Are All Your Eggs In One Basket?

Diversification is one of the secrets of a successful freelance writing career. When you find someone who will offer you work, it can be tempting to milk that lead for all it’s worth and do as much writing as possible for one client. While that may help in the short term, it’s a dangerous long term strategy.

What Happens When A Client Leaves?

That’s because you never know when a particular client’s needs will change or when that client will run out of money. If you have put your eggs in one basket, that leaves you in a financial hole when that source of writing work dries up.

So what’s the answer? To spread it around. Even when you think you’ve got a good thing going with the writing clients you’ve got, be on the lookout for new opportunities. One of those might be lucrative, and you’ll be less vulnerable if a single client stops offering work.

My Writing Clients

I admit that it’s not always easy. When I started freelancing, I took whatever was offered and at one stage got most of my work from a single client. However, once I’d done that for a few months, I had more skills and more clips to show and was able to diversify. My client portfolio now looks like this:

• One major client who provides work for me and my team.

• Three clients who need regular weekly articles.

• A couple of clients whom I’ve worked for in the past, who provide large jobs two or three times a year.

Balancing The Books

I like this balance because it provides a steady income, but leaves room for me to take other jobs when they come up. I supplement the income from writing web content, ebooks and articles with income from blogging and ads on my various blogs. I also make sure to send out a few bids every week, and I keep my eyes peeled for clients who are likely to need recurring work.