How to Survive a Dry Spell Freelancer
If you don’t have as much freelancing work as you used to, it’s time to start pitching again.
The problem is that you can only send a certain number of presentations per day. The same goes for connecting to your network, checking freelance job boards, asking a former client if they need help (or does anyone know who might need help), etc. So what else do you do when you are in a freelance dry spell?
Update your branding, skills and tools
Plum Phillips of The Freelancer has some great offerings for freelancers who are temporarily out of work. If you don’t have many projects to complete, Phillips suggests updating your website, taking online courses to improve your skills, and rethinking your administration methods:
It’s easy to overlook the clerical aspects of freelancing, but adding a little attention to administrative rituals can increase your overall efficiency. What is your current system for tracking fields? How do you track business expenses? What is the problem with billing? There are many tools and apps out there that are designed to make things like this easier, but I love Trello for workflow and QuickBooks for staying on top of accounts.
Update your budget
It’s also a good idea to revisit your budget, especially if you’re not bringing in enough money to cover your day-to-day expenses. This, of course, does not mean reducing all “unnecessary” expenses – it is more like “take a look at what you earn and how long you expect to earn at that level, and adjust your spending accordingly.”
In other words: if you normally bring in $ 6K a month and currently bring in $ 3K a month, and you know it will take three months to get your first paycheck from a new client, even if you meet that client tomorrow. (since it will take one month and 60 days to get the job done to get paid for it), this means you only need to plan on making $ 3K a month for the next three months, assuming your current projects last that long. … How will this affect your budget / expenses / savings?
Prepare for drought in advance
I have another piece of advice honed over the years in the freelance trenches: You can prevent many droughts if you plan ahead. Start promoting and securing next projects before you complete your current ones, and you’re less likely to get stuck in an unexpected work lull.
This means looking at your schedule from at least a quarterly perspective, asking yourself when each of your current projects and customer relationships might end, and making a schedule in your calendar to find leads and prepare presentations.
Yes, you should do this work while you do all the rest of the freelance work. But this is better than being out of work at all – or working less than you can afford.