Burnout, Freelance, and Finding a Fit
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
By Bryant Vander Weerd
Here’s a fun plot twist they don’t tell you about freelancing: you can design the perfect life on paper and still end up exhausted, overcaffeinated, and answering emails in an airport bathroom at 6:00am. Ask me how I know.
In 2021, I made the jump from corporate life to full-time freelance. I’d grown my “side hustle” into a “front hustle”during the pandemic, and it finally made sense to bet on myself. With that came all the things I wanted more of: autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to steer my own income without needing permission. My agency Full Pour Media was born: a marketing agency specializing in the craft beverage industry.
Somewhere around that time, a mentor told me something that stuck: burnout happens when the price being paid isn’t enough to justify the work. I assumed he meant money, but later learned that “price” can also be energy, fulfillment, and mental health.
In the early years of Full Pour Media I was running social media for local breweries. It scratched the creative itch because it let me tell stories. The challenge was that it wasn’t tapping into the deeper skillset I’d been developing since high school: videography and visual storytelling.
At the same time, the “work from anywhere” lifestyle became slightly less glamorous. When you can work from anywhere, you can work from anywhere. I once pushed a Facebook ad live from my hotel room in the Dominican Republic, much to my wife’s chagrin. In reality, it was the height of “I clearly don’t have boundaries yet.”
Then came the two Septembers. Two years in a row, I lost major retainer contracts at the exact same time. Because I’d been so busy delivering work, I hadn’t been developing new leads. Nothing like staring down an empty pipeline to make you reevaluate your business model.
But those resets forced me to ask myself something. If I was going to keep freelancing (and I was), how can I do it in the strongest way possible?
The answer was video.
I’ve been telling stories through a camera lens for half my life.
Instead of trying to be everything, I pivoted into the lane where I’m strongest: creative and strategy. Full Pour Media became the creative arm that brands and agencies could plug into for impactful video, photo, and storytelling.
Now the work gives back as much as it takes. That’s the equation my mentor was talking about.
Three Lessons That Helped Me Perform Without Burning Out
1. Mindset that drives performance:
I can’t pour from an empty cup. If I skip taking care of myself, there’s less to give family, clients, or anyone else. For me, the gym became the anchor. It’s my morning focus time before the day gets chaotic.
2. Small boundaries make a big difference:
I printed my weekly schedule and taped it to the wall. Time blocks for work, lunch, and socializing. Having visual structure helps me to feel much more grounded..
3. Productivity beliefs I had to unlearn:
I’m still working on this one: don’t judge your pace against someone else’s. Everyone has different connections, relationships, timing, and seasons. Progress isn’t a race unless you decide it is.
Closing the Loop
Burnout didn’t show up because I was working too hard, it showed up because the work stopped matching the price I was paying for it. Things began to flip in my favor when I started aligning my skills, industry, and creative identity.
If I’m going to be my own boss I might as well be the best boss I’ve ever had!
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