First of a new month, eh? I decided in January to offer up one post per month in which we can focus on something really actionable. January was all about finding clients. February, how emulating success freelancers can score you some serious street cred.
So what can we do this month to boost your freelance writing business?
Study an octopus, of course.
One of the biggest issues when you’re freelancing is keeping the money rolling in. We get two or three clients, get busy, and forget to market. We forget a lot of things when we’re busy, but then the inevitable happens:
We’re no longer busy. And there’s no work coming in.
That’s why you need to embrace the octopus, my friend. Here’s what I mean:
Say you have three clients. Two give you work monthly and one shows up whenever there’s a need, like every four months.
But wait — one of those regular clients just cut their budget for special projects. Bye-bye, regular client. But hey, you have another. You’ll just ask them for more work.
However, their budgets too are under a microscope. They’re not seeing the impact from all those articles and blog posts they’re writing, so someone at the top of the food chain wants to drop them.
Ruh roh.
You’re suddenly down to one client who may show up this week, or maybe next month. Or not. You, my friend, are now scrambling to find freelance writing gigs. Sucks, doesn’t it?
That’s why you need an octopus.
Writer chum Diane Parkin has an income octopus method that’s pretty brilliant. The original idea was to have eight income streams coming in regularly. That can be client work, book work, and whatever work you’re doing that gives you income. Diane broke that out a bit further into types of projects and number of clients.
That second one. To me, that’s going to be the moneymaker.
See, I do at least ten different types of projects at the moment. But most of those are coming from four clients. So if one client disappears and they have three of those types of projects, I’ve just lost three sources of revenue in one client.
That’s why I think it’s infinitely wiser to focus on the number of clients you have. And since an octopus has eight arms, guess what number I think you should shoot for?
[bctt tweet=”Want more consistent #freelancewriting earnings? Embrace the octopus.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Right now, do this: Count how many clients you’ve worked with in the last six months. Doesn’t matter if it was one project or several.
Now ask yourself these questions:
- How many projects did each client funnel my way? How many of those are ongoing?
- How many clients currently do I consider “anchor” clients (ones who funnel work to you monthly or more frequently)?
- How many projects on average am I seeing per month?
- Are my monthly earnings where I want them to be?
- How many more clients – and what type of client – do I need to keep the money coming in?
What’s your ideal mix? I can’t tell you that, but let’s look at what my mix is for some insight:
Right now, I’m at seven clients. I had nine, but that one lost its budget (see what I mean?) and another was a one-time project.I have:
- Three clients that give me work monthly or bi-weekly
- Two clients that give me work whenever I can place articles for them (so I hustle to do that so that the work is more regular)
- One magazine client gets ideas from me when I find a really good one, so three times a year perhaps
- One client gives me work four times a year
I’m looking for number eight. Why? Because while I’d be fine if one of my regular clients left, if two left, I’d be in a bit of a spot. Not bad, because I still have the other clients that I can work with to create more of a revenue stream for me, but having regular work is ideal.
Oh, I while I mentioned the term “anchor client” I don’t like using it. It gives a false sense that they’ll be there forever. They’re “anchors” and it’s too easy to moor yourself to one when the going is good. Too many writers would get complacent thinking they’re ship has come in (to beat that analogy to death).
So your homework: Ask those questions. Look at the full scope of where your money is coming from. Where are the gaps? What do you need to make things a bit more secure in your freelance writing business? Got it?
Good. Go. Embrace that octopus.
Writers, how many clients do you work with on a regular or semi-regular basis?
Is that mix giving you the earnings you want? Or are you stressed a lot about losing a client?
How do you keep your earnings more even?
This is a great way to think of it, Lori. Right now I’ve got 12 clients on my books. Two provide regular monthly work. Another one has an annual budget for my work split over different projects as they arise. One buys a block of time in advance to use for whatever comes up. I’ve got one who turns up with a large project roughly quarterly. Of the other 7, I’ll work with 2 or 3 of them in a given month, though I’m never quite sure which ones. And I keep marketing, because it’s easier to turn down work than not to have enough.
That last sentence, Sharon — “And I keep marketing, because it’s easier to turn down work than not have enough” — that’s where the success lies, isn’t it?
I have too many one-and-dones, and an “anchor” that needs to change, because of continuous scope creep. I’ve got a third regular client where we’re finding our feet, a fourth one where the work is about weekly or every other week (and pays monthly, on the same day as I invoice). Another semi-annual client, and an annual one. I’m working my way to the eight. I love Diane’s model.
I love it, too. She’d found it elsewhere, but her breakdown is brilliant.
This whole octopus idea is perfect because it’s the closest we freelancers will get to a guaranteed revenue stream.
This is fantastic.
I just counted, and I have six regular clients. They go like this:
One for which I do a set of monthly articles–been my client since 2008!!!!
One for which I do the entire every-other-month magazine–been my client since 2010
One for which I do two weekly enewsletters–Been my client since 2005, but these two newsletters arose in about 2014 and 2015
One for which I do two quarterly magazines–been my client for years, but these two magazines arose in 2015
This is a ton of work, and last year I turned down significant work beyond these clients because I simply couldn’t fit it in.
Here’s what worries me: One of those leaves, and it’s a huge hit. In fact, for the client for which I do two newsletters, I have a call today with a consultant who is evaluating the publications for the whole organization; I’m being interviewed as a key player. It has been running through my mind: They could decide those two newsletters aren’t needed anymore.
So my life is weird. I can’t add more clients. I just don’t have time. However, if one left, dang, it would be a bite.
I’d go back to hustling for those one-off writing assignments. I’d probably recover. But that would be a good amount of hustling.
What to do to protect my business? I don’t rightly know.
Gabriella, you are in a tough spot. The only thing I can think would work to keep that from happening is to have a magazine article or a few one-and-done projects every few months just to keep things even. And if all the clients stay put, you now have a bit of a financial cushion.
But I hear you. It’s the time it takes, isn’t it? It’s never great when one or two clients make up the bulk of your work. They disappear — you’re scrambling.
I won’t tell you how many clients I have, but twenty over the course of a year could be enough, though thirty is much better. Some will be one-offs, some will be two or three times a year, some will be more often up to one or more projects a month. But I need at least 8 to 12 projects a month, 16 are better, and I can handle 20 if I must. Those are the numbers I like to be writing all the time.
That’s a lot of clients, David! Hey, everyone’s mix is going to be different based on the projects they’re handling. I think last month I may have taken on 10 or more projects, but they were a mix of short and long ones. Twenty wouldn’t work for me because of the complexity of some of the projects.
Keeping that many clients happy is a juggling act, I’d bet!
A year ago, I was close to having my own octopus: Arms 1 & 2 being long-time clients that have frequent but sporadic assignments; 3 being a weekly column; 4 being a regional quarterly that I wrote features and shorts for in almost every issue; 5 & 6 being sister publications owned by a company that earned most of its revenue from promoting live events; and 7 being a grad student paying me to edit her assignments and papers.
Then the pandemic hit.
By mid-March, number 4 temporarily ceased publication; it resumed by autumn, but editors were doing everything in-house until last month when they finally assigned a few profiles while stressing that it was only because they were for a big, special issue. I soon realized 5&6 had taken everything in-house, but didn’t get official confirmation until late spring. That left only 4 “arms.”
At some point, number 3 went from being weekly to bi-weekly (less often at points when the publisher didn’t have enough ad revenue to pay freelancers).
Yep. Down to 3-1/2 arms.
I’ve been marketing all along. I had two potential clients totally ghost me AFTER sending me contracts and W9s to sign.
Thanks to Sharon connecting us, as of January I have a new client who has contracted me to write monthly blog posts.
That brings me up to 4-1/2 arms, plus random pieces here and there – like a client I wrote one article for in October and am about to do a second one in April (it’s a low-payer in a niche where I’d like to build more credits, so while I get something aside from money out of writing for it, I can’t afford to make it a frequent client at just $75 per article).
I guess that means my octopus is looking more like a starfish, but at least starfish are good at regrowing their arms.
Well Paula, starfish are resilient, too. If that’s any consolation!
Yea, that’s really low — I’d not make them a frequent client, either. If they offered more higher-paying projects throughout the year it might justify working with them, but I suspect at those rates, that’s just a pipe dream.
I know you — you’ve got the talent. There have to be markets out there willing to pay you what you’re worth because $75 per article isn’t even close.
Luckily, my main clients pay 75¢-$1+ per word—even the regional one would pay way more than $75 for a similar length article. Bear in mind that I chose to do the $75 article in order to build my reputation in a different field, so it was a strategic thing.
Good strategy!
Paula, I’m sorry you’ve been hit by the pandemic. It looks like you’re stabilizing, but I know that must be hard.
That brings up another issue: I haven’t applied for a PPP loan, but a friend who investigates white-collar crime for banks reached out to me and told me that the admin has really opened up PPP loans to smaller businesses, and she really encouraged me to apply. I haven’t done it yet. Not sure I will.
But here’s what she said: As of last week, the SBA has a fast lane for the self-employed. Using the greater from returns in 2019 or 2020, if your line 31 is 100,000 or more, you can apply now. The maximum is $20,832. Basically 100,000÷12 months times 2.5. It’s mostly forgivable by filling out the correct forms. “There’s $284 billion in PPP available. Billion with a B so there’s money for lots of businesses.”
Gabriella, thank you for this! I’m sure plenty of folks reading here could use that info.
It’s so odd that if you make six figures, this is available to you. I would think people below that threshold would need it more. Strange!
[…] biggest clients unexpectedly within two weeks of each other? I think optimal is eight clients (the Octopus method). But definitely more than four. The more clients you have, the less it’s going to hurt when […]