series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.
"I didn't really want to go into debt," she tells CNBC Make It. "There was definitely some social resistance, I would say. But at the end of the day, I was like, 'I've got to make the right decision for me.'" She found work as a barista, walked dogs and picked up an additional job at Guitar Center to make ends meet while producing music on the side. During her first two years in New York, she only earned around $20,000 a year, she says.Then she met her partner, Matt, who introduced her to freelancing. "I didn't know that that was a path that could exist, especially for someone like me who hadn't really pursued any higher education," Brunotts says.
As a copywriter, Brunotts develops marketing slogans and writes blogs posts for brands, and as a technical writer, she helps create manuals that provide directions on how to use certain products. "With freelancing, it can be really hard to predict your income," she says. "Which is why it's so important to save anything that you can for a rainy day or for those drier months."