A quick but important piece of advice, especially if you’re in the trenches of your first few years of freelancing. Raise your hand if you’ve ever lamented a lack of progress in your freelance business by saying something like, “The problem is that most clients won’t pay my rates,” or “The problem is that most clients don’t need someone who does my language/specialization,” or “The problem is that most clients want someone who can do large projects on short notice.” If you’re honest, you’ve probably said or thought those things at some time: I certainly did during my first few years in business.
But here’s the thing: to build a viable freelance business, you don’t need 100 clients. You need, I’m going to say, four to seven regular clients and then some occasional clients to fill in the gaps. When I looked over my accounting for 2014, I earned about 60% of my income from my top four clients. While you want to be careful about being too reliant on any one client, A-list clients are a good thing: they fill your inbox instead of the other way around; they know and trust you; they take less administrative time because you’ve worked together before.
So this is one situation where you want to think small, rather than thinking big and being needlessly discouraged. Think three clients; five clients; maybe 10. As an example, the American Bar Foundation reports that there are over 47,000 law firms in the US. If you do legal translation, even if 99% of those law firms don’t need your language pair, already have a translator they like, or don’t have any translation needs at all, that still leaves you with 470 clients. So in that case, let’s hope that at least 99.9% of them don’t need you, because then you’re only down to 47 clients which is still too many. That’s an extreme example, but you get the point: now go hunt down the small number of clients that you do actually need!
It’s also true within your existing client base, if you have one – the majority of your work is going to come from a minority of those clients too, and they’re the ones you REALLY need to work on satisfying. Not to say you should be flippant with your others, but that, like, 20% of clients should def. be on your “MUST KEEP HAPPY” list.
I could not agree more. 5-7 clients are enough: clients who do really want to work with you, of course pay your rates, and for whom you are not just another interchangeable person in the data base 😉
I totally agree.
I think there is one potential caveat if the A-list clients are agency clients – once the revenue of an agency reaches over USD 2 million/year (or maybe USD 3-4 million/year), they become a prime target for acquisition, and we all know how things are likely to pan out after acquisition, do we?
Thank you very much Corrine. you took pressure off me. Things just got clearer.
Reblogged this on Behind the Enemy Lines and commented:
Brilliant! Another thought: you can come across your perfect, generous client any moment. That is a huge plus of freelancing.
As a freelancer, I suggest you to choose your clients carefully. Maybe, most of the time they find you. It maybe a solution to start with small works, and pay in delivery. And, maybe half of the payment at the begining for bigger jobs. Every freelancer in the world suffers from this unprofessionalism.
Umm, 0.1% of 470 is actually 0.47 clients. Always check the math! How many times have I bid too low on a job because mental math…
Thanks Eric! I was actually talking about 99.9% of 47,000 (the total law firms), but I agree that it’s important to check the math!
Thank you! I really need to “hear” that. I am new in the business (change of carreer) and things aren’t easy at all. I have sent dozens of CVs and only had a few actually replying. Many more dozens will have to be sent and then, if I get 5 to 7 interested in working with me, I can celebrate!
Hello Maria Teresa: Maybe the following advice from a dinosaur like me could help you. Try to change your view of things and the language you use (nothing is innocent)! I would not speak about “sending CVs” but about offering my services (you are not begging for a job as employee in a company but, as a professional, offering your services to potential clients who are looking for a solution to their needs). If you are talking about agencies (those you find on portals), of course you will have to send 100 mails to get one or two replies perhaps (and the reply will be “You are now in our database”, and then, you will hear nothing again). But our business is much more than just agencies and portals: you do not have to fish along the coast where many others are fishing (or trying to) already.Your potential clients can be everywhere in the world: try to get in touch with people (small businesses for ex.) who really could need your services concretely. Do not send them a “CV”, but tell them why you think you could help them and how.
If I did succeed in this, I am sure you will too! It takes time of course, but it is possible. Good luck and kind regards!
Thank you for this inspirational post! As a new freelance translator / science writer I often feel overwhelmed by new and difficult clients. I work relatively quickly but have often found that many new clients have unreasonable expectations with regards to turn-around times. In order to not turn down work I often accept these conditions and then end up regretting it or truly not having enough time to complete the work to my 100% satisfaction. I came to the realization that quality clients are better than having a high quantity of clients with unreasonable expectations – it can also be a good thing to set the terms of your work and turn some clients down!
Thanks for a great reminder Corinne! 10 AAA class clients should be more than enough!
Pareto principle (80-20) indeed works pretty well – I have done the math on my yearly income, and last year 20% of my clients provided over 70% of my income. Keep those A list clients happy. But I occasionally take new clients if they pay enough and if they have big enough projects to make it worth my time. That allows me to occasionally drop difficult clients off my client database.