This time of year, I’m pretty prone to looking back and taking stock in what’s happened in my freelance writing business over the past twelve months. I try to identify some of the good, some of the bad, and start working on some ideas about how to improve business in the coming year. The process isn’t particularly formal, but it’s useful nevertheless.
Today, I made a mental list of my big clients. I’ve got about three clients that give me repeat business and that make up about 40 percent of my overall receipts. Those are my bread-and-butter clients, the ones that every freelance writing business has to have if it’s going to succeed in the long run.
I thought about how I landed those clients. Here’s a brief overview:
Client #1: Tiny Elance job from March that became a big ongoing project in September. Lesson: Kick major butt on the small gigs and they might turn into big gigs.
Client #2: Referral from a one-time small client from last year to his business school buddy led to ongoing work in June. Lesson: Word of mouth still works.
Client #3: Larger Elance job became a repeat job immediately once the client saw returns from my work. Lesson: If your writing makes money for your customer, they’ll come back for more.
So, what about you? Where do your big, long-term clients come from?
I work on staff at magazines, quit, and continue to write freelance for them.
Kidding aside that is how I got several of my bread and butter clients over the years. All of my best paying clientscurrently were through word of mouth. I’ve landed several ongoing gigs through job listings here. And in one case someone found me on a list of top 50 writers to hire.
Most of my top clients are former employers and former co-workers who have since moved on to different companies/publications. Being a reliable employee a few years ago pays off now, as these past colleagues are likely to think of me when they’re looking to hire someone they know will get the job done. It also pays to keep in touch, and fortunately, that’s pretty easy these days with e-mail and social networking sites (but don’t forget about the handwritten card every once in a while!).