✦Business · 12 recordsFreelance client work

Freelancers fail on feast and famine, not on delivery. Delivery is urgent and business development never is, so they are separate projects here — and the second only survives at all because it has its own dated tasks and its own routine.

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Goal

A full pipeline and every invoice paid Month 4

No famine quarter. Delivery is the easy half.

Deliver the work Month 4

One project per live client, closed when the engagement ends.

  • List every live engagement and what it owesDo firstDay 3
  • Agree scope and payment terms in writing for eachDo firstWeek 2
  • Chase anything unpaid past its termsWeek 6

Keep the pipeline full Month 4

Never urgent, which is exactly why it has its own dates.

  • Write the list of people worth talking toDo firstDay 7
  • Contact five of themWeek 3
  • Ask two past clients for an introductionMonth 2

Routines

  • Two hours on finding workweekly
  • Send and chase invoicesweekly
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Feast and famine is a scheduling problem

Client work has deadlines and finding clients does not, so the second loses every week until there is suddenly no work at all.\n\nThat is why it is a separate project with its own dated tasks and its own weekly slot. The slot is the whole mechanism.

✦ Questions

Freelance client work, answered.

Because client work has deadlines and finding clients does not, so it loses every single week until there is suddenly no work at all. Giving it its own project and its own weekly routine is the only thing that reliably prevents the famine half of feast and famine.
One project per active client, closed when the engagement ends. The count of open projects is then a direct read on how loaded you are, which is the number you need when deciding whether to say yes to the next enquiry.
It is a weekly routine here rather than a task per invoice. Chasing is the admin that quietly does not happen when delivery is busy, and it is also the difference between being owed money and being paid.
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