 | |
| |
Writing Information & News
| |
|
|
|
 Freelance Writing: How Many Regular Clients Should You Have?
This is a tough question for every freelance writer. For me, the worst working scenario is when a few weeks go by and all my work comprises one-off jobs for small clients who never become repeat customers. It takes a lot of time finding and developing each new client. That means lots of unbillable hours. My best scenario is to have three to five repeat clients I can pretty much depend on for work each month. Plus one or two new clients who may or may not turn into repeat customers. That way, if you lose one repeat client, you're not in big trouble. You have your other regular clients, plus some more prospects in the 'hopper'. >> The two danger scenarios It is dangerous for you when you have too few clients. I found myself in this situation a couple of years ago. I had one client that was worth over $10,000 a month to me. The result was that they took up a lot of my time and I found myself with very little free time to develop new clients. I had other work, but this one client took up a significant proportion of my time. And yes, one day I got that phone call and, due to a change in management, I ended up losing their business. Suddenly I had a big hole in my income and it took me quite some time to fill it up again. Should I have declined the one large client? I don't think so. Not for that kind of money, month after month. But I was always aware of the danger I was in. The other danger scenario is when you have too many small clients, and too few are repeat clients. As I mentioned above, multiple one-time clients eat into your billable hours. You need to be honest with yourself about the profitability of each job and client. Every client and every job you do results in time spent on administration, accounting, email and phone calls. Not to mention the time and expense involved in finding that client and job in the first place. >> Aim for the perfect balance You'll be lucky if you can do it all the time, but if you can work with a handful of good, repeat customers, that's the best position to be in. If you have too few clients and don't have the time to develop new ones, take that as a danger signal. You could suddenly lose a big chunk of your income. If you have too many one-time clients, take that as a danger signal too. You may be working long hours, but not billing a high enough proportion of those hours. Can we always sustain the perfect balance? No, but we can try. Nick Usborne is a freelance writer, author, speaker and advocate of good writing. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.
MORE RESOURCES:
Heartless traffic agent Daniel Chu STILL writing off drivers after scuffle ... - New York Daily News
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Is The Theme Running Throughout The Story? Creative Writing Tips -It's no use coming up with a theme and not using it. Short stories are about a character or characters and about one situation or happening in those characters' lives. Writer School? Here's something from my mailbag. "Dear Michael, do you need todo good in school if you want to be a writer? I stink at schooland all my friends laugh at me when I tell them I want to write,but I'm serious. Going On A Word Diet There are three ways to write a first draft. One is to ink whatever surfaces, in whatever order without regard to grammar, spelling or staying on topic. Writing Made Them Rich #1: JK Rowling Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965. She began writing at the age of 6 with astory called 'Rabbit', which she never finished. 7 Writing Muse Kickers to Fill Up That Blank Page Nothing is more daunting for any writer than having to stare at a blank sheet of paper.When we stare at a blank sheet of paper, we often think, "What am I going to write?" A few minutes later, it becomes, "Oh my goodness, I can't think of anything to write!" And several minutes later, it turns into something like, "Write, dangnabit! Write! Write! WRITE!"Some writers call this writer's block. Passionate About Writing? I'm a writing fool! 2 book proposals, 1 user's guide, a business technology analysis paper, and a FileMaker Pro 7 application! Can you say, "RedBull?" Actually, my preferred energy drink of choice is Monster. But I'll save my energy drinks discussion for another time. Use Real-Life Templates For Writing Success At some point along the way, most of us have used what arecommonly called "fill-in-the-blank" writing templates. Wemight have used them to write a letter, format an essay, orset-up a resume or CV. 3 Quick and Easy Ways to Generate Story Ideas There are many ways you can generate ideas you can use for your stories, articles and other creative pieces. Start with the three ways given below:1. Taking the Free Out of Freelance Writing When you run an online agency for freelance writers, editors and proofreaders you'd think the biggest problem would be attracting employers who are willing to pay a decent hourly rate for freelance writing. You'd be wrong. A Series of Articles on Autobiography ESSAYS ON AUTOBIOGRAPHY: NUMBER 1Preamble:Nearly seven years ago I wrote my first essay on the nature of autobiography. It was some two years after completing my initial draft, the first edition of my own autobiography. Turbo-Charging Your Writing Career - 6 High-Yield Strategies Hands up all those who'd like to have a successful writing career.(What's that you say? What do I mean by 'successful'?)All right, I know all writers are individuals. The Struggle Sometime one must coax the words out.Each day is a struggle to sit before the computer and produce-produce words that are appropriate, produce sentences that are logical, produce paragraphs that are focused, and produce a page that is relevant to the project-whether it is a poem, a short story, an article, an essay, or part of a novel. Have You Settled On First Choice When Choosing A Title? Short Story Writing Tips -We've established what a title should be and we've also established your title is your selling tool. So if it can make or break the sale of your story, then we'll have to agree that it is extremely important. How NOT to Get a Freelance Writing Job In the business of freelance writing, it's not enough to be good at writing. You also have to be good at finding work - and selling yourself when you do. Increase Your Web Traffic By Using Keyword Articles If you have an online home based business you know that routing traffic to your web page is incredibly important. Not only in order to make sales and increase revenues but to continue your business. Why Every Freelance Writer Needs A Website What do you mean, you don't have a website yet? Websites these days aren't just for businesses and people who want to share their obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the world. These days, websites are one of the most important tools for writers. Resignation Letters: Dont Let Yours Backfire On You... It turns out that "tips and templates on how to writeresignation letters" is the third most sought-afterinformation at my Writing Help Central Web site.So, when I looked into the subject more closely, I wassurprised to find that there is not a lot of guidanceavailable in guide book form on how to write a proper andappropriate resignation letter. Writing Styles for Fiction: Which Voice to Use I recently set up a website to promote a new suspense novel. Once it started receiving hits I began getting questions about why I chose to write in third person. You Can Be An Author "You should write a book." For years, I had been hearing this comment. Write Again! - The Art Of The Written Letter Remember the days when we wrote with pen and paper? We took time and thought into each note written. There wasn't email, text messaging, cell phones, or instant messaging.
|
| © Writing Information 2010 |