Coping With a Slow Start to the Year
Ah January, here we are again…
At the time of writing this I’m relieved to say that we’ll very soon be within touching distance of February, which is a very welcome prospect given that the first month of a new year has a tendency to drag on and on. In the creative industries, the turn of the year often comes with a prolonged quiet spell as businesses get back on their feet and construct their marketing plans for the year ahead. It’s commonplace, but this period can induce a lot of anxiety, boredom and self-doubt as the days trickle on by without sufficient work coming in.
I am personally very guilty of getting frustrated at this time of year. I want to work, I have all this new equipment, but where is the work?! In all my years of doing this I have not once experienced a fluctuation of enquiries in January and February - in 2021 and 2022 we were very fortunate to carry out some medium sized projects which kept things busy in the early months, but even then those were only for one client at a time, it’s not as if enquiries were coming in left, right and centre.
2023 seems to have started a bit slower than normal, perhaps that was to be expected, but now more than ever it’s important to stay level headed and plan for the year ahead. One thing I’ve learned about working for myself is that you have the potential to earn an annual salary in the space of just a few months, so expecting consistent revenue isn’t always going to be realistic unless you have a retainer model with clients.
Something I would strongly advise to any prospective freelancer is to not get too reliant on one or two particular clients. Retainers and regular work is great when it comes to cashflow, but I learned the hard way that when those clients no longer require your service then you will be left without work. It’s really important to work within a variety of industries and with as many different businesses as possible - you want to cast your net far and wide. Is this riskier than retained income? People will say it is, but honestly, I don’t think so. The luxury of working with so many different organisations means any one of them could pop up at any given time and the likelihood is some of them will work with you several times throughout the year anyway. Not to mention the more clients you work with, the more chance your work will be seen and also recommended.
It can be hard to sit back and watch others in your industry thrive at this stage of the year and imposter syndrome is a very real feeling in my case, but you can’t look to others as the benchmark. They might have a totally different set of clients who are busy in the early months or they might just be a larger business - there’s no shame in realising that. Whenever I’m feeling this way I just take a quick glance at my accounts from previous years and relax, because unless something goes horribly wrong, I know things get better.
That said, you can’t rest on your laurels and just let January pass you by. It’s important to remain active on social media, refresh your website with new case studies, reach out to previous clients and perhaps most importantly get your accounts in check!
Coping with a slow start is something I really do struggle with, moreover because I want to be working and hate not being able to. Having spoken to many others in the industry it does seem that this is a mutual feeling and problem, which I can take comfort from. It’s worth remembering that there will be times to come when the work will be almost unmanageable, so if anything I should be relishing the here and now!