Welcome to 15 Minute Freelancer, your snack-sized guide to being your own boss and building a business and life you love. I'm your host, Louise Shanahan. My LinkedIn bio says I'm a freelance health copywriter. But for the next 15 minutes, I'll be tickling your ears with practical strategies, behind the scenes stories, and nuggets o' wisdom so you can create a freelance business that works for you. Whether you're just starting out or you've been self-employed for a while, I'll be right here with you to help me navigate the ups and downs of freelancing life. So, grab a coffee relax and join me for 15 minutes of freelancing fun. Don't forget to hit subscribe!
Hello, and welcome to another episode of 15 Minute Freelancer. On last week's episode, I talked about raising your rates as a freelancer. And it kind of got me thinking about one of the big challenges facing many freelancers, whether you're a newbie, or you've been freelancing for years, and that is the feast or famine cycle. Your workloads can be really busy one minute, you've got deadlines upon deadlines, and your inbox is bursting at the seams with new clients wanting to squeeze into any remaining crack of light in your calendar. And then all of a sudden, it's silence. And it always seems to be the time when you're most busy that more leads come in. And then as soon as you have some space in your day, it's like someone cancelled your email account without telling you. You either have way too much to do. Or you're twiddling your thumbs wondering if you should jack it all in and find a “regular job.” No, don't do it! I mean, do it if you want to. But not because of the feast or famine cycle. There is a way to break free. And that's what we're talking about today.
I don't know if I like the phrase feast or famine. It's a bit extreme for what we're talking about here, which is really the natural ebbs and flows of our workload. Sometimes you're busy, sometimes you're not. So how do you manage that both in practical terms, and in terms of how you think about it? Because I think there are two sides to it. There's the financial impact of going from being extremely busy to having less work, and therefore less money coming in. And there’s the psychological impact of what you might make that mean for you and your business.
Let's start with a mindset part first. And then I've got a few suggestions for how to smooth things out financially. And in terms of planning your workload.
So on mindset, I think it can be hard to remain emotionally neutral when it comes to your business. If things are really busy, and your bank balance is paying away happily, you feel really good, don't you? You feel successful and in demand, and you get that little dopamine hit every time a new client signs on or another invoice is paid. But then the flip side of that is that if you have a month where things are a bit quiet, you're not getting new inquiries, or your profit column is a bit on the lower side, you might feel a bit anxious and down on yourself. The financial ups and downs might be particularly challenging if you've come from having a monthly salary, and you're used to having the same amount come in each month. So now as a freelancer, when you go over your average one month, you'll feel that you're smashing it, and then if it drops back down, you might feel kind of shitty about it.
I've definitely fallen into the trap of having a really busy month, which then correspond with my best ever month financially, which obviously we all get really excited about. And then feeling like that was the new baseline and I should be aiming for that every month. But that's a ridiculous amount of pressure to put on yourself. And while of course it's possible, it isn't always realistic. I don't know that I want to work that hard all the time to be honest. And as a freelancer, monthly income is kind of irrelevant. It might make more sense to look at your income by quarter, so the ups and downs are evened out a bit.
We can attach a story about our personal worth as an individual or as a service provider to these ebbs and flows. When it's busy and you're in demand, that's a real confidence boost, isn't it. But when things go quiet, and it seems like no one's interested in you, that's when the old imposter syndrome can creep in. It can be pretty emotionally exhausting to be going from worrying that you have too much work to deliver and burning out to worrying that “Oh shit, I've got no work booked in and I'll never get a client again!” And that uncertainty about where the next project is coming from is one of the things that I think puts a lot of people off freelancing. Now maybe you don't mind the uncertainty. I don't mind it at all, actually. I like having a varied workload and going all in during busy times, then having easier periods now and then when I can take stock and do other things. For me, that's kind of the biggest benefit of freelancing compared to having a regular job. Others might prefer to plan things out and have a more consistent schedule each week. To me, this is part of being your own boss. It might not always feel like it, but it's in your control. You've got clients before and you'll get them again, and that's what I like about it. The flexibility goes both ways. And you get to choose how you feel about those busier or quieter times.
Now obviously, I'm speaking in fairly general terms here. There are of course factors outside your control. If there's a sudden shift that affects the entire industry that you work with, for example, that's obviously going to take a bit more of a rethink. The pandemic being the obvious one. But I think there are two choices for overcoming the feast or famine cycle: you can either make peace with it and embrace it and go along for the ride, or do something to fix it. Probably a bit of both.
I have a few suggestions for smoothing out these bumps in the road. And maybe there are some here that you might want to try. So firstly, what can you do to smooth things out financially? A sudden dip in your income is probably the biggest worry, especially when you don't know how long it will go on for. You can get around that to some extent by putting money aside in your busier times, and then paying yourself a set salary each month so it might feel a little bit more like a regular job. And it doesn't matter if you're a sole trader, or you operate as a limited company, you can set up your accounts in a way to pay yourself the same amount each month, regardless of how much income you actually have coming in from your invoices. And that way, you know your monthly bills and day to day expenses will be paid. But you won't fall into the trap of living like a queen in your busy month and then having to eat beans on toast in the lean months.
As well as saving up a buffer asking for deposits is a good way to smooth out your cash flow, so you get paid before work begins. And then if a client has to postpone, you've still got something to tide you over. Building a solid financial foundation should be a priority so you can ride out these ups and downs. And I've done a few episodes on this kind of topic, so I'll definitely link to those in the show notes.
The next option would be to plan out your projects so you can spread them out and better manage your time. And that can help even at your workload and even at your income. This is one thing that I've really had to work hard at over the years. There's such a temptation when a client enquires about a project to say, “yes, I can do this next week, no worries!” But why not spread it out a bit? That might look like postponing the start date, or it could just be building in time when you give a delivery estimate. When you plan ahead, you can start to see where those gaps are. And that means you can start to make decisions about what you might need to do to fill them. You might even have a waitlist for clients that aren't in a rush, so that when you do have quite a month coming up, you can get in touch with them and book them and say, “Okay, now we're good to go.” Over time, you might find there's a pattern too, so certain times of year might be busier than others. And you can factor that in as well.
Another way to create more consistent income and workload is to think about the types of clients and services that you offer or you work with. You should never have all your eggs in one basket. If you rely on one client, you've basically got yourself a job there! If a majority of your income comes from one client, and they have to end the contract for whatever reason, you're screwed. One of my freelance copywriter mates, André Spiteri, always says you should never get more than 30% of your income from a single client, so you don't need to panic if one of them cancels. So it's worth thinking about how you can diversify your client base if you end up in that situation. You can also think about diversifying your services, encouraging retainers and even looking at passive income options to which can all help keep your income topped up or add more stable level.
One big tip I want to mention here is to fix the roof when the sun is shining. I know this is so difficult sometimes. But we do have to keep marketing ourselves and getting our names out there. Even when we're busy. Even when things are good. We have to keep the pipeline flowing. Talk about what you're working on. You know the saying, “the best time to find a job is when you already have a job?” It's the same for freelancing. The best time to network is when you have exciting projects to talk about. On the theme days episode, I talk about how I try to organise my time so I've always got at least a wee bit of protected time each week to do marketing. And if you really feel like you're too busy for this, you might want to consider outsourcing or delegating or subcontracting some of your work or even getting a VA to help if you're in a quiet spell.
This is the perfect time to ramp up your marketing efforts. You can go back to episode one for some suggestions on where to find clients. That might include pitching bigger projects and retainers, but don't discount the smaller projects that can fill in the gaps. These are ones where you can just reach out to your network and say “you know what, I've got a bit of space coming up in my diary next week. Does anyone need a [fill in the blank]?” I do this sometimes with my website review service, which is a very nice low-price option for clients who maybe want to test the waters but it's also really good for me if I've got some free time coming up. I can just point people to that and encourage them to book. Other things you might want to do are writing some blog posts or creating a new lead magnet to help attract some new faces into your circle. You might also want to get back in touch with previous clients when things get a bit quiet. As I say episode one has more suggestions for finding clients quickly if you're in a pinch. So do check that out.
Basically, we're talking about being proactive and keeping yourself busy. Never stop throwing your hat in the ring. There are always people on Twitter looking for help with stuff and it takes two seconds to reply or send a DM so keep networking, get your name out there, ask for referrals.
And even if you're not marketing, these quiet times are a really good opportunity to do some work on your business. So go through your system, set up templates, tick off some of these things that have been on your to do list for ages.
All that said, one thing we freelancers often struggle to do – and this is definitely the thing that I'm not good at – is booking proper time off. So if you find yourself in a quiet spell, why don't take advantage and race or take some time to disconnect, do something creative, whatever you want. When you have the financial buffer in place, you don't need to fear these quieter spells quite so much. So if they do occur, you can actually start to enjoy them. And to me, this is key. You can put plans in place to smooth out your workload so you don't really have that feast or famine cycle, or you can settle into the process. Maybe the secret to breaking free from feast or famine is simply to embrace it.
Ok, so to recap: have a buffer or savings and pay yourself the same amount each month as her deposits. Plan out your projects, so your workload and income are a wee bit more consistent. Try not to have all your eggs in one basket. Don't forget to keep marketing yourself and networking during the busy times. Make the most of the quiet spells to go all in on marketing and do some of the other business strategy stuff that always gets pushed down your to do list. And finally, if things are quiet, maybe it's the freelancer universe's way of telling you to take a break.
Ok, I hope that was helpful. If you have any questions or any suggestions for things you would like to hear on future episodes, or guests you'd like me to speak to please find me on the socials and let me know thanks for listening. Please subscribe and leave a review. See you next week.
You've been listening to 15 Minute Freelancer with me, Louise Shanahan, freelance health copywriter and content marketer at thecopyprescription.com. If you enjoyed this, please hit subscribe, leave a review or share it with a freelance friend. And if you've got a freelancing question you want answered on the podcast find me and say hi on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Thanks, and until next time, happy freelancing!