I’ve been relying on one big client throughout the pandemic.
It’s about to bite me in the ass.
I knew it would happen. I knew this was coming.
But I didn’t exactly prepare for it.
As always, “do what I say, not what I do”.
I have this one client whom I do things for that I wouldn’t do in a perfect world: webmaster stuff, social media/community nurturing, content editing, getting the mail, other errands. (I like the content editing.)
I’d rather be teaching professionals how to market their businesses online, if I had my druthers.
But this pays the bills while I’m trying to find ideal clients.
Well, it did.
See, a Google Ads/Bing Ads policy change in late May means that most of their business is going to dry up. And that means little work for me.
I knew this policy change was coming since mid March. And I can’t say I’ve done much to prepare for it.
(I should point out I do not advise this client on marketing, I just do certain tasks for them. Otherwise, you know, I would have been helping them make plans for this eventuality.)
I expect the work to dry up at end of June, maybe July at the latest.
In the meantime, I haven’t exactly found enough new clients to make up for the loss.
Some of this is on the pandemic.
But some of this is on the casual way I’ve been going about pursuing new clients.
See, I do not practice what I preach.
I have all sorts of good advice about how to market your practice online but I do not take most of it.
Some of that is just time: just like you I do not have enough time in the day.
Some of it comes down to procrastination: I can always find things to do which I enjoy more which I can convince myself are in the service of my business or my writing career.
But some of it just comes down to the same old fear: I am afraid of rejection and that makes it difficult for me to ask people if they would like my help.
And so, here I am, about to lose my biggest client, having not really prepared for that.
So if you can take advice from someone who is a hypocrite – hey, at least I admit it! – don’t rely on one or a couple big clients at the expense of a more diverse client base.
Things change and you will never have any of your clients forever.
After all, my intention is to make myself irrelevant to my usual clients as soon as possible. So this is a message I need to take to heart as much as the next guy.
I hope you’re keeping healthy.