Great insight! Do you have an ideal number of clients you aim for? I feel like whenever I’m diversified enough that I’m not constantly stressed about losing a client, I wind up fried from overcommitting, communicating with so many people, etc.
Good question! I think it depends on the workload of each client. It can take time to adjust to adding a new one to the mix, to feel out how it'll be balancing everyone's needs. These last couple of years, I've had between 5 and 7 clients annually. This is not counting the occasional one-off assignments I might do here and there for sporadic clients.
Here's another way of approaching it: Set a cap for how much of your income can come from one specific client. For example, you might aim to keep each client on your roster below 35% of your total income.
If a particular client starts creeping up to that cap, it might be time to review things and put more effort into finding another client to add to the mix. Once you land a new client, you can figure out the right workload mix between all of your clients. It can be tricky trying to balance it all.
Anytime I've allowed a client to make up 50% or more of my yearly income, it didn't work out for me in the end. So I've learned to be very mindful of this.
Great insight! Do you have an ideal number of clients you aim for? I feel like whenever I’m diversified enough that I’m not constantly stressed about losing a client, I wind up fried from overcommitting, communicating with so many people, etc.
Good question! I think it depends on the workload of each client. It can take time to adjust to adding a new one to the mix, to feel out how it'll be balancing everyone's needs. These last couple of years, I've had between 5 and 7 clients annually. This is not counting the occasional one-off assignments I might do here and there for sporadic clients.
Here's another way of approaching it: Set a cap for how much of your income can come from one specific client. For example, you might aim to keep each client on your roster below 35% of your total income.
If a particular client starts creeping up to that cap, it might be time to review things and put more effort into finding another client to add to the mix. Once you land a new client, you can figure out the right workload mix between all of your clients. It can be tricky trying to balance it all.
Anytime I've allowed a client to make up 50% or more of my yearly income, it didn't work out for me in the end. So I've learned to be very mindful of this.