Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my life as a web/graphic design freelancer.

What. A. Year.

I never dreamed that when I launched my website 2 years ago that I would be where I am now with emmarie Web Design. I entered in without any real goals, so I don't have any expectations to compare my success to, except that I'm still here and growing faster than I think anyone could have imagined I would.

It feels good to learn and grow. Stretch the bounds of what you think you can do. Doing things you never anticipating being confronted with.

And all the while, turning a profit.

I did my bookkeeping last week knowing that this anniversary was coming up. Seeing a new business have year-end profits after only two years is so encouraging. Seeing my revenue forecast for 2011 blown out of the water by an excess of over $10,000 was mind-boggling. Beating last year's revenue by over 3 times that had me floored.

What does this mean to me? Everything. It means that emmarie Web Design is glorious proof that small businesses are on the rise, and not just because I am a microbusiness, but because my success has come from the goals and success of other small creative businesses. This is our time!

And so today I'm reminiscing on projects from this year. I'll recap more goodies from the past year later this week: lessons learned, favorite projects. This year has taught me a lot.