A sustainable freelance career requires you to balance stability with growth. Think of that balance like a barbell. 

Half of your time should be spent on your retainer clients that bring you a guaranteed income. The other half should be spent on riskier projects where you charge higher initial rates or negotiate a stake in its performance. 

The steady work is how you pay the rent, but the risks are how you get to the next level. That balance doesn’t just apply to how you should divide your clients, but how you break up your time between billable and non-billable hours, and current work and future work. 

Freelance Like a Pro founder and freelance copywriter Brian Speronello has spent a decade managing that balance. In this episode, he gives us his tips and hard-won lessons.

Show Topics

• Use a barbell strategy for your projects
• Freelancers have to know how long things take
• Set retainers for a maximum amount of hours
• Ask for the last month upfront
• Exchange your time and focus for referrals
• You need some non-billable hours

Show Links 

• Check out Freelance Like a Pro
• Follow Brian Speronello on LinkedIn or Twitter

Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Sean Blanda (Crossbeam), Ilona Abramova (AppSumo), and many more.

Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:

020: Spark Creativity and Generate Memorable Content with Ryan Law (Animalz)

041: Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)

045: Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)

009: The Long Game Podcast: Building Communities, Teams and Companies through Marketing with Sabel Harris

019: Peak Performing, High-Earning Freelance Writing with Michael Keenan (Co-Founder at Peak Freelance)

028: Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)

Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:

015: Should You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?

017: How Do Growth and Content Overlap?

027: Is Organic Traffic the Best Traffic?

Connect with Omniscient Digital on social:

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Linkedin: Be Omniscient

Listen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here: https://beomniscient.com/podcast/