Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

I used to spend aaaaages putting together a branded proposal for new enquiries. It would honestly take me a good few hours for something that wasn't a dead cert. And you know what? I'm happy to put in some effort if it pays off, but a lot of the time, the budget didn't match or I never heard back from the client.

Now, before I send a full proposal, I bullet out the must-knows for new enquiries including starting price point, clarification of the project, and expected timelines. Only once I've had a reply on those (and they all match up with my expectations!) will I work on a full proposal.

While you mull that over, check out the episode of the It's Fine, I'm a Freelancer podcast that takes you behind the scenes of my six figure freelance writing business.

I cover everything from what my client roster looks like and how I keep clients coming back month after month, to how I find work (spoiler: it's changed dramatically over 13 years), and the one thing I wish I'd done differently from the very beginning. You can listen to it here (or wherever you consume your podcasts!).

P.S. In my latest Instagram post, I shared a few reasons I've turned down freelance work. Check it out here. And don't forget to give me a follow for regular tips and tricks!

Here's what I've been up to this week work-wise:

👉 I refreshed 2 pieces for Shopify

👉 I wrote an ebook for Klaviyo

👉 I wrote 2 blog posts (for Salsify and a printing company)

👉 I drafted some LinkedIn posts for a client

👉 I sent 2 new proposals to potential clients

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~22

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~2

💰 Total revenue this week: £4,575

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Check out my three practical courses that have helped 500+ people get more clients, earn more money, and create better content.

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

One of the things I touched on in my latest episode of the podcast is what my client roster looks like on a month-to-month basis.

Early in my freelance career, I had a lot of clients. It felt like a real, proper goal to have a full pipeline, lots of variety, and never putting all my eggs in one basket. And for a while, it worked, in the sense that I was earning money and staying busy... very busy.

But busy isn't the same as good. The problem I kept running into was the cognitive cost of switching between clients all day. I'd finish a brief for one company in the morning and then have to show up for a completely different brand, voice, and editorial brief in the afternoon. My brain wasn't keeping up. The work was fine, but it wasn't my best, and I knew it.

So over time, I started doing something that felt counterintuitive... taking on fewer clients, on purpose.

Now, I work with somewhere between three and eight clients a month. The majority are long-term - I'm talking relationships I've built over years, some getting close to a decade. We have a steady cadence: they know roughly how many pieces they're getting from me each month, I know what to expect in my calendar and my bank account. Win-win.

Then there are one or two clients who are more ad hoc.

That might be a white paper every quarter, or a content strategy refresh once a year. I count them as active clients even if the work isn't monthly, because the relationship is ongoing and the work is likely to come back around.

My top 3 clients make up around 70–80% of my revenue in any given month. If you've read anything about freelance finance, you'll know the conventional advice is never let one client take up more than 25% of your income.

And in theory, I agree with that advice. In practice, it's more complicated.

Those top clients aren't accounts I landed last month. They're relationships I've been in for years, with signed contracts, clear retainers, and a level of mutual trust that makes them feel pretty damn stable. One of them I've worked with for nearly six years, which doesn't have the same risk profile as a new client who might ghost after two invoices.

That said, things do change. The stability I feel is good, but it's not unconditional, which is why I keep nurturing new relationships even when I don't need the work (something I bang on about A LOT).

Here are 3 rules I try to stick to:

• Never let one client dominate. Try to keep any single client under 25% of your monthly revenue. It'll fluctuate, that's fine. Just keep an eye on it.
• Prioritise depth over breadth. A smaller number of well-matched, ongoing clients beats a large number of one-off projects every time.
• Keep one or two ad hoc slots open. Quarterly or project-based clients fill revenue gaps and keep you from turning down good work when your core roster is full.

My goal is always to have a handful of long-term clients

The longer you work with someone, the less work the relationship takes. In the early months with a new client, you're learning their voice, their preferences, their editorial quirks. You're over-communicating to build trust. You're probably doing more revisions than you'll eventually need to.

A client I've worked with for three years will send me a brief, I'll send back a draft, and they'll usually publish it with minimal changes. I'm doing better work for them because I actually understand their business, and they're getting more value from me than they would from someone new who'd have to start from scratch.

That efficiency compounds. It's one of the big boy advantages of building a roster this way: the longer you stay, the more valuable you become, and the more sustainable the whole thing feels.

If you're new to freelancing, don't panic. Some of this might feel out of reach, and that's fair. When you're starting out, you take what you can get, and building a roster of long-term clients takes time. But it's worth thinking about even now: which of your current clients could become long-term? What would it take to make that happen?

This week, we have a B2B writer from New York.

Where are you based? New York.

How long have you been freelancing? 7 years.

What do you do? B2B writer for SaaS and tech brands.

What's your revenue? $425,000.

This freelancer freelances full time and this was their highest earning year.

How much did you take as a salary?

It comes to about $250k USD after expenses.

How much did you pay in taxes?

I just changed over to an S corp so it will be much less but about 30-50k. My husband has a w2 job and we have some other stuff so that all helps.

What are your business expenses?

$2-5k. I bought a few big-ticket purchases, including a standing desk, new Macbook, and new printer.
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Do you contribute to a pension or invest?

I contribute about $10k/month to retirement.

I also invest money into savings for goals like a summer home, college fund for my daughter, things like that.

Do you have any hot money-management tips?

Start saving even when you're not making a ton. The longer you save, the more amazing your future projections will be. And if you haven't started, then start, today.

We need more Freelance Money Diaries entries! I'm forever grateful to anyone who shares their finances with us (you can do it totally anonymously!).

Click the button below to do yours!

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

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