Managing Clients – Focusing on One or Have A Few Clients

picture courtesy of Jenn_Jenn (cheesepicklescheese) from flickr

Cheesepicklescheese on Flickr

Clients – we can never live without them (as a freelance writer). However, getting the right clients can be difficult. If you have got your very first client, I am sure you are jumping up and down, feeling motivated to get even more clients in the future.

Here comes the question:

“Do you focus on one client or handle many clients at a time?”

I am not sure if you have thought about this before you get any clients but this is what you will have to ask yourself once you have a client on hand, since you might be thinking whether you should get more clients so you have more projects to work on at the same time (if you are thinking of earning more – your first job might not be able to cover all your expenses).

The key is to ask yourself, how much time are you willing to spend for your clients. Say, you have a client that has more workload and another that requires just a few hours a week to work on the projects.

What you can do is, divide your time according to the projects and have an overview of how many hours left for yourself to manage your personal life. If you are spending more hours on work and have no time for yourself, perhaps you should limit yourself working on a limited number of projects at a time.

However, when you take up more projects from several clients, you might want to consider this,

• the quality of your work
• your productivity
  

Why?

First of all, you work alone. There is no way you can spend more time on each project. When you have less time on each project, you will have to do things in a hurry, perhaps overlook the quality of your work because the main thing in your mind right now is,

I want to get things done on time

Take some time and reflect on your work quality. Are you satisfy with it? Can you demand a higher fee for your work quality?

The advantages of having many clients at a time:

1. You earn more money (if you can do a great job).
2. You earn credibility faster (your clients can spread a word about you and your portfolio grows faster).
3. You get to learn to manage your clients better since you have to handle a few of them.

The disadvantages of having many clients at a time:

1. Less time for yourself, more time for work.
2. If you do not handle your work properly, you might end up doing badly.
3. You might not complete your work on time since you have so much projects to work on.

So, it is up to you whether you want to take on more responsibilities or drop them according to your capability. After all, not all freelance writers can manage their work properly. It might take some time to get accustomed to working at home but sooner or later, you will be able to overcome it.

Any questions or comments, feel free to express yourself here.