things I had written and with that, when things got back to normal there, I no longer had a job.
To be honest, that was not unexpected in the least. In fact, it surprised me that it did not happen sooner. It was a great place to work and I enjoyed all the folks who worked there and my boss tried to keep me, but his boss was not having it. So, I lost what was A LOT of money for me — not a great start to the year.
The other thing that happened was one of my other freelance gigs decided it would reduce their pay by click from .05 per click to .01 per click. That cut my pay from them from the $1,500-$3,000 per range per month to about $500 a month. That was a kick in the nuts. I don’t do nearly as much work there as I once did because, well, it’s not worth my time and effort for that pay.
On a HUGE plus side, Bloody Elbow has given me a lot more work and a contract that I am happy with. You won’t hear me complain about the pay or the people there one bit. I am completely and unquestionably happy with everyone at Bloody Elbow. They are all helpful and good people.
Now expenses, I had to buy a vehicle last year. That purchase took $25K out of my savings for a 2016 Silverado with 33K miles, which I kind of regret since the only thing I really drove for was the freelance gig I lost…figures.
The other big unexpected bills concerned the dog. He was diagnosed with heart cancer in 2019 and we kept that at bay for about a year. But in September his chest, heart and lungs began filling with fluid. We had to get that fluid drained every couple of weeks and monitor his heart and that was incredibly expensive since there are few dog cardiologists out there and the ones that are around have long waiting lists. He could not wait and so the PET ER, which is more expensive than a normal vet or dog cardiologist cared for him. Despite the fluid draining, he was living a good life and he was not suffering. He was playful and alert, but when things went bad, they went bad fast and we had to put him down in early December. He made it clear it was his time.
Here he is:
As a side note, this is why I don’t celebrate x-mas: All of our dogs have died in December and it’s just been a real downer of a month over the years and I don’t really feel celebratory around the holidays and so I skip them. That may seem strange, but hey, I never claimed I was “normal,” now did I? Nope.
Anyway, sorry for that bring down.
So, financially, I finished the year on a bit of a downer as far as liquid funds, but I still have about six months of savings I can dip into. On a plus side, I have enough socked away in retirement savings (not liquid) that I’m one of the lucky ones who made a pretty good amount from the way stocks went up this year. Yes, it’s shitty how that worked out, but don’t think I am well off. With the way things are I’ll probably be able to retire at some point, which I know makes me better off than many people and for that I am thankful, but much of that money was made and saved by living a frugal and boring life and not going to college. So, yes, there was also luck involved in that I could make good money when warehousing was still a job that allowed folks to make a middle-class living.
Anyway, on to the $$ for 2020. I made $33,862. My guess was in the $30,000 range last year, so I was pretty close. I expect 2021 to come in around there as well, if everything stays the way it is right now. I’m hoping to make some money from YouTube in 2021, but I expect that will be coffee money and nothing substantial. (Feel free to subscribe to the Youtube page and watch some videos if you want to help.)
Twenty percent of that $33,862 goes to taxes and if I have it, $7,500 goes to the retirement account, but it could be less than that this year, which sucks.
So here’s the breakdown since I’ve been a full-time MMA freelancer:
2018: $55,855.68 - I made A significant portion of that outside of writing, working on an MMA related project.)
2019: $39,614.73 - Again some of that was related to that project I mention above.
2020: $33,862 - All of this is MMA freelance writing related income.
I am 100 percent happy I kept working throughout 2020 even though there were some shaky moments and I am 100 percent thankful that Bloody Elbow came through with more work for me. If that had not happened, I probably would be back in warehousing or manufacturing.
Do you know something about UFC, USADA, an MMA manager or a fighter, that I should know? You can contact me via secure messaging on Telegram at trentreinsmith or via ProtonMail at trent.reinsmith@protonmail.com
The brief advice part:
I’ve been doing this type of work for more than 10 years, so that’s something to consider if you’re thinking of pursuing this as a (cough) career. Also, I set myself up with a considerable cushion before I made the leap to freelance work. Again, read “This Is How The Sausage Is Made Or How I Can Make A Living As A Freelance MMA Writer” post for the background on that.
On a closing note, I would encourage other MMA writers, either FT or PT to make their 2020 income public, especially those who freelance for a living. While this is not a common practice in the MMA freelance community, it’s not rare in the freelancing world as a whole.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Feel free to share any thoughts/comments/story or video ideas or whatever and if you are an MMA writer and want to chat, I’m available for that as well. You’ll find that I’m not a total prick or total scumbag (hey, Dana White) if everything is respectful and genuine, which if you subscribe to this, I’m thinking that won’t be a problem.
I hope everyone has a good 2021 or at the very least a sane and safe one.
Take it easy,
Trent