Thriving as a Freelancer in a Pandemic - Part One - Manage Your Portfolio

 To say that 2020 was an unprecedented year is an understatement. It was a difficult time for a lot of people, both personally and professionally. For me, a line in A Tale of Two Cities sums it up: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." 

For the best of times, I got married in the middle of the pandemic. Dealing with mask mandates and ordinances limiting gatherings proved that I can go with the flow. A wonderful new chapter in my life began in an otherwise dismal year. However, I had other personal challenges to deal with as well, so my world wasn't perfect. 

Professionally, I fared a lot better than many people with jobs or even those who were freelancing. In fact, even though I lost a couple of clients to COVID-19, I earned more than in any previous year as a freelancer. And more than I ever did in a traditional job. 

The unexpected happens to us all, so how do we prepare for it in our freelancing? In this three-part series, I want to share some things I learned that have helped me be successful and stay successful when rough times occur. 

Managing Your Portfolio

One of the main keys to being successful in an economic downturn, a physical disaster or other situations is to have a solid portfolio. There are three areas to concentrate on, which will help you survive in bad times: clients, content and pricing.

Managing Clients

First, take a look at your clients. Do you have one or two or do you have a list of clients? Are they all in the same industry or the same area? Think about any weaknesses you have with your portfolio in terms of clients. 

For example, are all your clients local? Maybe you work with clients in your city or county. Think about what would happen if a natural disaster happened in your area. You might end up losing most or all of your clients and have no income. 

Another example is having all your clients in one industry. Many freelancers like to niche, which is great. However, it can also be detrimental. Consider how the hospitality and travel industries have been hurt during the pandemic. If all your clients are in one of these industries, you may have seen your income reduced in the past year. 

So, what's the answer? There is no single formula or path that every freelancer should follow. For some, adding clients in different locations will take some of the risk away. For others, they may want to expand their niche into a second area or change it to one that is more risk-proof. Still others may want to think of ways they can expand their income by creating their own monetized blog or writing ebooks. 

The point is not to tell you how to build your client portfolio but to get you started thinking about the kind of risk you have and how to protect yourself. In the comments below, let me know what areas of risk you've discovered with your client portfolio. In the next blog post, I'll talk about your content portfolio. 

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