How Long is Too Long to Hold Onto Your Freelance Writing Clients?
This is a curious question I get from freelance writers who worry that the client they've had for one, three, or even five years is holding their business back. Is there a length of time that's too long to stay with a certain client?
This week's livestream is going over typical client contract lengths, how to know when you've been with a client too long, how to see if a client is holding your business back, the pros and cons of long-term clients, and when to analyze your clients so you never have to worry about them stunting your growth.
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How Long is Too Long to Hold Onto Your Freelance Writing Clients?
How long is too long to hold onto a freelance writing client. That is what we're talking about today. But first we have a couple of things. So we are going to do a quick. And also, I know that I have a bunch of people that responded for, to win a coaching call. So I will make sure to do that. We're going to do that.
And if I can pull it up today, we're going to do that. So don't worry. But today we're talking about holding onto your freelance clients and how long is too long. So this is a question that I get that I think is a really interesting one because. Hold on. We gotta make sure the pup dates are on the right pup cam.
Um, I, I guess I never really thought about it in my own business. Like I never really worried about the length of time that I held on to a client or how that impacted my business because they always kind of have this natural flow. I always feel like your clients have this ebb and flow of like when the work is coming in.
How things are going, how you kind of want to work with them, where your business is expanding. Hey Vicky, I always liked the wave. Uh, and kind of thinking about like the natural way that you work with clients, like how does it kind of mesh together? And I've gotten this question a bunch, like I've gotten this question from coaching students.
I've gotten this question in my inbox. And I always think it's a really interesting one. So we're going to talk about like a bunch of different things that I think are really important in terms of length of working with clients. And is that normal? Hey Marie, welcome in a Murray. Why do you have a dot.dot?
That's like the universal symbol of like, something is wrong. Okay. I was a little late today too, but we corralled all the furs and we're here now.
Thank you. Thank you, Vicky. I'd always happens to me where I switched things. And then I forget that it's muted. Um, yeah, if you tell me, Hey, share a welcome, and I don't know if you've heard that, but, um, so whenever you tell me a nickname or tell me like how to pronounce your name, sometimes that might stick in my mind.
So if you don't want to be me to mention your nickname, let me know. Um, Yeah, it is the no sound thing. Yeah. So let's talk about this.
1) Typical Freelance Writing Client Contract Lengths
So typical contract links can really vary. So sometimes you can have a contract for a month or you can have a contract for just a trial. This is the first thing we're talking about.
Um, and then you can also have contracts that lasts like multiple years. Maybe they're renewed for multiple years. I don't know if anybody I've ever known has had a contract that was signed for multiple years. Like they signed a two year contract or a three-year. Um, with a client. I definitely know people who have signed one-year contracts with a client, so that's normal, but really your contracts can vary in length and they can also vary in how many times that gets renewed.
Like some people have gotten contracts renewed for like five years. You know, they have a yearly contract or a six month contract, and that just keeps getting renewed or they end up in a situation where they have like a three month contract that just keeps getting renewed. And eventually the client's just like, Hey, maybe we should just sign a yearly contract.
This is going really well. And you're like, okay. So that was good. So the deal is that your contract links can vary, but does that mean that you're kind of holding onto your. Too long. I don't think it does. I think that really matters. That's kind of the cool thing about these contracts being able to renew because once your contract renews, you can kind of think about like, well, is this going well, am I happy working at this rate?
Is this, uh, helping me get a bunch of clips that are helping my portfolio? Do I like this type of work with this type of client? Is it a consistent type thing? Is it easy for me to do. Um, or is it not so complicated that like, I want to tear my hair out kind of deal. So I think for me that natural point in the, in the contract where you need to renew it, or you need to talk about it, it's kind of this culmination of like, do you want to keep working with them?
Are you happy with the rate? Do you feel like you should raise your rate? Do you feel like you should talk about. Them, um, talk with them about getting a rate raise. It's kind of this really nice point of review. And for me, I think this is why I haven't really considered this question. Like, this is why I think, um, this is something that it hasn't really popped up for me is cause I'm, I'm always kind of considering that.
And I think that that's part of just being a question or like if you guys have ever read Gretchen Rubin's book about. You know, uh, I forget what it's called, but it's basically like there's four personalities or like four different types of people. Right. There's obligers, questioners, rebels. And then, um, the other one that I now blanked on.
Oh my gosh. Hey Beata. Welcome. Um, anyways, if you read Gretchen Rubin's book, uh, oh, it's the four tendencies. It's the four tendencies. That's what it's called. And it's, um, obligers, questioners, rebels. And, um, and then I think there's like combo ones, like obliger rebels or whatever. So anyways, being a question or I think it's just kind of natural to ask these questions of like, is this working for me in this moment?
Do I like this client? Do I like this work? How's all this stuff. So I think that's should be something to think about is like every time your contract renews, whether it's like a trial or it's like a year, uh, think about that. Like, is this client, um, working for me? Is it going in the direction that my business is going?
Do I feel happy at this rate? Do I feel like, um, this is a good place for my business to be. Um, so I think that those types of questions really help you kind of solidify. Whether or not, you know, the freelance writing client is still right for you. And I think that's really the question, right? I get asked like how long is too long, right.
To hold onto your freelance writing clients. But the deal is that it's not really too long. It's like, are they still a fit? And sometimes clients can really be. You know, five years down the road, they could be, you could talk about rate raises. They could be doing more complex projects. Um, sometimes you start off with a client where you're just kind of doing some blog posts and then it morphs into them doing a ton of webinars or needing video scripts or doing more complicated case studies and white papers or needing content strategy or marketing consultation.
So it can really kind of evolve with your business. And I think that is more important than like a specific length of time. Where you're like, I got to let this client go. And we talk about this all the time. Like I talked to my friends and I talk at a bunch of writers. Like I had, you know, we have all these different groups.
Like we have slack groups, we have text groups, we have, um, WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups and community groups and all this stuff. Um, and I think this is a constant thing where it's you just kind of think, well, you know, is this working for me? Is this still a thing I grumpy beep. All right. So the next part I want to talk about I, if you guys ever hear any noises or grumbling, I know Brianna, I haven't, um, you haven't said hi before, so if you're new here, if you hear any noises, it's most likely Charlotte and she's over here, grumbling for tree dos.
And now that I said that she's probably gonna make more noise, but we're going to keep moving on. So the second thing that we want to talk about, oh my goodness. You're sassy. It's cause I've said treaties, isn't it. All right. Let's do a quick update. All right, Charlotte, if you go back to your holiday, I'll give you a treat out.
Oh, we almost dropped all the treatise. All right. Can you go back to your rabbit hole? Good job. All right. Very good boy. There you are already in your habit hole. Otherwise. Good job. He got very good. I've had good girl. Good job guys. You're doing great today. You guys look great. Hey, you're actually balanced today.
We can actually see that bow isn't blown out and Charlotte. You can kind of see your face. Hey Gadi. Welcome in Getty. I did get your email. I did get your email Getty and I will be responding to it. It's just, I've had a crazy week and everybody, you know, raise your hand. If you have a deadline today, I have a deadline.
Um, so yeah, if I get it, I definitely will respond to your email. I totally got it. I will be, um, I will be responding to it, uh, Murray. I know sometimes when I say that if people have their pets on here and I say the T R a T O people freak out, Hey, Annie, welcome. And we're glad you're here. If you feel like, um, this has been helpful, or this is a topic you like, give it a thumbs up.
If you feel like you want to learn more about building a high-earning freelance writing business. It is very squish. That tie blanket was given to me by my best friend's mom. So she made that for me, it's in Virginia tech colors, but unfortunately for me, my dog loved that, that maroon and orange blanket.
So I hardly ever get to use it because they just love how plush it is. So my best friend's mom made it. And I, you know, the dogs are just like, that's mine now. Um, yeah. Deadline. Yeah. Marie's got a deadline. Yeah. Deadlines, man. Sometimes they get ya. All right.
2) How to Know When You’ve Been Working for a Freelance Client Too Long
Let's talk about number two here. So how do we kind of know when we've been with a client for too long?
Hi, Carol. Welcome in Carol. I haven't seen you in awhile. I hope you're doing well. Um, so how do you know when you've been with a client for too long? So there's a couple of different things that I always kind of look at. And number one is like, how is this relationship? That's always. Are we getting along well?
Is this an easy flowing, uh, work relationship where we have a nice feedback loop? It's really easy to submit work. It's really easy to do. It's just this nice, um, symbiotic kind of thing. So the first thing is always like, how is this relationship? And is this relationship something that I want to keep building?
Or is this relationship something where I'm kind of like, Ooh, this isn't going well, I got to get out. So for me, that's the first thing, the first thing in our second part year, and number two is you have to know how that relationship is going. And this is something that I find with a lot of freelancers.
And I think that's why. Excuse me, how long is too long question is they're not paying attention to how the relationship is going. And they're more paying attention to like the desperation of like, I have to keep this going because this is money coming in. Like rather than, you know, kind of paying attention to the money coming in and paying attention to marketing, to get better clients.
They're just like hustling so much on this one client or two. Um, and then that kind of like, right, it's always kind of like too many eggs or like there's only two eggs in the basket and if you lose one, you know, you're in trouble. And I did this too. This is one of the reasons I burned out in 2018 is like, you hustle all the time for this client, but you're not paying attention to.
How's the relationship going, is this growing in the right direction? Um, am I, you know, the second part of that is like, how is the pay going? Right? So if your relationship is going really well, and you're like, cool, this is very flowy. I it's really easy for me to get the work done. I'm really happy with how this is going.
I'm really happy with, um, how we speak to each other, how we do edits the content that they're public. The second part of that is like, how is the pay? Am I happy getting this right? Or do I feel like at this point I've done enough work or I have more experience that I need to get paid more for this work.
So when you're looking at all these things, it can be too long. If you start feeling bitter about pay, this is something that I think. That I it's happened to me. It's happened to almost every freelancer I've ever met. Um, but yeah, if you start feeling bitter about pay and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing all this stuff for X amount of dollars.
That might be that the, you know, your indicator that you held on to the client for too long, that means that you should have either asked for a rate raise or either left the client and been like, Hey, my new rates are this, I'm sorry, this doesn't work for me anymore. Or you realized which we all do with a gig sometimes.
That the gig ends up being a lot more complicated than you thought. So you originally were doing a proposal and you thought, okay, cool. It's going to be this right. It's just going to be this, you know, it's not going to be that hard. And then when you start doing it, you're like, oh crap, this is way too much.
Um, and then you realize that you need to be paid, you know, a different rate for that. Usually. But then you don't ask for it. You just keep chugging along at this rate where you're kind of like, okay, I guess I'll just do it. And then eventually two months down the road or three months or six months or worst case would be a year you're like really bitter about doing this work at a rate that you're not happy with.
That's something, I think that really, it kind of creeps in. So if you start feeling bitter about the pay or bitter about the relationship, or you just start getting really frustrated and every time that person ends up in your inbox, or every time you get a new assignment, you're like upset. That's a problem that might mean that you've held on to them for too long.
So maybe I have been guilty of that. Maybe I have been holding onto some client, uh, like back in the day, clients too long, but pay attention to that, pay attention to the relationship, pay attention to the pay. And then the next thing is, um, when you're kind of looking at your business, this is something that I do, um, every single year.
And I guess I evaluate too throughout the year, but, um, As I kind of go along, it's like, is this kind of the direction I want my business to go in? So what that means is I'm evaluating, like who's my lowest payer, who is my most nonresponsive client, who is not a great relationship. Who is someone that, um, is kind of dragging the bus along or who is someone that I could live without, or, um, is something that I don't want to continue doing.
And this constant evaluation, I think, prevents you from working with a client to. Um, I think a lot of times I wiggle a lot of times people don't do these evaluations at all, or they wait too long to do them. So you kind of have to look at all these different pieces. You kind of have to see, like, how is this going?
Who's my lowest payer, or who's dragging the happiness bus down. Right. What's kind of the one there's usually one or two, like this is my experience. There's usually one or two. Um, and I've been kind of lucky recently where I've had a lot of like a big, long string of really wonderful clients. But you know, back in the day, back in the day I used to have, uh, there used to be one or two where I was like, they're the stragglers, you know, they're the one, they're the one limping along.
So you had to pay attention to that and you have to look at like, it's not just pay, but like, is. Hello, grumpy. I hear you. It's not just pay. It's like how they fall in the hierarchy. Right. And you have to do that evaluation. And I feel like when you look at the lowest point, Oftentimes that's something where you're just like, I know that their budget won't support a big increase.
Like let's say you started working with them. And by the time you realize like, oh shoot, I should be charging double for this. You know? Um, you start realizing that you talked to other freelancers and they're like, oh, you know, I charge, you know, double what you charge, right. By the time you get there, you know, their budget can't handle.
And you feel like man, like, this is just, I'm realizing that they're just not a fit, right? Like it's money or, you know, you're hello, we will. I hear you Googling. I hear you. um, you feel like it's just not a fit. So having like a chart or some kind of way, like I used and it shows me, so in dub Sato, I tag all of my.
I hear you. Woo. I hear you. You got to go back to your huddle hole though, and then I'll give you something. Okay. I guess you want to stretch them. So I have this in dub Sato, as all of my invoices are tagged by the client. So in dub Sato, I have, um, it says services, but I just name it as a client's name. So like in the invoice it says, check what this is.
Is it services or tax or there's like a little drop down menu. And I just name it as my clients. Like I just, can you. And then that way I can go into my chart of accounts in dub Sato and see like, all right, who's dragging the bus. Uh, what's kind of going on here. How much money have I gathered from this client per year?
And I kind of feel like, you know, I like to see at least like five to 10 K ish or more from one client per year. Right? So like, even if you had $500 a month from a client, that's six grand a year. So we're talking even less than 500 bucks a month from the. And I think that's kind of making your business more.
Oh, you're so close buddy. It's more sustainable. Um, this is oftentimes what ends up happening. And this has happened to me back in the day where you look at, like, it gets to be July or August and you're like, huh? Things. Aren't going, how I thought, am I really hanging onto these clients? And then you realize there's been one client where it's just been like 1200 bucks, you know?
And you're like, oh, you know, and they're kind of dragging the party down or anybody, can you catch us that ya. You go will. All right. Maria says I had a client, I asked for a raise and he said, I've been paying writers this amount for 13 years and I'm not changing. Yeah. See, that's a big problem. That's a client that you probably, you know, that's that's you gotta abort and get out of there because that's, you know, we as freelance writers and I think this is something I want to talk about in the next thing.
3) How to Know if a Freelance Client is Holding Your Business Back
So let me pop up my number three before I do that, because this helps me stay organized. Oops. Wrong one. So number three, we're going to talk about how to see if a client is holding your business back. And that's this, we as freelance writers often grow and change a lot in our business. We are oftentimes, and if we get stuck, you know, we need to work on it, but we are oftentimes growth minded, right?
We're growing a business. We are getting new clients, we're working on new rates, working on new projects. And what ends up happening is we end up with clients that are in a fixed mindset and right, this is like that. Um, the mindset book by Carol Dweck, Carol book Dweck talks about a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
So oftentimes when you get clients like this, where they're like, no, we just pay this rate forever. Like that's a problem. That's not a growth mindset. And that is basically the friction between the growth mindset of a freelance writer and the fixed mindset of a client. And that can be a really big issue.
So when you're kind of thinking about, I hear you woo your extra week. When you're thinking about a client, holding your business back, think about how they're looking at their own business, how they're looking at pay for you, how they're actually is best in the hair. Hey, Vesna. Um, uh, Carol says, oh, my word, Marie, does he pay his employees the same for 30 years?
Probably Carol, maybe not, but probably. Um, and Maria says she bailed on that client. So that's good. Yeah. So that would definitely be a friction point. That's a thing like is the client holding your business back? Yeah, a lot of times, if they have a fixed mindset and you have a growth mindset, what ends up happening is they're staying here and you're like doing this.
So as they stay here, you continue moving on and it becomes this big friction point when you're working together. And it's also this. Viewpoint on how content works. Like this is something that I think, um, for me, when I think about holding my business back is like, do we have the same kind of vibe and thoughts about content like content is ever evolving, right?
Like even in the 10 years that I've been writing content, like I remember. I remember when it was a big deal where people were like keyword stuff, everything, you know, and I remember going on a job interview and someone asking me about SEO, they were like, do you know anything about search engine optimization?
I was like, Nope. And that was when it was becoming a new thing. That was when it was first really kind of coming out. But now it's like, you know, everybody's talking about SEO, everybody's talking about all those things, but there's still people right. There's still people who want to keyword stuff or who want to use these old tactics and just continue doing it forever.
Or they're like, we should just start a blog and just do that forever without considering like, should we create pillar pages? Should we end up doing this other thing? Should we add a guide? Should we figure out how we want to structure this? All of these different things, um, that I think are really important to making better content.
Right? So your content could have started out as like keyword stuffing, and now it's very complex, right? Like we think about SEO is more than keywords, more than long tail keywords. Uh, it has a strategy there's um, you know, the flywheel bottle. Um, I always use the stuff wound at me. Oh, you okay? You haven't, uh, you have an issue.
All right, here you go. Um, I like the flywheel model by HubSpot. So you can always go look that up and that's like the pillar cluster model. Right. But that came from HubSpot doing a bunch of where'd you go? Oh, good girl. That came from HubSpot doing a bunch of, um, experience experiments on their site.
Right. So, um, when you're thinking about all this stuff, Hold on. I have to Murray says he only hires writers who are freelance. He does everything else himself. Well, that's the other problem that he doesn't. I mean, it's not that the problem is that the, he only hires freelance writers it's that he's trying to do everything himself and then cut costs by like, I'll just pay freelancers this rate forever.
And the, you know, they'll just accept it. That's so random. Yeah. When you're thinking about things that are holding your business back, like all of these things, right? Like that's why we follow places like Neil Patel or HubSpot or SEM rush, or we use tools like Uber suggest or phrase.io or clear scope or H refs, or like any of the other bajillions of tools, keywords, everywhere that you can use it's so that we can not hold our business back so that our content can grow and flourish and we can kind of keep up and, um, figure out the best way to.
Put all of this stuff together to help the audience and then help your client. And if your client's kind of digging their heels in and they're like, well, we've been doing this thing for 10 years or we've we think we should just do this right. Then it's kind of a problem where you have that friction point of like your idea of content growing and evolving is very different than someone who's just like, we're just going to do it this way forever.
So there's a lot of things that you can look at, right? There's a lot of things that you can look at when it comes to, um, holding your business back, right. It could be pay, it could be attitude, it could be growth mindset. It could just be that this client becomes a pain in the pain, in the butt. Um, it could be that you realize you've been kind of like tugging this client along because you like them, but it's not actually working.
Right? Like you like them as a person, but your working relationship is a problem. Like creating the content is a problem. Um, and. Putting out like your thoughts or your edits or changes. Like that's a problem. There's a lot of different points that pop up. And this happens to every writer. Like, I don't know, I maybe there's a few that haven't happened to, it happened to them, but for me, I definitely had clients where, um, hold on.
I definitely had clients where I had a really good relationship with them. Right. But then, um, What ended up happening was the content itself suffered like the content wasn't doing well, or the content didn't look good. Right? Like there's all these little things that happen. Like, I, it was really hard to let them go, even though they were holding my businesses.
Because I really liked them as a person. Like they were a really nice person and, and we have a hard time with that. We really like our clients. Like if you find a client who's a nice person, or who's really easy to work with, even if the content, you know, is, is having an issue, it's really hard for us to let go.
Cause we're like, man, but there's such a nice person or, um, man, this has been going so well, you know, but the, the whole point is that your business still has to grow and expand, right? The content needs to get better. Um, sometimes what ends up happening is those edits that client is giving you is like making your work worse.
This has happened, right? So the edits that you get from this client end up making. Like John, like junky or, um, like for me it always feels chunky. Like it's too chunky. Like it's too thick. It needs, you know, it needs to be cut down or they go in and they change up your sentences or do all these things that just make your work hard to read.
That's something where you're like, Ooh, this is not even just holding my business back. It's like holding my clips back. That's an important thing to think about. When you're looking at all this stuff, especially when it's stuff that holds your business back, it has to be all of your skills, right? Are they holding you back with your writing?
Are they holding you back with how you build relationships? Are they holding you back? Because you want to be friends with them or if you like them as a person, but the actual working stuff isn't working. Are they holding back your rates and your pay and your. Um, are they holding you back because it's like taking a toll on your mental health or you becoming bitter, right?
Is it something where you end up working with this client and you're like working for them all the time that you get no rest or their turnaround times are too quick. Um, and for me, I'm not quick, like that's something that I've talked about a bunch is like, I'm not fast. So when I ended up getting a few clients that were like, we need a 48 hour turnaround or a 72 hour turnaround, I was like, okay, I guess.
And then I realized very quickly that that did not work for me. So that kind of held my business back. Cause it was like, I'm going so quickly that it's hard for me to catch up. Therefore I'm not able to grow my business. I don't have very good perspective on it. So pay attention to those factors. Like there's a lot of things that we can look at that really can hold our business back.
And a lot of times it's our own mindset, but there are things that happen in your client. Relationships are happened in your content where you're like, oh no, I gotta get out of here. So she's snuggling out. We're going to let's do a quick update. Cause she looks a little sad in there. Okay. Let's do pup date before we moved to number four.
4) Pros and Cons of Long-Term Freelance Writing Clients
Okay. Barry, I liked your Turkey legs. Do you look like your Turkey is done? Very, you look like you're ready to be popped out of the oven. There you go, buddy. I don't know why it's like you guys just love to sit exactly where I can't put you on the thing. You go, buddy? All Charlotte, can you do a high-five good job.
Can you do the other one? Good job. Alright.
Very your Turkey legs. Your cell phone. I mean you ready? I had the job otherwise either way. Good job. Good job. All right. Let's move on to our. All right, hold on. There we are. All right. And if you guys have any questions, if you're watching this live, or if you have questions as you're watching the replay later, you can always feel free to drop them in the comments.
I'm always happy to answer questions. I feel like this topic can be a deep one. Um, this one is multifaceted, right? It's not just. It's not just your clients. It's not just your work. It's not just your pay. It's not just your mindset or whatever. It's a complicated issue. So if you feel like, you know, you have questions about this, always feel free to drop them in the chat or drop them in the comments below.
I always answer. And if you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you want to learn more about building a high-earning freelance writing business subscribe. Um, let's see, Marie says another client constantly sent me emails sometimes at five. Um, one of my phone number and always had Russ jobs.
I talked about it in our wealth lab, which is on where we have it on circle and got the support to leave. Yeah. This is another thing that is kind of the, um, holding your business back piece. Right? So it's kind of like, uh, well, it's not really holding your business. Well, I guess it is kind of, um, but it's kind of like boundaries.
Like you need to have boundaries with clients, but it's also. You know, you can be setting those boundaries and they could be not following them. And then what ends up happening is it is holding your business back because now you've had all of these boundaries, all of these issues, all of this stuff that ends up being a big pain in the butt or being something that they're not respecting.
Right. If they're not respecting your back. You should probably leave. Right. That means that they're not respecting a whole bunch of other things. So yeah, like there's times when people send you emails or want to send you texts or talk to you on the weekend or do things that kind of like violate your boundaries.
And that's something that can really take a toll over time. So let's talk about for, let's talk about our pros and cons, right? Let's talk about our pros and cons of our long-term. So our pros, right? Our pros of long-term clients is like that you end up getting a long-term relationship, right. Or you get paid for a long period of time or you have incoming work.
Right. So that doesn't necessarily mean it's too long. It just means you have something regular coming in. So that's always a pro it's a pro that you're building relationships that can lead to referrals that can lead to a lot of good things down the road. It's a pro that you're getting paid regularly.
Right. Um, it's a pro. Um, when you have a longterm client, you have, you know, a lot of people call them anchor clients, right? You have someone that you can kind of rely on for a regular amount of work. And then that gives you kind of the freedom to not worry so much about money. And then you could go off and do your marketing, grow your business and do other stuff, and then reevaluate later.
So there's a lot of positive stuff that comes from having clients for a long period of time. Right. I'm sure that's super simple. But the other positive is that when you have a really good relationship, right. That's really cool. Um, it's something that I feel like makes you excited to go to work. Like when I have clients that I really love working with, and I'm really excited to work with, um, That ends up being something that I really enjoy coming to work and really enjoy working on their stuff.
And that's a big positive that I think if you're in the mindset or in the thought process of like, this is too long to hold on to a client, sometimes you miss that, right. Sometimes you miss the relationship piece. Sometimes you miss, um, you know, some little things that kind of happen along the way. So the positive too, of having a client for longterm, right.
Having the client. Three months or six months or a year is that you actually learn more about processes and systems. So for me, the longer you have a client, the easier it is to do that work, right? You, you end up becoming, you have this like, format that you do their work in, or you have a process to get their work done quickly and efficiently, and then you can apply that process to other stuff.
Right. So if you learn how to do a reported article or a case study, or some something, or a video script, right. For. Uh, client, then you can apply all those processes to other clients and make that work go a lot quicker, or you already get experienced with that. Right? So let's say a client comes to you and, um, you start off doing one type of project and you, you know, you do report it articles and you create a process.
And then they're like, Hey, we really like. Would you like to do this other type of project? You're like, sure. Sounds great. Um, so then you start learning new types of projects. So there's a lot of processes and systems and bonuses to have in these long-term clients, because they learn to trust you and trust you with new projects.
So then you get new types of clips. You can offer those to new clients that all builds on itself. Um, and then you kind of learn how to work with clients. Like you learn how the process goes, how negotiations go, or contract renewals. Um, you learn. A lot about the editing process and that's all really good, positive stuff of having these long-term clients.
Um, the other thing is that when you have cons, right, the cons are like big things. Like it's holding your income back. It's being a frustrating bitter experience. Um, it's, uh, something where you don't have a good relationship with them anymore. It's frustrating to work with them. You're not happy with the.
Right. A lot of times we're writing and we have to have these clips to get, um, better clients to leverage, to get better clients, to leverage, to get better pay. And if you're starting to produce stuff that you're not happy with or things that they tinker with too much, uh, then that's a problem. That's a problem.
So there's a lot of times where if you're holding onto a client too long, it just becomes this kind of sliding slope. So what I think, um, would be. Something to think about is that as this thing kind of starts sliding start kind of paying attention to like, okay, this seems to be going downhill. Like a lot of times writers don't pay attention.
They're like, it's going to be fine. I can fix it. I can make it better. Like, something's wrong with me? Or they get into fear and scarcity and they're like, there's no other clients I have to make this work. But when ends up happening is like, it just really goes downhill. And then you're like, how did we get.
So as you see things kind of tinkering down, like, as you see, like, huh, they made some weird changes in my work or like that email was weird or I had a call with them that was weird. Or they're starting it later in, later on paying my invoices or I've noticed that there's a big gap in between the new work I'm getting and the work that I did for them in terms of quality in terms of pay in terms of scope, like all of that stuff kind of, you know, got to pay attention to it because I'm telling you, like, I've done this before.
You keep thinking like this is something that writers do is they reflect it back on themselves being like, no, there's something wrong with me. And sometimes the answer is like that client is just not the right fit for you anymore. That's a kind of a point you get to where you're like, oh, I have been holding on to this client for too long because they're just not a fit for me anymore.
I'm over here and they're over here, you know, we used to be at the same place and now we're in two different. So that's kind of a thing where you have to have this awareness about the slippery slope. You have to have awareness about like, what's kind of going on. And for me, sometimes it helps to just write things down.
Like, how are things going or how do I feel about this? Or, um, you know, keep a track record of something because a lot of times, if we just keep it in our head and we. Kind of let it float around. We just wake up and we're like, why am I so angry? Or why am I so frustrated? Or why am I so tired? Right. It's because you're letting all of these negative thoughts and all this difficult stuff float around in your head instead of writing it down and then noticing like over time, you're like, oh, we're on the slippery slope.
We got to get off of here. Start writing these things down and pay attention to them. Right. It's pretty easy to start seeing it when you have a list, right. If you're kind of just doing it day to day or month to month, and you're kind of just keeping, going with this stuff and you're riding the train and all that, sometimes it's really easy to kind of just like write it off.
But if you start writing it down, it's very easy to see like, oh, I get frustrated every time I get an email from. They have this complicated process. I don't understand. Um, they have multiple different time zones where it seems like they don't sync up very well. Like someone works in California, someone works in New York and someone works in Europe and now it's really hard to get everybody on the same page.
There's all these things where you can just write them down. Then you're like, oh, like we're not a fit anymore. Or this isn't working or this has been too long. I've done. You know, discombobulated system or discombobulated, um, paid, you know, like maybe their, their, um, uh, AP department, their accounts payable.
Isn't very good at paying on time. There's all these different things that pop up. So start writing those things down. And then the last thing we want to talk about, so this is the last thing we'll pop it up.
5) When to Analyze Your Freelance Clients So You Never Worry About Stunting Your Business Growth
Number five. So number five here. I hear you. Woo. I hear you. I hear you over there. Make a noise, be in a sad.
You know, show is over there, but look at those Turkey legs. Those are prime for Thanksgiving. This looks great. All right, you ready? Okay. You gotta have had first good job. Good job. All right, there we go. Maybe we can get you guys both on camera someday. Sometimes we do. And sometimes we don't and sometimes we get half your face and sometimes we don't.
We all try, I guess it's Friday, you know, we're doing. I mean you right. I've had good job, Clint job, but good job. Alright. You really slimed me there. Many. You really got me. Good. Oh, now you're leaving now. You're going somewhere else. Goodbye.
I will. I'll be. So last thing we're going to talk about here. The last thing is, um, analyzing our clients, right? So that we don't have to worry about stunted growth so that we don't have to worry about, um, any types of things that pop up where we're like, oh crap, I've held onto this client too long. So this is when I like to make a spreadsheet or when I like to have something, like I said, like where all of my client's invoices are tagged.
So I can go to one. And I can see all of the clients I'm working for at one time, not only the money, but I'm like, oh yeah, I totally forgot that. From January through March, I was working with this client and it turns out I forgot to follow up with them and I really loved working with them. So maybe I can, you know, work with them.
Having this kind of way to analyze your clients across the board, I think is really helpful. And sometimes the spreadsheet helps. Like if you did a Google sheet, you can put notes of like, this is why I like them. This is why I didn't. And then you can scan through things. And I think you should do this regularly.
Like, um, when you have a bunch of clients and you could have like, it depends on how you run your business so you can. Three to five clients, or you could have like 20 clients depending on magazines. Right? So for me, a lot of times it's like I had these revolving relationships with magazines. So it's like I have those clients, but I don't work with them all the time, but those are still relationships.
Then I need to evaluate, those are still types of work. Do I go on to keep doing this type of work? Uh, am I happy with the pay? Am I happy with how the work is done? Am I happy with how it's. So if you can create a spreadsheet or, um, some kind of way to look at all that stuff at once, I think that kind of helps.
And then you want to do this regularly, like do it at least every quarter, especially when you're kind of cycling through clients a bunch, like, let's say you have three to five clients, but every three to six months, it kind of like changes up to new clients. I think it's really helpful to do this every quarter, at least every six months.
And kind of look at it, like, look at the scope of what's happened, right? Because one of the things that's really important is to catch those things early, the catching it early helps you avoid working for a client way past when you should have let them go, or when you should have been like, Ugh, this just isn't working for both of us.
You know? So I think for me, we want to catch it early. So we want to make sure that we're looking at all. Factors regularly. And like I said, once you kind of start taking those notes of the slippery slope and you're like, oh, you know, this is kind of like how this is going. I think that kind of helps you evaluate quicker and easier.
Um, the other thing that you should do, good girl, you're doing great. You're doing great. Um, the other thing that you should do so that you're doing analysis. Maria says, hold on. I want to say I score my clients on a monthly basis. How do you do that? What do you mean? You score them like out of a hundred or like you go in like a, B plus, like, how do you do that?
I don't score them. I guess I just analyze my notes and I analyze like how the relationship is going, the money, um, the work itself, the edits, the whole process a to Z. Um, she says, why are they good? And what's not working. Those are the two questions I asked. Okay. Um, the other thing to analyze when you're kind of looking at all this stuff is like, where do you kind of project your business to be by the end of the year?
And you can start this at the very first quarter of the year. So if you're at Q1 in the beginning of the year, you're like, if I keep doing what I'm doing, if I keep working with clients in this range or at this level, or doing this type of work, what will the end of my year be? I think doing these forward projections really kind of help you see like, oh crap, I don't want to do a whole year of blog posts, or I don't want to do a whole year of working in FinTech.
I really want to work on more SAS products, or I really want to work on hospitality tech or whatever. Um, I think looking at that stuff regularly, again, it prevents a lot of these issues. So if you can kind of project where you'll be like, Every quarter was the same as your first quarter, right? It was the same amount of money.
Well, you can project that by the end of the year and be like, oh no, that's only, you know, $20,000, but that's only $50,000. Like we got to figure this out. So I think that analysis, you know, looking at the projection of how your year would go and how your year would be by the end of the year, or even let's say you're in mid year, like the next following 12 months, if you keep doing what you do.
That kind of helps you see where the holes are, where the gaps are and where the things are that you would, um, Jaime that you would like to change. And I think for me, a lot of times the per the types of clients that you really, um, should not continue work with, working with kind of like make themselves obvious and available, like, like as you kind of go along and do these analyses and as you kind of project your future and see how the.
It starts becoming obvious where there are gaps in clients like you end up having, um, like for example, here's a good example. I've had clients that have paid me very, very well, and it was like the easiest work I've ever done. It was so fun. I loved it. I had a great time working with them. That was, they paid me a rate that I was super happy.
Um, and it was really easy. And then I've had clients who pay me a really low rate. And it, the process is really, really difficult when you air at these two ends of the spectrum, it can becomes really easy to figure out that like, oh, I want more experiences like this. I want more experiences where the relationship is great.
The working, you know, doing the work is really easy for me. Um, or it's really fun for me, or it's really exciting for me or interesting. And they pay me well and we have this great. You know, comradery type thing, great teamwork. And then on the other end, you're like, why are you so nitpicky about these weird things that don't matter?
Right. I think those things kind of sussed themselves out, but the way to do that is you have to keep looking at it because what ends up happening is it all gets lost in a bushel. You have like a bushel of clients and if you don't analyze it and look at it, they're all just kind of in a bushel and you kind of like lose track.
I I've done this before. You kind of like lose track of like, wait, which one was the one who was bugging me. Right. Um, and you're kind of just like, I have deadlines of work to do, right. I wou I know you're having a Wu day and it's raining and you're stuck inside and I know it's been a tough day. Good girl.
So you have to do these analysis analyses analysis. So make sure that you're looking at that every three months, six months and projecting forward, making sure that you have some kind of spreadsheet or something like dub Sato, where you can look at all of your clients and your notes and your invoices in one.
And you can kind of have this, um, evaluation process, this prevents a lot of stuff, right? It prevents a lot of things from holding onto your clients for too long. Right? So it's allowing you to kind of give yourself a vision of the future, right? And this is the last thing that I'm going to say on this topic.
So if you feel like this has been helpful, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you want to learn more about building a high-earning freelance writing business. So describe, so this is something I think is really helpful that a lot of freelance writers don't know. It's like, what will your life be like in five?
So, if you keep doing what you're doing, if you keep working with this same client, let's say this, these clients all sign agreements every year and you keep working with them. Is that the life that you want, like by the time you get to year five, is that the life you want? Is that what it should look like?
Okay. Well, if that's not what you want. What should it look like? Like, what do you want to be working on in five years? What do you want your rates to look like? What do you want your schedule to look like? What do you want to have in your bank of clips? What types of places do you wish you wrote for, right?
Like what are your dream clients? I think sometimes looking at that really helps you get away from this idea of worrying about working for clients too long, because you have this idea. You're like in five years, I want to do all these things well, in order to do those things, I have to start sloughing off stuff over time.
Right. Sloughing off stuff and adding better stuff and sloughing off stuff and adding better stuff. Right. There's like business exfoliation basically, but you have to have this idea. And I think for me, that's been a really powerful thing is like, I always have this vision. Like, I always have this idea of where I'm going.
Like, I know where I want to be. I know what it looks. Um, I know what projects I want to be working on. I know like that I want to work on X amount of projects per year, but I also want to do these things with my course and these things with my community. Um, and I want to do these things with downloadable products.
Like I have this very specific idea of where I would like to be in five years and then I can kind of build it back. And then every client I take on, or every time I do a client analysis, I'm like, is this building. Is this on track. And of course, there's always times where you're like, is this going to pay the bills right now?
Okay, let's do that. Sometimes that happens, right. Sometimes we have to do that, but if you have this kind of five-year vision, and even if you don't want to plan five years, just plan one year or two years in advance and just have an idea of where you're going. I think that's the most important part is like, where are you going?
Not where you're going to end up, but like, where are you? And how are you going to build that, that prevents you almost immediately from hanging on to clients? Because you're like, well, I remember my vision of, like, I know what it looks like two years from now. I know where I want to be or what I know that I want to get more case study clips.
I would know. I want to work on more videos. Um, I know I want to work on more content strategy projects is the work I'm taking on right now in alignment with. That kind of helps you avoid that, right? Because it becomes very obvious after three, six months, three to six months or a year that you're like, this doesn't align with my goals or it does.
So I think thinking about that kind of stuff and figuring out, like, where am I now? And where am I going? And are those, you know, Emma, is this where I am now kind of moving towards where I want to go. That really helps you avoid that. It gives you a clear. Idea of like the types of stuff that happened in that timeframe.
Like what is, like I said, what is your schedule look like? What projects are you working on? What types of clients do you have? How are your relationships? How much time do you spend working? Excuse me. Um, where do you see other parts of your. Where do you see your life and are all these things kind of aligning together?
Because I think the times when I speak to writers about this it's that they've lost that like future vision it's that they have fallen into the hamster wheel of content writing work, rather than thinking about, oh, did you get it where they want to go? Their vision is so short. They're like, oh, well, in six months I'd like to.
Rather than thinking about like, all right, let's just kind of imagine two years or five years from now, you've done all this stuff. Like, what do you want to be doing by then? Right. Like, let's say you've gotten more clips or more, whatever, where's your kind of more ideal circumstances. They've lost sight of that.
They're just kind of like hamster wheeling around and they're not paying attention to what they're working on. And then they're afraid about getting clients. Right. And I think having that idea of like remembering where you're going, I think really helps. Where are you going? Um, and it also helps with other things, right.
It helps with not being bitter about clients. And it helps with, um, realizing that you're running a business and not a friendship circle. Right. That was something that was hard for me. Like when I kind of started out, I was like, I want to be friends with all my clients. You know, I want everybody to be happy with me.
I want everybody to be so excited, but it's not that you don't like your clients all the time. It's just that sometimes they no longer aligned with that five-year or two year plan. They don't align with that anymore. Uh, business decision of where you want to go. Right? It's not like you're firing them sometimes because they're a pain.
Sometimes they aren't paid, but I think that's kind of an important thing. Okay. So Marie says, hold on, you guys are Googling me today. You guys are super drooly. Marie says, uh, scoring. I have five criteria and I score them one to 10 and add up the score. So one is a payment per okay. So a payment. Uh, deliverable like piece of content to his payment overall.
And then, so that must be average invoice kind of deal. Um, or like how much money they paid you. So far, three is personal engagement. Four is number of edits. Five is easy or hard to work with in bonuses, six overall relation. I think that's great. I think that's a great way. And if you guys want to take that from Marie and use that as part of your analysis system, I think that's really important.
Like learn how to view your clients, learn where you're going. Um, figure out where, where you are now and do your clients align with where you're going, right. Where you are now and wholly onto your clients too long, I think is something where you end up in this situation of forgetting why you got into freelancing or where you wanted to go or dream publications or dream clients who wanted to write for you're just like, you're just like, how do I, how do I get my next.
Um, and I think that shorter vision, right? And this is something that has to do with marketing and running your business and how you view your business and how you view the content you're creating and how you're helping people. Um, and then also like how much money you're making. All right, cool. Let's do one last pup date.
We'll do one last pup date and then we will hop off. I don't see any questions in there. Oh, you know what? Maybe I can do my thing. Hold on. Let's see if I can do my. Spin the wheel thing. Let's see if we can get it, spin the wheel. Cause if I do it on my computer, my computer has like a crazy meltdown over it.
So hold on and I'll hold it up while we do it. That's true. Maurice has numbers qualify things in a non-emotional way? Yeah, I think that's really a good way to look at it too. So let's see. Oh, here. All right. Let's put all these people in. Do, do, do copy. All right. So they always put random names in this little guy and this little app.
All right. Paste. All right. People it's all numbered. Okay. So here's the deal here is the wheel of names. I don't know if you can see it. There we go. There's the wheel of new. There's like lights on it, so it's not okay. Hold on. There we go. So there's the wheel of names and I have everybody in here who was going to win one-on-one coaching.
So I put all their names in there. So, um, this was from a long time ago where, um, people replied about, um, joining the course or not joining the course. And, uh, so now there we go. So now I'm going to spin the wheel and we'll see who wins. So everybody ready. We're going to see who wins and I'll put it up here.
All right.
Okay. It's Jennifer Harris and everybody see that Jennifer Harris has one. So Jennifer Harris, you one free coaching because you answered my email about why you didn't want to sign up for the course at the time, but you signed up anyway. So you have one free coaching. So I will put that in there. I will email Jennifer Harris about it and.
That's one of the things I do. So if you're ever looking to win a coaching call, I do that every once in a while. So one of the ways to do it is to join my email list. And the way to do that is go to Mandy ellis.com/pricing guide. You get my free pricing guide and I send weekly fun emails with tips and tricks, so free price guide.
And then when the course opens up, let's say you decide that it's not a fit for you or, uh, is not a fit for you right now. You can always reply to my email that says like, Hey, let me know what's going on. Um, and then you can win free coaching. Yeah, it is awesome. Um, and so I'll let Jennifer Harris know that she has one free coaching and, um, let's see.
I think that's kind of it. I think we're kind of done very, looks done. He looks like he's the turkeys popped out of the oven. Good job, buddy. I like your funny little legs and Minnie's over here. Mini's over here being in a soft ham. All right. So we're here every Friday at noon central time. Um, we do new topics every week.
If you ever have a question or a topic that you want me to cover or answer it in the live stream, always feel free to pop it in at Mandy ellis.com/question. Thanks so much for hanging out. If this was helpful, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you want to learn more about Billy a high-earning freelance writing business, or a fun freelance writing business, or a freelance writing business where you're not holding onto your clients too long.
Subscribe. And I will see you next Friday. I hope everybody has a wonderful first weekend of June. And, um, yeah, thanks so much for hanging out and I hope this was helpful. Bye.
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