Turning one-off clients into clients for life

I moved from spending most of my time looking for clients to now enjoying ongoing business that allows me to save time and deliver quality projects while having more spare time. Here's how you can do it, too.

For years of freelancing, I've suffered with one thing I've spent too much money and time on – investigating and attempting to solve it.

I'm talking about the dreadful loop of "Freelance Rollercoaster."

You go through cycles of having a lot of work, finishing it, and having almost nothing else waiting for you. Sure, having a lot of projects feels excellent. However, because your client's job consumes your time, other aspects of your business may suffer.

For example, if you're overwhelmed with deliverables, your marketing may suffer — especially if you run a business independently.

However, there is one approach you can use to ensure you always have a steady flow of work. It involves taking a one-time client who may want a single project and developing that relationship into a partnership with continuing work.

I only had one-time projects for a long time in my freelance design work. I'd be asked to create a simple website, a few mobile app screens, or a web application's key components. That was fine. But after finishing the project, I returned to prospecting and looking for new work everywhere.

Sometimes it took days. At other times, it'd take weeks before I got more work.

That was until I made a few fundamental changes to how I approached my one-time clients, which resulted in steady employment and partnerships from which we both benefited.

I moved from spending most of my time looking for clients to now enjoying ongoing business that allows me to save time and deliver quality projects while having more spare time.

Here's how you can do it, too:

Treat Your Clients Like People

I'm participating in several high-ticket communities with business owners looking for freelancers for various projects. However, most of them are rarely looking for a new freelancer.

This is because they have trusted freelancers with whom they enjoy working. The freelancers they choose to offer steady work to are those with whom they have a strong relationship.

According to these business owners, most freelancers view project acquisition as a transaction. It's as if they're the grocery store cashier, swiping things through the scanner, and that's it.

Freelancers that have consistent work handle their clients as if they are actual persons. People who, like any other entrepreneur, have a family to feed, a life to maintain, and are under pressure every day.

Clients are more than message writers on a freelancing website or in a Facebook chat. No. They are genuine individuals who are counting on you to help them. As a result, they want to be regarded as such.

This is where creating a real relationship with your clients comes into play.

This is where developing a genuine relationship with your customers comes into play. Don't just treat them like a transaction. Learn about their company and themselves. Get on the phone with them and ask them why they started their business and what it would mean if you performed well.

It will alter your perspective on your work. You'll be motivated to produce high-quality work since you know it will benefit your client's entire life.

Furthermore, developing this relationship means you'll have a connection that constantly keeps you at the front of their thoughts when they require your services. You will not be simply another freelancer, but someone they know is invested in their business.

You'll be their top freelancer just for that reason.

Go From Order-Taker To Expert

I've spent over $30,000 on freelance business coaching, courses, books, and PDFs.

Each of them has a common lesson that captures what it takes to be a successful freelancer. And that is the difference between being a basic order-taker and becoming an expert in your field.

It's not so much about improving your skills as it is about improving your thinking.

Order takers do precisely that. They accept orders.

Order takers wait for their project to begin. They ask if their work is sufficient. Then they receive the project, complete it, deliver it to the client, and wait to be paid. They are not invested in ensuring that the job produces outcomes.

Experts do it differently.

Experts are the ones who are constantly talking with their clients. They offer honest advice on achieving each project's most significant potential results. They bring ideas, options, and decisions, ensuring the client receives more than they requested.

Experts participate in the discussion and explain why they performed particular things in their projects. Experts want to know if their effort is effective. They want to know what worked and what didn't so they may learn and improve.

I became the only designer they wanted to work with when I became more proactive in demonstrating to them that I was the expert who generated outcomes. Because I wasn't simply following their lead, I took responsibility for the results I gave and went above and above to ensure that my work was outstanding.

Do the same, and I guarantee your one-time clients will want to hire you again.

Become An Idea Generator

"The Freelancer Manifesto: 11 Big Ideas to Stand Out and Thrive in the New Economy" by Steve Roller was one of my first freelance business books.

And one of the most important concepts I took away from the book, which I still use in my freelance business today, is the concept of "the idea generator."

To stand out as a freelancer and be the type of freelancer who receives recurring business, you must become more than "simply a freelancer."

Because, let's face it, there is an abundance of freelancers out there doing the same work as you.

Every day, more people emerge eager to do the task faster, for much less, and are pretty good at it.

As a result, it's critical to offer something more to the table than merely completing a task – everyone can do that.

You must bring ideas.

Ideas that can assist your client in growing not just in the current project but also in the future.

Utilize your one-time project and link it to future initiatives. Share your ideas for how you might collaborate in the coming quarter. Remind your client of upcoming holidays, events, and prospective joint marketing. Explain how you can help them thrive.

Be more than a freelancer; be an idea creator.

Just F%cking Care!

Gary Vaynerchuck mentioned that the greatest marketing trick in the world is simply caring.

To distinguish yourself as a freelancer and secure recurring work from one-time jobs, you must be someone your clients want to work with.

That involves genuinely caring about the business rather than just the invoice, offering your knowledge so that your client benefits, and sharing ideas to begin working on potential projects together so that you have a true partnership.

A long-term collaboration that will help you transition from freelance rollercoaster to a freelancer with the freedom to work and live well.