Every freelancer I know has a feast-or-famine story.
You spend two weeks pitching like your life depends on it (cause it kinda does) and it works. You’re flooded with work and you stop pitching while trying to catch up.
Then things dry up.
At some point while you were busy working on projects, your pipeline emptied out until only a trickle is left.
That’s the cycle every freelancer goes through at one time or another.
I’ve heard people blame it on the market, their clients, bad luck, and everything in between.
What you rarely hear is accountability.
Falling into the feast-or-famine cycle doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It’s super easy to fall victim to.
But chances are, you created it.
Here’s how to get unstuck.
One Annoyingly Simple Fix
Breaking out of this cycle is easier than you think. It’s almost annoyingly simple.
Thirty minutes a week to keep your pipeline warm during the “busy season.”
That’s it.
Not thirty minutes per day. Just per week.
In one focused block, do the following:
- Send two follow-up emails to past clients you haven’t heard from in 60+ days.
- Leave five thoughtful comments on LinkedIn posts from people in your target niche.
- Send one cold pitch to a company you’ve been meaning to reach out to.
- Check in with one fellow freelancer to see how they’re doing and if they need any help.
You aren’t trying to actively land a client in that thirty minutes. We all know true outreach can take a lot longer. The goal here is to prevent your pipeline from going cold.
When you do this, you’ll always have warm leads to connect with once the work slows down. If you’re lucky, more work might even roll in without you having to go back into full-on pitch mode.
If you can make more time, great! Fending off the feast-or-famine cycle by investing a little leg work when you’re already busy is one of the best ways to build a truly sustainable freelance writing business.
But if all you can do is thirty minutes, then do it. Put it on your calendar. Never miss it.
If you do, the feast periods get longer, and the famine becomes a thing of the past.
