Since Sydney Hancock left her job at the San Antonio Symphony, she has built a six-figure career as a freelancer and has the freedom to travel.

Hancock, 25, studied classical music in college and landed a position playing the oboe for the symphony shortly after graduating. She had been making about $29,000 a year as a musician but, when the pandemic hit, Hancock no longer had steady work.

​​"I was freaking out at that point because I had never done anything else outside of music," she said. "COVID had kind of put me in a position where I had to figure something else out."

That's when Hancock tried digital marketing. She watched YouTube marketing videos, took online courses, and started building her services on the freelancing platform Fiverr. As she transitioned her business from side hustle to full-time job, her client base grew. Today, Hancock helps businesses with paid advertising campaigns, email marketing, and social media content creation.

Gig work, freelancing, and side hustles have become increasingly popular in recent years. Nearly two-thirds of freelancers are not employed elsewhere, and revenue made by the independent labor force surged in the pandemic, growing 9.2% between 2021 and 2022, according to Fiverr.

Since pivoting her career, Hancock has relocated from Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina. Hancock still freelances full-time through Fiverr along with running a digital marketing agency called Two Step Social with her boyfriend. Small-to-midsize businesses hire her to run their social media accounts and her agency has grown enough to hire a full-time employee, she said.

Last year, Hancock booked $115,928 in revenue through freelancing, according to documents viewed by Business Insider. Additionally, she earns money through her agency but declined to disclose those figures.

As Hancock continues to build her business, she has explored new social media tools like artificial intelligence. She primarily works with clients on their LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, and will use ChatGPT to help her brainstorm content ideas, outline emails, and write photo captions. Using AI in her work has increased her efficiency and creativity, she said.

Although Hancock did not have industry experience prior to freelancing, she said her communication and writing skills have served her well.

"You don't have to have a ton of prior experience or any experience at all to begin doing something like this or doing something new like changing careers," she said. "I think that that's really the beauty of freelancing."

Aside from the paycheck, Hancock said freelancing has major payoffs.

She likes working for herself and has found building her agency to be extremely rewarding. She usually likes maintaining a 9-to-5 schedule for consistency, but her career has allowed her and her boyfriend to travel the world and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Recently, the couple went to Europe for several months. Because they were six hours ahead of the US workday, Hancock said they would spend their mornings sightseeing in places like Switzerland and Scotland. Then, they would work and communicate with clients in the evenings.

This flexibility has allowed Hancock to build her professional portfolio, while also maintaining boundaries with work. These days, she said she worries less about everything being perfect.

"The only person you have to prove something to is your client by delivering high-quality work and meeting their needs," she said. "They don't care at all about your background or experience — I wish somebody had told me that when I was in college."

Despite changing careers, Hancock still sometimes plays her oboe sometimes when she's home.

Have you left your traditional 9-to-5 job for a side hustle or freelance gig? Are you willing to share how you make and spend your money? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly.com.