Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

Just to get the accountability out of the way: I did not reattach my bathroom ceiling last weekend.

But I did make great headway with the Freelance Magic rebrand. I'm in the process of making a ton of new content (mostly for Instagram, so make sure you give me a follow there), but also for the podcast and blog.

I've got SO MUCH planned for the next few months, including relaunching The Promo Playbook, launching an upgraded, even better version of Workflow Wizard, and finishing my book for pro freelancers.

ALSO, there won't be a Friday Freelance Tips newsletter next week as I'll be horizontal on a sunlounger in Greece ☀️

P.S. This week on LinkedIn, I was asking the hard questions about AI. See it here.

Anyway, here's what I've been up to this week work-wise:

👉 I wrote 4 pieces for clients (including Experlogix, Klaviyo, and a WFM tool)

👉 I refreshed 2 pieces for Shopify

👉 I did an awesome Facebook ads training

👉 I ran a 1:1 Q&A session with a fellow freelancer

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~20

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

💰 Total revenue this week: £5,220

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

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

It feels harder than ever to get freelance clients, but even more than that, it feels harder to get long-term clients.

We freelancers know how important long-term clients are. Some people call them “anchor” clients, and some people call them retainer clients. Whatever label you give them, they’re the ones that give us safety and security (a.k.a. they give us paying work every month).

I’ve built my business on this “long-term client” model.

I’ve worked with most of my current clients for 6+ months (some for 1+ years and others for 3 years and more).

But if you’ve been exposed to any of the chatter on LinkedIn of late, you’d be forgiven for thinking that long-term clients are no more.

And yes, I’ve never known so much uncertainty:

• Companies are cutting budgets and flip-flopping on projects overnight
• Sure-thing contracts are getting paused at the last minute
• Clients “change direction” after one month of working together
• Content strategies are getting overhauls on a near-weekly basis
• Priorities are changing by the day
  ​

It’s wild, it really is.

But I don’t think it’s the end of long-term clients.

There are plenty of brands out there that are desperately seeking reliable freelancers to work with on an ongoing basis. The companies with crippling budget woes? They need freelancers to fill their full-time gaps after their entire content team just got let go.

The difference with these long-term clients today is our relationship with them.

We’re no longer “writers for hire” and instead form more of a partnership. I know that a lot of the clients who are bringing me on long-term have lost their content departments and are often really up against it with their to-do lists, so my role is to come in and make their lives easier.

I’ve spoken to a few of my clients about their freelance needs at the moment and there are plenty still looking to work with freelancers on a long-term basis. Like I said, many are facing budget cuts so are heavily relying on their freelance teams to help them deliver on strategy.

To give this newsletter some practical tips, I thought I’d share some of the things these long-term clients are specifically looking for (and yes, this is based on talking to content leads and my clients over the past few months).

Flexibility

I’ve found that a lot of clients recently don’t have set strategies. Some don’t even know what their plans are from one month to the next. This is obviously not great news for us freelancers but it’s the reality at the moment.

I know there’s a lot of advice out there to have set packages and charge a retainer for X number of hours each month, but sometimes you have to keep things flexible to move with the times.

At the moment, my clients are so grateful when I can be flexible. Sometimes they’ll have loads of pieces one month and only a couple (or none!) the next month. Sometimes they’ll need help with blog content one month and the next they’ll be focusing on case studies.

Being able to adapt to the market is a real skill for freelancers, but I know it’s also incredibly tiring trying to adapt and pivot all the damn time.

So, I think the answer here is to be flexible but within certain parameters.

For example, I’m happy to switch between blogs and case studies, but I’m not going to write social media copy. Or if a client hasn’t given me work for two months, I’m going to fill that gap with another client. **

Reliability

You’d be amazed at how many clients have literally bent over backwards to thank me for submitting work on time. The absolute bare minimum. It often makes me wonder what the hell other freelancers are doing out there if they can’t deliver work when they said they would.

In uncertain times like now, people want certainty. They don’t want to have to add chasing you to their long list of other to-dos.

But when we’re talking about reliability here, I don’t just mean “handing in work on time”. I also mean being reliable in the work you deliver. My clients know that they’ll need to run very few edits (if any) when I submit my pieces so they can take that off their plate. If I start handing in sub-par work or varying the quality, it’s going to mess up their schedules.

Proactiveness

This is the big one.

Clients are busy at the moment. I’ve never had to chase down briefs or check in as much as I’ve had to over the past couple of months. But being proactive pays off. And I don’t just mean asking for briefs for the month, I mean making suggestions on how they can improve the workflow, offering to take smaller tasks off their plate (like keyword research, for example), or suggesting other freelancers who might be a good fit if the workload is massive.

This turns you into more of a partner than a “writer for hire”, which in turn makes you less replaceable. And the big plus is you’ll forge deeper relationships with your clients so there’s a good chance they’ll keep coming back to you.

Long-term clients are by far the best type of client to have (obviously dependent on whether they treat you well, pay on time, and make life enjoyable for you!). In fact, one of the metrics I measure is how long I’ve worked with clients, not how many clients I’ve had.

If clients tend to work with you for an extended period of time, that’s a HUGE indicator that you’re doing something right.

So, to wrap this up, here are some ways you can lean into long-term client relationships:

• Ask your clients what works best for them. While I do have boundaries in place, I’m always very flexible with clients and try to create a contract that suits their specific needs. I’ll regularly check in and see how they’re enjoying our partnership and whether there’s anything else I could be doing for them.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Long-term clients are great, but they can quickly become a crutch. With so much turbulence in the industry right now, I’d really recommend not putting all your eggs in one (or two) baskets. Spread your workload across a few clients so your bottom line doesn’t take such a big hit if you lose one.
• Think about how you can make your client’s lives easier. Clients will be more likely to work with you long-term if you make their lives easier. Consider ways you can do this, whether it’s having an editor look over your work before you submit it or whether you upload content to the client’s site as well (these are just examples—your best bet is to ask your clients).

​

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this—are you struggling to land long-term clients at the moment?

We need more Freelance Money Diaries entries!

I'm in awe of how many people have been open enough to share their freelance finances with us, but to continue the series we need more submissions.

Just a reminder that you can do this anonymously if you prefer :)

I appreciate every single one of you and I want to continue my mission of financial transparency in the freelance world. Can you help?

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

Interested in sponsoring Friday Freelance Tips? Get your brand, product, or service in front of 5,500+ freelancers, entrepreneurs, and founders. See sponsorship options here.

Follow me on Instagram and on Linkedin, where you can see the behind-the-scenes of my business.