The Art of Juggling – How To Manage Multiple Freelance Clients

Every freelancer always talks about having more clients, and how that can result in having more financial stability and such. Nobody ever really seems to talk about how you can manage them, which they should. Managing multiple clients can be very tricky and overwhelming if you don’t do it right.

In this article, I aim to fill that gap in new freelancer’s understanding. As you reach that holy grail of having work every day from a whole host of different clients, you’ll be able to make sure it isn’t a poisoned chalice! Sounds good, right? Well, let’s hop straight to it.

They’re your clients, not your bosses

If you don’t know what the differences between the two are, then you’re probably doing the wrong job. After all, if you treat your clients like your bosses, then instead of having the freeing life of a freelancer, it will confine and restrict you.

Some people like bosses. They like to work for somebody and let them make all the decisions. I can understand that. There is certainly an appeal to not having the buck stop at your desk. If that’s what you’re after, though, get a full-time job. Then you’ll have only one boss (which is better than many) and you’ll also have a lot more financial stability.

If the entire point of being a freelancer is to be your own boss, then make sure that you don’t let your clients dictate the terms of your employment. Ultimately, you get to decide if what they’re offering is fair and if you have the time to do it, not them. Remember that!

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I’m really busy, is it possible to move the due date back a bit?

When a client asks for you to do a job by a certain date, then the above line is a perfectly acceptable reply. A lot of people are afraid that they’ll lose clients when they say something like the heading of this section. The funny thing is, you’ll probably get exactly the contrary.

You see, when you say you’re really busy, you activate two sub-conscious systems in your client’s mind. Scarcity: When you say your time is limited and there are other people that want it as well that don't push clients away. Instead, when they hear it, they immediately start to value your work more.

We value what others value: The second mechanism is that when we hear that a freelancer is very busy with work, we assume that this must be because people think their work is high quality. And as we take our cues from others, we then automatically value it more as well.

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Note that this isn’t something that you do at the beginning, when people offer you a contract, not two days before the due date, as then you’re not signaling value, but that you’re not dependable.

When a client asks for you to do a job by a certain date, then the above line is a perfectly acceptable reply. A lot of people are afraid that they’ll lose clients when they say something like the heading of this section. The funny thing is, you’ll probably get exactly the contrary.

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Have a release valve

However many precautions you might take, sometimes your clients all decide that they’ve got urgent work for you on the same day. In those cases, make sure you have a safety valve in place. What do I mean with that? Have a network of freelancers who you can farm work out to, when it’s too much for you.

The best part? Those days when all your clients don’t need writing work done (and those periods happen as well), work can flow the other way. In this way, you’ll be able to create a bit more balance, you’ll have another way to find new clients, and you’ll have somebody to bitch to who understands when a client is being a real sexual organ. Use the tools that are out there.

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Of course, one of the great ways to manage more clients is to do your work as fast as possible. For that reason, always make certain that you’re working on ways to up your productivity. The number one piece of advice I can give to up your productivity is to not have your phone lying anywhere near you. That machine is just one massive productivity under mine.

Here are some other tools to use:

1. Evernote –  When you’re surfing the web or researching a project, you want a quick and easy way to save the important information in one central place that is accessible across multiple devices. In this way, you can make sure that you don’t spend hours looking for information that you know is out there, but you can’t for the life of you remember where.
2. Resumescentre – top resume help: These guys can help with your resume, but that isn’t all they do. They can also write drafts of whatever texts you need, which you can then hone to your specifications.
3. Stay Focus: Sometimes the problem isn’t that you’re not productive when you’re working, it’s that it’s hard to stay on task. Getting a program that can block the websites that distract you can be a great tool in these kinds of situations.

Sometimes the problem isn’t that you’re not productive when you’re working, it’s that it’s hard to stay on task. Getting a program that can block the websites that distract you can be a great tool in these kinds of situations.

Really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of software out there. So, the next time you’ve got a lull with your freelance clients, go out and find which tools work the best for you. Then, when you’ve got the next influx of too much work, you’ll be ready to really get to work.

Last Words

Just like everything in the world, sometimes clients space out their work requests so that you can work steadily for several weeks without having to pull all-nighters, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes the work will all bunch together.

That sucks. At the same time, it doesn’t need to be a disaster. Instead, it can be a great opportunity to start thinking about taking a few days off afterward. That will serve as the best motivation to keep going for those 16-hour days.

And if you find yourself always having to work 16 hour days? Then it’s obviously time to raise your prices.