Sometimes life hands you lessons that, thankfully, you don’t have to learn firsthand.
It was December 28, 2001 or 2002. I was at my desk at the magazine. I’d just finished an article that quoted heavily this firebrand company that had opened its doors a few years prior and had risen to household-name status (well, within the insurance world, that is). (I remember the date because it’s the birthday of someone in my family.)
I saw an email come in from that company, which I assumed was regarding their quotes.
It was from their marketing head. And the news nearly knocked me over.
The company was closing its doors effective December 31.
Huh?
So how could a company that had done such an excellent job marketing and building their brand be shuttering so quickly? Because they’d made a fatal mistake: the lion’s share of their client business was with exactly one company. And that company had decided not to renew their contract.
There went 38 percent of their business. And there went their ability to pay their bills and make payroll.
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This is relevant to you, freelance writer. Who hasn’t had two or three clients in the beginning and made a similar, equally fatal mistake of thinking:
I’m set!
And what happened next?
One or two of those clients disappeared within a few months. For me, it was two — one, then a week later, the other. And the client that was left didn’t make up much of my monthly income.
Lesson learned. Believe me.
Since then (probably 2004), I’ve never let myself go below having three clients. And not one of them makes up the bulk of my expected earnings.
Not. One.
Here’s how I’ve avoided putting all my freelance eggs in the same basket:
Market.
Okay, I’d slacked off active marketing for a few years as I was running a little experiment to see how long I could go without marketing. Two years. But that’s after over a decade of making lasting connections. It was nice to not write LOIs, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t tweeting and sharing on forums. Marketing isn’t all about direct contact.
Keep count.
Ask Paula or Joy. I was complaining this spring that I had three clients and I needed at least one more. Three makes me nervous. Three means I could be down to one (or worse) without warning. Having been through that, I’m not eager to repeat. For me, four to six clients is an ideal number. That may not be clients who give me work each month, but if three of them do and the other few give me assignments every other month, I’m good with that. What your number may be is totally your call. Just avoid three. That’s…. yea. Just avoid it.
Check the invoices regularly.
Right now, I know which clients are paying what percentage of my monthly earnings. I try not to have one client making up more than 30 percent of what I’m earning on a monthly basis.
And if you have just three clients, you now understand the risk you’re taking. Could you lose 33 percent of your earnings right now? How about 66 percent?
Nurture.
There are people I’ve worked with years ago who will get an occasional email from me. If I see someone I know on LinkedIn, I’ll check in. I’ll banter with clients I’m working with. I’ll treat them all like friendly colleagues. There are people I know will never hire me. I’ll still stop and say hello if I see them at a trade show. Or I’ll wish them a happy work anniversary. Or comment on their posts. It doesn’t take endless sales pitches to nurture a relationship — this isn’t the place for sales pitches. It takes being attentive.
Thank a connection.
When someone connects with me on social media, I thank them. Not with those awful auto-response messages, but with a “Thanks for connecting. When you get a chance, I’d welcome a conversation to hear more about what you do.”
Notice that didn’t ask for much. That’s on purpose. Some people go full-scale stalker when they’re followed on LinkedIn or Twitter. The “I noticed you looking at my profile — are you looking for a writer?” is just weird, but so is asking for the sale on the first meeting. It’s like getting engaged on the first date. Just get to know them through conversation. They either say yes or they don’t respond. Pushing isn’t going to help, either. Be known for being interested in what they do, not interested in what they can do for you.
Share something.
I’ve shared connections, contacts, referrals, or just something I thought would interest someone. I’ve shared free advice. I’ve counseled contacts who weren’t going to be able to afford me. It’s about helping someone with no expectations of reciprocation. A contact I’d helped out earlier in the year was given general “Here’s what I can do for you” info, but then I offered them the “above my pay grade” suggestions on how to make the most of their first trade show. Will they ever hire me? I highly doubt it — they were very focused on per-piece pricing, which suggests I wasn’t within their budget. Will they refer me? I hope so, particularly since I stay in touch. If not, I’ve made one more acquaintance. It’s all good.
Writers, what’s the least number of clients you’ve had at one time?
Have you ever had the bottom fall out of your client base?
How did you handle it? What did you change to keep it from happening again?
5 responses to “The Art of Not Putting All Your Freelance Eggs in One Basket”
Oh, Lori. It wasn’t pretty when I lost multiple clients all in a short space of time. It was shortly after 9/11 when a lot of advertising budgets were slashed. One of my best (in all ways, including pay rates) clients was a respected TV industry trade that had been around a couple of decades. It folded in early 2002. As did a long-running P-O-P trade I’d contributed to for a couple of years.
The funny thing was, around the same time a marketing & advertising newsletter that was great for those quick turn-around/quick-pay pieces at 50-cents a word was bought by an outfit that fired the amazing editor and cut pay rates to 10-cents/word, then acted like I should be grateful for that pittance. When the new editor tried assigning me a 600-word article and wanted 12 sources, I laughed and told her their titles alone would eat up most of the word count, and it certainly wasn’t worth the $60 she was offering. She tried defending the low pay rate by saying how simple the assignment was, so I told her to do it herself.
Also around that time, one of my first regular clients—a bi-monthly sales & marketing trade magazine—replaced their trio of smart, professional, female editors with two former sports writers. They paid on publication. I hated the terms, but was used to it. Then they kept pushing one of articles back issue after issue. Even after they finally ran my story they dragged their feet on paying. After past due notices were ignored, I called every week, then every day. Always told the guy I needed to speak with was at lunch, but they’d have him call me back. After a couple weeks of that, I responded to the poor receptionist with, “That must be the longest lunch in history.” He called back. When one of the editors learned I’d spoken to the accountant, he called me and whined about how “I thought we were partners…” I said something like, “If that were true you wouldn’t have ignored my past due notices.” I fired them that day, too. From the day I turned in that article until I was paid: 13 months. Unprofessional and utterly inexcusable.
Firing two bad clients at the same time was not easy after losing two really good clients. I still had a couple of clients, but things were really tight there for a year or two. Yet I never once regretted firing those two clients.
Last year I lost one of my key clients. Another one with quick-turn-arounds and quick payments. A fair rate, too. They’re still around but the powers that be decided to slash the freelance budget. I’m still in touch with the editor there, who says if/when they have a freelance budget again she’ll be in touch. I still haven’t quite made up the lost income, but I have landed one new regular client and expanded the scope of work I do for another long-time client.
And I am STILL marketing. Over the past two weeks I’ve been sending LOIs to yarn companies to see if any of them need the skills of a freelance writer who knits, crochets, and is obsessed with yarn.
Wow! Twelve sources in one small article? Good for you for telling her what you did, particularly when it was $60 on the line. Some decisions are easy, aren’t they? And I’d say that’s about the only easy part of that assignment.
And this is something ALL freelancers should memorize and repeat when needed: “He called back. When one of the editors learned I’d spoken to the accountant, he called me and whined about how ‘I thought we were partners…’ I said something like, ‘If that were true you wouldn’t have ignored my past due notices.’ I fired them that day, too.
Exactly what that client earned, frankly. Thirteen months is inexcusable.
Toward the beginning of the year, I lost my client that was the source of more than half my income last year. Half! It wasn’t a huge surprise–there was a new head of the communications department, and I figured she might be wondering why they spent so much on a single freelance writer–but it was still a huge disappointment. I was especially disappointed by the way it was done: a simple email one morning saying they were bringing their work back in-house, but thanks so much for your help over the years!
I kicked it into gear and started sending out a ton of LOIs, and thankfully one client I hadn’t heard from in about a year reached out shortly afterward. I’m on track to make the same amount of money this year as last, only with a bunch of smaller clients instead of one big client and a few small ones. I definitely learned my lesson, and I’m so thankful it turned out OK!
Wow Debbie, that’s rough! Been there myself (two of them at relatively the same time). Hate that you had to learn that one the hard way, but it sounds like you recovered well! Good for you.