2023 was my 2nd year of freelancing full-time, and things have improved significantly. My breakthrough is that client quality trumps quantity 24/7. Since 2019, when I began my freelance journey, I didn’t dare to go all in until last year, doing true independent consulting, aka freelancing, working with multiple clients on multiple projects. Now that I have passed the €100k in total revenue milestone from independent work, I can say what drives most of my success: working with quality clients vs. wannabe entrepreneurs. A little over €100k in total revenue from freelancing ☝ In 2019, I had a few side projects, and then, in 2020 and 2021, I was a full-time employee, so there was no time for playing around. In mid-2021, I said I had to try it and switched from full-time employee to full-time independent consultant. My biggest mistake was working with one client at a time. That led to 2-3 months “commitments.” Most were local entrepreneurs with little to no knowledge of running and growing a business. How the number of clients progressed over the years ☝ So the hard lesson I learned last year is to have one or a maximum of 2 big clients that you can focus on, build a human connection, and deliver quality work, and a few smaller retainers (2 to 3 clients maximum). This year, 50% of my income came from one client; it’s a steady, small agency run by two very successful and great leaders I’ve been working with since the beginning of the year (bye-bye, 3-month entrepreneurs). Almost 25% of my income came from a no-code SaaS I love working with. The average contract a SaaS has with independent contracts is relatively low, so I’m aware that this can end anytime soon. The other 25% came from a local marketing agency and a few smaller projects. Here is another mistake … months with no payment. Total revenue in 2022 ☝ Last year, I had two months with zero revenue. I had to slightly overcharge in the following months to compensate for this loss. I learned my lesson; I only had one month with no revenue this year. Total revenue in 2023 ☝ I noticed that January started quite shy, but the next couple of months made up for it, so it wasn’t a big deal, more time with my family. With a new baby coming in mid-January, I expect the same slow growth at the beginning of the year but solid growth starting in March.
