Abbey Graves Productions

Two years ago, I walked out of a county building, newly self-employed, with seven podcast clients and a whole lot of nervous energy. I had no studio. No diversified income streams. No roadmap. I just had a skill set I had spent a decade developing in radio, a roster of people who trusted me with their shows, and a stubborn refusal to go back to working for someone else.

This week, I’m celebrating two full years of running Abbey Graves Productions as my full-time job. And I want to talk about what that has actually looked like.

The Numbers Behind Surviving Year Two

I found a statistic recently that put some context around this milestone. In Minnesota, roughly 78 to 80 percent of self-employed businesses make it to year two, slightly above the national average. Year one knocks out about 20 percent of new businesses. Year two takes another 30 to 32 percent of those who remained. Making it past that mark is when survival rates start to stabilize.

I made it. And I’m not going to pretend it was inevitable.

What Growth Actually Looks Like

When I went full-time in June 2024, I had seven clients and was producing their episodes every week. And I actually lost one of them on Day 1 of self emplyemnt. Today I work with 13+ active shows, serve clients who range from cattle ranchers to nonprofit founders to public speakers, and have produced over 800 podcast episodes in the time I’ve been doing this. I have a studio space in downtown St. Cloud, which, for the record, Xcel Energy technically classifies as a closet. But it’s mine, and it’s in the area I always wanted to be in, and I love it.

Building Multiple Income Streams on Purpose

Podcast production is my primary work, but Abbey Graves Productions is bigger than that. I also DJ weddings, run a photo booth rental business, a video guest book rental, and host music bingo events. Those additional income streams were not an accident. They exist because when clients leave, and they do, I needed to be able to absorb that and keep going.

This past winter, I lost two clients in a single week. That was a $1,500 monthly hit, all at once. My response was not to panic and apply for a job. My response was to book more weddings and add more music bingo dates. You figure it out. That is the job.

What Self-Employment Is Actually Teaching Me

I have not once, in two full years, had the thought cross my mind that I needed to go back to traditional employment. That surprised me more than almost anything else. I wake up genuinely excited about my work, every day brings a new challenge, and a new win. And that sometimes is enough to keep me going.

Stop Being Humble About What You’re Building

Here’s the thing I want other small business owners to hear: brag about this. Whether you’re doing this full-time or part-time, whether your business is thriving or still figuring itself out, you are doing something hard. You are putting in the hours, the late nights, the pivots, the risk. Own that.

I put in a 17-hour day this past Saturday. And then came home and put in 6 hours on Sunday. I am not telling you that to make it sound cool. I’m telling you that because that is what it takes sometimes, and it’s still worth it.

What Comes Next

I am launching a new podcast later this summer, one that goes back to the style of storytelling that got me started in all of this. I have some great guests lined up and I’m genuinely excited about it.

For now, I’m celebrating two years. It went fast. It was hard. I wouldn’t change a single thing.