Dealing with the “f” words: freelancer’s feast or famine

I’ll admit to having a love-hate relationship with freelancing.

I love the excitement and variety of it.
I hate the unpredictability of it.

Certainly, I do what I can to fill the proverbial pipeline, including developing long-term relationships with clients and colleagues.

And, I’ve learned to accept, no, embrace, the seasonal shifts of my business. For me that means I’m a bit slower in July and December (not all bad, lemme tell ya), and crazy-busy in January and September.

Like my freelance mentor (yes, I mentor others but like professional athletes who have coaches, I have one, too), I continually change the way I work my business.

I don’t let extreme times—feast or famine—stop me from spending time on growing and managing my freelance career. In fact, feast or famine is exactly why I became the diversified writer.

Here are my 7 tactics for dealing with FFF (freelancer’s feast or famine):

1. Form or join a Mastermind Group. Having a group of like-minded business owners or other freelancers can help unstick stuck thinking. It also keeps you accountable to making and executing goals.
2. Nurture relationships. Creating long-term, reliable income starts with developing and maintaining long-term, reliable clients and assignments. I have a core group of clients that I work with regularly. (Thank you, clients!) That said, I learned in the early 1990s never to put all my eggs in one basket when my one and only freelance client, a weekly publication, simply decided to fold. Leave yourself open to new work, collaboration and clients, but keep a few chosen clients really happy, too.
3. Diversify. Besides for the sure joy of it, one of the reasons I’m both a copywriter and feature writer is to diversify my income stream. Many of my feature stories have longer leads times than my copywriting assignments so I use them to “fill in” the famine times. Define what diversification means for you. It could mean teaching an online class, venturing into agency overflow work, or writing for custom publications.
4. Devote time to business development and marketing. Every. Single. Week. Block out two hours on your calendar one day a week to make calls, follow up, build your web site, send direct mail, whatever.
5. Pull a Dave Ramsey. Stuff your bank account with 3-6 months of expenses so you don’t panic during the dry spells. Clearer heads prevail when not panicked about finances.
6. Accept the reality of it. We’re in a service business. Supply and demand rules. And sometimes the economy and seasonal shifts just mean more or less business through no fault of your own. Use your downtime wisely. Manage your uptime productively.
7. Think in “threes.” Try this simple idea from Kelly James-Enger of Dollars and Deadlines for managing cash flow. I’ve been doing it informally for years but Kelly’s clear explanation has put it top of mind for me again.

By JanO on 3/10/11, In freelance business, the writing life, Tags business, copywriter, copywriting, dave ramsey, feast or famine, feature stories, feature writer, freelance career, freelancer, freelancing, income stream, kelly james-enger, mastermind, mastermind group, the diversified writer