One of the most common problems a freelancer faces is finding one new client after another. Most of the times, a
freelancer works on various small projects like keyword research, logo design, etc. and once the project is over, they have no more role to play. But today I will tell you how to convert such small projects into long-term projects.
The benefits of long-term projects are:
There are many reasons why a freelancer may be interested in working on long-term projects. This is discussed below:
Income stability
If there is one thing that can give a freelancer a good life, it is stability and a fixed income. If it happens that you are earning a certain amount of money every month, then you can make better use of your time. You can make future plans. But if it happens that you are making a lot of income in some months and not at all in other months, then you will not understand how you can use your time properly. So a professional freelancer must keep this in mind and work so that his income is stable and not variable from time to time.
Service in less time
When you work for a client, you have to research only for him, create his work plan. This will give you more time to get the job done properly and you will be able to serve him in less time when you arrive. Where to work with new clients, you had to create new work plans and proposals for them. As a result, both your time and energy would have been wasted.
Good relationship with client
Finding clients can be difficult at times, even more difficult than finding clients that match your needs. When you really get a client who trusts you, respects your work and cares about you, you shouldn't mind working with such a client. When you work long-term with such a client, you will develop a strong relationship and then you will not have to worry about communication styles and methods anymore.
So if you want such regular income and other benefits, then this tutorial will help you step by step how to use existing projects to achieve your goals and how to work on these projects for long term.
Finding new jobs to rework
I am sometimes surprised when I talk to other freelancers (especially those who are just starting out or have completed a few clients), when they say that their clients don't have any work to offer. This can sometimes be an acceptable reason, but not always. Because, it is your responsibility to search for new job opportunities and convey it to the client. It is not the client's responsibility. Because, you are good at this task, you know what you will do better in the future. It is your job to inform the client about this.
There are ways in which you can create new work opportunities and work long-term with the same client. Some of these issues are discussed below:
1. Evaluate your most recent project
Look at your previous projects, see which ones you haven't done. Take a good look at what previous clients have done. Make a list of all tasks. Now, as you look at the list you've created, ask yourself:
Why is this work important? Why did your client think it was worth the money? Note especially tasks that are the same for some clients.
What kind of results did you expect from this whole project? Apart from this, you can do more work for the client in this project, which has not been done before and if the client wants, you can do it better. Think, if you are a mobile app developer, think how you can sell this mobile app more. If you are a web designer, you must think about how to give a good professional look to the client's site. If you can do this, you can expect an increase in visitors or customers to the client's site or a certain number of leads the client will get from his site.
What is your client's main objective?
This is a matter of great importance to your client. But it may or may not be compatible with your project. The client's objective may be to generate leads, new customers, resell to old customers or increase profits etc. Try to figure it out, then see which tasks you were able to accomplish according to the client's objectives and which ones you weren't. New job opportunities will be created from here.
2. Find recurring revenue opportunities
Now you have a list of tasks you just completed and you know the purpose or goal of these tasks. Take a good look at this list and find long-term revenue opportunities that you may have missed in previous projects. You should note the following points:
Work or deliverables that require constant maintenance
Are there even tasks that need to be maintained or managed daily, weekly, monthly or annually? Eg : When you bring a site to google ranking through search engine optimization and your next responsibility is to maintain this ranking. And for this you have to work regularly. Again a content writer is always required to provide updated content to the site and this is an ongoing process.
As you look at your current project, are there any tasks that need regular monitoring? Or is there a task that needs to be done over and over again, but would be difficult for the client to do? Then you can use such opportunity to increase your project time.
Regular updates
Usually if you are working on a technology project, you will need to update some part of it regularly. The same goes for web designers or developers, who may need to change their designs or code frequently. But a non-tech person can also do such work. Eg: A photographer can keep his work going with various updated photos.
Think of any work that your client will need in the future to advance his business and based on that make a future plan and communicate it to the client. You can use this as a package service for your future clients.
Upcoming Opportunities
You can start the project afresh by telling your client or previous clients about any upcoming benefits. In this case there is no need to wait only for new clients.
You can put products together with your services
If you want, you can sell various necessary products along with your services. For example: It can be a domain or hosting sale, software subscription etc. There are many designers who sell domain or hosting at the same time and design the entire site.
Look for consulting opportunities
Think about your client's objectives and business model. Are they looking for new customers in the early stages, or are they looking to re-serve old customers? Are they in a lead-base industry, such as real estate, or are they just looking to increase their profits?
If you want, you can discuss with them and give them various suggestions on these matters. And in this way you can create long term clients. Many outside professionals have chosen this consultancy profession as their main source of income and are doing quite well. I myself have such a service, where many times clients pay 80-120 dollars per hour consultancy fee. So this can also be a long term business model, depending entirely on your skill level.
3. Long term action plan
Now you must understand that with a little effort and desire, it is very easy to work long term. The key is to start the above as soon as possible. Immediately keep the following points in mind:
Learn about client retargeting and issues
Your client's target may not be compatible with your service. Just try to know, what are their goals or failures? Only then will you understand where your role is here.
Accept feedback
Get feedback on every part of your project. If possible, strategize and gather all the positive feedback, then you can use them later in any project to express your experience.
Long-term work gives more stability to a freelancer's business. To do this you may or may not have to adopt a lot of strategies in the initial stages, a lot of effort; But at some point you will find that you no longer have to wait for work. Instead, work will wait for you.
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