Hey friend,

Welcome to the freshly revamped newsletter by Freelance Bold, now called Freelance Bolder! I’ve been dreaming of giving it a dedicated name for a while, as opposed to just calling it “the Freelance Bold newsletter.” The difference is subtle, but I’m hopeful it will help you and each future subscriber feel like this corner of the internet is made to allow you to thrive as a freelance writer.

In today’s edition, we’re talking about what it takes to have a full client roster, AI in writing, what makes readable writing, and the month-to-month income ups and downs in freelancing.

Want to ask me a question or share your feedback? Feel free to hit ‘reply’ on any email you get from me. Let’s dive in!

(Side note: these emails will land in your inbox on Tuesdays starting next week.)

This week’s big idea: There are only three paths to a full freelance workload

Towards the end of 2023, I asked you this question:

If I were to dedicate the next Freelance Bold newsletter or blog post to you and the freelance writing challenge you're currently facing... What would that email/blog post be about?

An overwhelming number of responses focused on the challenge of getting clients, in dozens of varieties. Winning a first client, getting regular clients, turning one-time assignments into retainers, booking clients months in advance, and finding clients that pay well and are easy to work with—they’re just some of many goals you mentioned.

As you can imagine, there’s no way to cover all of that in one email or blog post, but it signals the tremendous need of freelance writers everywhere to build a sustainable inflow of client work. In other words: I’ll give plenty of space in these emails and Freelance Bold blog posts to this crucial topic.

For now, let’s kick it off with a framework to operate from on a weekly or monthly basis based on how full your client schedule is at that moment:

There are only three ways you can fill up your workload. They include:

1. One-time assignments: you work with a client on one blog post, website copy, ebook, or email sequence, and part ways after that
2. Recurring clients aka retainers: a client assigns you a fixed or flexible amount of work each month
3. A mix of the two: retainers are your base, but you fill up the rest with one-time assignments

Let’s get into what each option brings to your business.

One-time assignments can be really fun. They allow for a change of pace, scenery, and focus—work will never get boring with these. But if all your income depends on this category, you need to be either constantly pitching potential clients or regularly get 5-10 quality inbound leads each month.

Recurring clients are a great baseline to a steady monthly income. This option also lets you build deep working relationships, which helps avoid loneliness that naturally comes with freelancing. Best retainers are those you can pause or tweak on the months you need—for example, if you want to take a two-week vacation.

A mix of the two merges the best of those worlds: you get to add variety to your work with one-time clients on top of the guarantee of fixed income from retainers.

Most of my work for the past year or two comes from flexible retainers as that suited my life during that period best.

If I had to choose just one of these and stick to it for the rest of my career, I’d choose the mix because it would give me the work-life balance and the joy that I crave from my work.

We’ll dive into all the client-winning strategies in upcoming emails and blog posts, but until then, ask yourself: what option seems like the best choice for you?

Ideas worth devouring

​Content performance comparison: results from a human vs. AI content marketing experiment (by Hotjar). For the past 14 months or so, our world has been made less stable with all of the “AI will replace human writers” claims. AI certainly has a role in writing, content, and marketing in general, but not to replace writers. Hotjar ran an experiment and compared key metrics and results to test this—check it out.

​What makes writing more readable? (by The Pudding). It’s easy to think that fancy, complicated writing is how we’ll come across as smart and useful, but the truth is quite the opposite. Dive into this interactive read to learn how to make your writing more readable.