Don’t Rely on One Client: 5 Ways to Avoid Trouble
During my first year of freelancing, I relied on one client for my bread and butter. When that client gave me a week’s notice that they no longer needed my services, I felt like I was up a certain creek. Over the years, I’ve had the problems with relying on just one or two clients hammered in. If there’s even a minimal problem with the one client taking up all of a freelancer’s time, that freelancer might not be making rent next month.
But there are ways to move from relying on one or two clients — just like there are ways to move from a full-time job — that can wind up making your freelance business more successful in the long run.
1. Spend some time on your personal projects
If all your bills are paid and your hours filled, it can be hard to find the motivation to go out and find even more work. But such a situation does provide with the opportunity to work on your own projects. If you don’t have to worry so much about finding income, you can take the time to work on those projects that you know can turn a profit if you can just sink some time into them.
Whether you want to run a website of your own, sell an ebook or pursue another passive income opportunity, pursuing your own projects can give you a little more security than relying just on one client at a time.
2. Keep marketing your services
Even if you have enough work that taking on even another hour’s worth will make you pop, you should be marketing yourself. You need to keep adding fresh information to your portfolio and keep your name out there.
And if you find your dream project, there’s nothing wrong with asking a current client to let you free up a couple of hours to work on something particularly awesome. Depending on how you phrase things, your big client may be more than happy to pay you for 35 hours a week rather than the full 40 you might be receiving now.
3. Outsource parts of the project
You’ll need your client’s okay before you start bringing in anyone else to work on a project — but it can pay off, if your client is willing to go along with it. On a lot of big projects, freelancers wind up working on parts of the project that aren’t really their specialty: a website designer may do a little search engine optimization on a client’s text, for instance.
If you can pass those project pieces off to the experts, you can free up a little time to pursue other projects. Sure, you’ll have to pay those specialists, but you’ll also be able to take on more work. It can pay off in more ways than allowing you to take on more than one client.
4. Look for small side projects
Remember the projects that fit best with your schedule when you were still working full-time? Some of the best were small gigs that required just a few hours to complete. Sliding even one small project into your schedule can ensure that you’re still in the game without disrupting your big client. You’ll get the added bonus of changing up your work, as well, in case you’re the type to get bored of working on the same project day after day.
5. Leave that big client behind
In general, I don’t recommend walking away from a gig that makes up a good chunk of your income. But the fact is that when a freelancer finds a steady gig, it’s far too easy to stick with that gig long past the point where it’s lucrative. A freelance writer may take on a blogging gig when he’s first starting out — and will keep blogging for that client long after he can land much better pay with another client.
To continue to build your freelance business, sometimes you just have to know when to walk away. You can combine leaving your big client with marketing your talents, of course: it’s worthwhile to see if you can line up at least a few smaller clients for immediately after you plan to give your main client notice.
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Nice Article with a couple of “Heads Up”. Thanks..
Good advice Thursday. I tend to keep a couple of on going big clients going to keep a variation in work but also take on smaller jobs which are more flexible with their time so I can fit these in when there’s a few spare hours or I simply fancy a break from a project for an evening. Having a variation of work helps keep me motivated, although it may not be for everyone if they struggle with organization.
A very useful article. I wish I’d had this advice a couple of years ago, as I’ve been caught like this before, and the thing is that it can be hard to see it coming. This is especially true if your major client starts as a minor client. This happened to me over a three-year period: a TV news channel that I was working for as a studio director started off as a small client, and grew to the point where I was working from four to seven (!) days a week for them, gradually cutting back or cutting out my other commitments, but without the security of a staff or contract position (which I chose not to try for as the money wasn’t as favourable!)
The extra money coming in was great; the fact that I wasn’t worrying about how to fill my diary made me lazy, and when the client announced that they now were up to their full complement of staff directors, I suddenly found myself missing two-thirds of my income with about three weeks’ notice. I was told in the run-up to Christmas, and then spent a very quiet January pondering what had happened.
The thing is, it’s a double whammy: when you’re busy like that, it’s easy to become complacent. But it’s also sometimes hard to find the time to a) go looking for the new opportunities or b) to work out where a new client would fit in if you found one.
In retrospect, I guess I should have taken the above advice to give myself time for self-promotion, and to cut back on my major client enough to accomodate someone else as insurance.
Luckily, the story has a happy ending. One of my other clients was pleased that I was suddenly more available for my radio work (thanks BBC!) and it gave me the opportunity to pursue my real career love of becoming a full-time Voiceover Artist, instead of doing it as a sideline.
Sometimes, at least, things that seem bad at the time work out well after all. You just need to learn the lessons…
In this economy it’s especially important to not ignore the smaller side projects. I know of one web design company that decided last year to concentrate on a few big-name clients and big projects, but ended up going bankrupt because those clients canceled or failed to pay. Smaller projects may not be too lucrative, but sometimes they can mean the difference between staying afloat and drowning.
1. I agree
2. I’m this situation now
3. I want out
The catch 22 is that I have 1 really solid client. And its on a contract basis. I get paid if there is work or not. Often there is A LOT of work. While this contract is great because at times I get paid for very little work, now that I am so dependent on them I find myself slaving for them and working twice as much as I get paid to keep them happy and me safe in these hard times. I love freelancing but sometimes I find myself dreaming if a day job where I don’t have to stress about payroll and the million other things running your own biz requires. Am I alone?
I think this is a common issue with many freelancers, I know it affects me, only last year did I start the process of widening my client base after I broke my jobs down and realised, while half my work was with a single client and the other half with many smaller companies, around 70% of my income was from the one big client.
Personally I’d like to get 3 larger clients to ease admin and learning curves, and then have other smaller jobs to keep my interest. But that’s easier said than done.
Nice tips. I def agree with the whole working on your own projects part.
I recently got caught in this situation as well. My big client is closing its doors at the end of the month. They relied on two big clients, both of whom pulled their business due to the economy. So, we both got hurt. I’ll miss the money, but in a way it’s a relief to be able to move on. They took up a lot of my time.
I really like #2. It’s easy to forget to do this when you’re really busy, but it pays off in the long run.
John
Another thing that can happen: You may find yourself outgrowing The Big Client. Meaning that your skills and interests aren’t being challenged by their work. Which means that it’s time to follow the advice in Item #5 and leave Big Client behind.
After all, baby birds eventually have to fly away from the nest. So can you.
Great article! It reminds me that big clients can cause other issues, especially if they offer you a lot of work. You can spend so much time on them that you don’t develop other clients or diversify. Then in an economic pinch when the client cuts freelance/marketing budgets, suddenly you have no big client, and no other clients as well. I’m seeing it happen right now to a few folks I know.
We have seen this exact thing several times in the past year. Two large clients were hit hard by the economy and ended up hiring min/low wage replacements for us as well as other staff. It wasn’t an immediate thing but happened over the course of several months. It makes things pretty tight but fear can be a pretty good motivator. I tend to like the smaller jobs in larger quantities. Now, if we could just find some of the smaller jobs everything would be great.
Wow they gave you a week’s notice?!?:) Sometimes I don’t even get that. But a great article:)
Great post I always find that doing personal projects on downtime is really important, it helps you stay creative and also helps you develop a personal style or improve on it.
Couldn’t agree more! I had three clients – one high paying and two low payers – and got lazy about marketing further. The contract with the high payer stopped when they changed direction entirely and the other two went belly up in the credit crunch. It’s too easy to get complacent … You got to keep going for new work.
I like the way you have structured your post. The things that make you complacent are always good in the moment, but you definitely need to get out of the comfort zone, and try different things, as you pointed out.
Especially, in the economic conditions that prevail today, you need to have projects all the time, otherwise the tension very easily gets to the nerves, and you might lose your current clients too.
MnVn
This is similar to don’t quit your day job until you know it’s going to work for you.
Thanks for the tips. I haven’t had to get rid of a big client, but I kinda know the feeling as well. Currently some people are outsourcing to me, which has really taken a load off of their backs, because they can concentrate on what they do best, and I on what I can do best.
You just told my story. Had a client for about 7 years. At first, that client was one of several, but then I started doing so much work for them (and got such favorable compensation) that I let the others fall by the wayside. After four years of dedicating my life only to them, they let me go, without any notice. It was a very amicable separation, but it put me in a serious bind.
I’ve got a new client, after several months of working at a temp gig
I would always hear a voice in my head, screaming “don’t depend on just one client!” Unfortunately, when the pay’s good, and you get to work as much, or as little, as you want, you ignore the voice. This time around, I’m going to take your advice (and my own), and start actually seeing myself as a business owner, not a long-term benefits-free employee.
Great tips. I had this problem when I was first starting out as a freelancer. I had only one client and when that client left, so did my paychecks. I had to consistently market myself and my business to gain repeat clients and a steady stream of new ones.
Great tips thank you. I couldn’t agree more, especially with tip 1. “Spend some time on your personal projects” as because the business is slower now, I developed my online magazine with my best friend (by the way, you are welcome to visit it: http://www.soyfashionista.com). I am a firm believer that developing a passive income of some sort as a personal project is the way to go.
However, I am also a strong believer that everybody should find his “milking cow” as having a steady stream of revenue takes away some of the financial pressure.
Great stuff, cheers!
Great Post! I know how easy it is to fall into the big client trap. Last year I had 3 big clients and 2 folded within a month of each other. That was a scramble. Good to remember that the big client theory applies to small groups of clients too.
My ‘big’ client is my family’s business and I know they need me or at least inform me well before hand if they were closing shop.
However, when the US stock market crashed my first ‘big’ client that I got on my own decided hey didn’t need me. At first, I cried…it could’ve been because I was pregnant though! Then, like when you break up with someone, I started listing all of the bad things.
They always wanted “meetings” where nothing would get accomplished, even though we were on a monthly invoicing schedule I never got paid on time, they wanted me to do things that needed training but weren’t willing to train, etc.
Then I felt much better! I lost a bit of income, but I had time now to develop my website better and find more clients. I’m making more now that I got rid of them. I actually looked at my website for the first time in a few weeks and it looked horrible! I feel like I’m back in control of my time and ventures.
Oh man, do I feel this pain. A few years back, I let myself get deeply involved with one client – for the promise of riches! as soon as the project was complete -and he turned out, after 7 weeks of horrible grinding, to be a conman. I’d had my lawyer check out the contract and everything, on the premise that “if it looks too good to be true, it is.” The contract checked out. I checked his references, too. But he’d conned them as well.
After I crawled back out of that particular, very deep pit, I vowed to never make that mistake again.
My rule became: no client can have more than 30% of my time, for more than 2 weeks, ever.
That helped a lot. But what helped even more was my decision to back it all up by making products, to wean myself off needing clients.
Now my products bring in enough income that I can choose projects very carefully, and if they don’t work out? It’s no problem financially.