I’m willing to bet that you didn’t get into freelancing so you could spend all day worrying about where your next project is coming from…
And it can be tough to focus on growing your business when you’re constantly worried about how to pay the bills.
If this sounds familiar, don’t worry.
That’s the situation for many freelancers, and I’ve been there too.
And I’ve learned a few things along the way that can help you get out of that cycle →
Keep reading and you’ll learn how you can start to grow your business in a more intentional way.
The problem:
When you finish one project, you don’t know when the next project’s coming.
The benefit of solving it:
A growing business with a predictable lead generation system giving you more revenue-generating projects each year.
It also means better long-term decision making because you know you can count on a certain amount of income or free time each month.
Why what you’ve tried has failed:
You believe that your job is to deliver for your clients.
It’s not.
Your job is to keep you consistently employed.
Here’s how to solve it:
Spend half your working time on delivery (client work) and half on development (your business).
This is the golden ratio →
You are your most important client.
Every day you should be devoting as much if not more time working for yourself than anyone else.
This means:
Developing new portfolios to demonstrate specific outcomes
Building and maintaining a lead generation engine
Networking with potential clients and complementary freelancers
Communicating with past clients and identifying new problems you can solve for them
Engaging on social media and in groups
Applying to projects on job boards
I could do this all day, but these are just a few examples.
If you are often too busy with client work to spend half your time on business development efforts, then that’s a sign it’s time to:
Raise your rate: you will lose some clients, but the ones who remain will subsidize the ones who could no longer afford you.
Hire Subcontractors: Bring in folks to handle some or all of your delivery so you can continue prioritizing your business.
It’s a lot easier to solve for having too much work than it is to solve for having too little, so optimize for the former.
Most freelancers go into business for themselves to do the thing they do for their clients.
But please never forget, your #1 client is you.
If you take care of your business, if you build something sustainable for yourself, then you’ll perform even more effectively for your clients.
Best,
Jamie
More support for your freelancing success in 2026:
→ Ready to escape the feast-or-famine cycle? Join The Freelancing Program and master the Client Domino System that turns chaos into consistent $10K+ months (1,000+ freelancers and counting).
→ Not sure how to price your services? My FREE pricing mini-course reveals the exact framework that gets you premium rates.
→ Serious about scaling? Let's build your custom $100K+ roadmap in a focused 1:1 coaching session.
