How To Juggle Multiple Clients
Freelancing is a job that sounds cool yet lacks stability to some people. Everyone’s dream is to work in their desired hours, do the job they’re passionate about, and get premium clients that pay thousands of dollars (Cashing! $$$). While the possibility of earning big in freelancing is excellent, it may also mean that you need to learn to handle pressure while managing multiple clients.
When you hear freelancing, imagine a laptop, a good WIFI internet connection, a cup of your favorite coffee, and a quiet work-from-home setup.
The opportunity to work with different clients and businesses is endless, allowing you to showcase your expertise regardless of your nationality, educational background, or years of experience.
As long as you have the right skills and can deliver high-quality work, managing multiple clients can be achievable.
With all the benefits of freelancing comes excellent time management abilities to maintain having multiple clients without the hassle and the struggle.
What kind of work ethic do you need to achieve this goal? Do you need superhuman skills to become a freelancer with unlimited cash flow?
In this blog, I have featured the 15 Freelancing tips to serve multiple tasks and enjoy the fruit of their labor without experiencing FEAST and FAMINE.
1. Stay Flexible
A true freelancer has a unique body clock. Full time? Part-time? Morning shift? Night shift?
These are the types of people who will pull themselves out of bed because they know they have something to work on. They know what a deadline is, and they always show up on time.
They know what discipline is all about and ensure to give only the best quality of work. When you look at freelancing as a business rather than a job, you will realize you’re getting paid for your TIME and skills.
Show your clients that you will do exactly what you promised. This is the foundation of building a good reputation.
2. Hone Your Skills
Do you want premium fees? Then, give premium results. This is self-explanatory.
Never stop learning and growing.
Staying updated on the current trends of your industry only shows how committed and dedicated you are to your career.
If you’re new to freelancing and thinking about the skills you can offer your clients, check out these lucrative skills you can learn to enjoy earning from the comfort of your home.
3. Focus on a Client Task
Managing multiple clients means handling multiple projects. One surefire way to save yourself from missing tasks is to organize everything. Be accountable.
4. Have a Realistic Plan
Big goals need big commitment and intense dedication. Planning to add some skills to increase your rates? Things will not fall into your lap without strategic planning and hard work.
Daydreaming is imagination without action. Plan and take action every day. Take it one step at a time. The day you planted the seed is not the day you will eat the fruit. Stay consistent and show up every single day.
5. Track How Long You Would Finish the Tasks
Want to have accurate measurements of your efficiency? Have a time tracker and examine how long it takes to finish a particular task. That way, you can better gauge where you need more hours.
6. Plan Dedicated Hours to Communicate With Your Clients
Communication is vital to building good rapport and practical work in any business or industry. Nothing beats a clear mission and vision. If you know what your client wants, it will be easier for you to execute the actions.
7. Stop Multitasking
I know how tempting it is to involve yourself in different tasks simultaneously to get the job done all at once, but doing this only makes your work low quality and poorly thought out. Managing multiple clients means you must also learn the proper delegation of tasks to meet your deadlines.
Take care of your clients, and they will take care of you. Give satisfactory results. They deserve the time it takes for you to deliver great work, so do not take it for granted.
8. Set Expectations With Your Clients
Remember that HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. Let your clients know your capability. If you are not confident enough to carry on with the tasks, let them know, and they will appreciate you for being transparent.
9. Payment Amount and Process
Before starting to work with a client, it is imperative to have a process and a system that you will be following to make your freelancing lifestyle enjoyable and rewarding.
Set the payment options available in your country and determine how you would like the payment structure to happen.
Include the payment method in the contract. Is it an hourly or a retainer fee? I suggest requesting a 50% upfront payment for your security.
Keeping the invoice straightforward will remove the stress between you and your client. It is your responsibility to sort out the honest clients from the scammers.
10. Have a Journal of Your Work Progress
Being a freelancer usually requires a lot of alone time and focus. To keep your spirit going and on high vibration, have a journal.
This will remind you of your growth and make you realize that you’re evolving as a person.
Take note of everything that happens on that day. Write down your mistakes, your failures, and how you conquered them.
11. Say NO Rather Than MAYBE
More clients, more project work. They always vary.
You could have a long-term or a short-term project, but you need to understand the energy and effort it will take you to deliver things without affecting your productivity.
Don’t hesitate to say NO if the workload doesn’t fit your personality and work style. Compatible clients make the projects successful in the long run. Keep that in mind.
Assess yourself if managing multiple clients and projects is something you can handle. By doing so, you won’t have to sacrifice the quality of your work.
12. Get External Help
Outsourcing a project to a fellow freelancer who can help you finish the task won’t hurt your pocket. Remember time management?
You have to be wise and clever with your resources. If you feel that you will get stuck on a specific task, feel free to network with other freelancers who know how to get the job done.
Instead of overthinking how to solve it alone, get help from others and then study how to do it afterward. You have deadlines, and you don’t want to disappoint your clients. Do you?
13. Know Your Client’s Working Approach
You don’t have to grab every working opportunity available out there. Some clients do not deserve your time and hard work.
A client who lowballs your rates only means one thing. They don’t care enough about their business and only want to stick with cheap rates for cheap results.
These clients do not define you as a freelancer; you don’t have to settle for less to get a client. There are a lot of good clients out there, and you only need to find them.
14. Use a Project Management Tool
Using tools that could help you manage multiple clients is the key to flourishing in the freelancing business. Staying on top of your game is achievable if you sort out what you must do.
Have a routine and stay consistent.
In this manner, you won’t get confused with the projects that you’re working on. Little to no mistakes, the better.
15. Have a Break
All work and no play is the easiest way to get burned out. Don’t forget about your creative passion. Have a hobby – reading your favorite fictional book, cooking, painting, or playing video games.
Book that flight, take a vacation, pamper yourself in that day spa, or have a beauty makeover. Make time with your loved ones and your pets.
After all, we are working hard to experience the best things in life and to be able to provide for our loved ones.
BEST TOOLS FOR MANAGING MULTIPLE CLIENTS AND PROJECTS
If you want your freelancing career to skyrocket, knowing the tools of the trade is the key to maintaining sanity and providing consistent results for your clients.
Taking advantage of modern apps will help you organize your time and focus on the tasks that need a lot of energy, focus, and brainpower. A fantastic career is heading your way once you master this skill. Multiple clients on the table will give you a steady workflow.
1. Google Calendar
This one is a no-brainer. You don’t want to miss important meetings and calls from the management, so blocking your calendar in advance and having a color-coding assigned to each one of your clients will help you keep track of the projects that are finished or in progress.
Fewer mistakes. Higher productivity.
2. GSuite
Managing multiple clients would mean receiving email notifications now and then. We all know that an email that is not organized can lead to missed projects or late submissions, and we don’t want that to happen.
3. Project management tools like Trello or Asana
The list of efficient CRMs can go a long way. This one is a favorite tool for large and medium businesses. If you have a budget and have big projects ongoing, you may want to invest in a CRM and keep track of all your tasks.
There are also CRM tools with a free trial that you can explore, like Zoho and Keap (former Infusionsoft).
4. Time-tracking software like Harvest and Clockify
This may sound cliche, but time is gold, and time is our most valuable asset. A time wasted is a time that we can never get back. So, how do you check your progress and efficiency? Install time-tracking software so you can get real-time results.
5. Password Managers like LastPass and 1Password
Hackers are everywhere, so you need to maintain your online privacy at a top-notch level. Using a password manager allows you to access all your client’s accounts with ease and security.
How Do Freelancers Manage Multiple Clients at Once?
This blog was inspired by an SEO Specialist who wants to create an impact and transform her client’s business. If we show dedication and commitment to whatever we do, we no longer need to beg clients to hire us; they will look for us.
Remember to always provide value in everything you do, and don’t let perfection stunt your growth. Having multiple clients results from a good work ethic and an intense desire to help people win in their business.
You will flourish when you work because you know you have a purpose. Having that kind of perspective will help make managing multiple clients less stressful.
Whether you’re a newbie in freelancing who dreams of having many clients in the future or an experienced freelancer who wants to charge premium fees because you have the skills to do the job, this blog will surely help you.
Do you have something to add to our list? Let us know in the comment section.
Happy Freelancing!
Joanne Enaje
Joanne is an SEO Specialist and a Big Data enthusiast. She likes helping online companies increase their traffic and presence on SERPS by creating effective SEO strategies.
