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Welcome to the 12th edition of Expert•ish Freelancer, a newsletter that helps you launch or elevate your freelance business. Every other Friday, get tips tools, and insights based on my 35⁺ years as a freelance writer.

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Hi Friend!

Now that summer is winding down (though not in Florida—it’s still in the 90s every day), it’s a good time to take a fresh look at your business as you head into the last quarter of the year.

And I’ve got a really good business tip that you can practice before you implement it full-scale in 2025. I’m going granular in this issue, talking about how to spot a freelance famine in the dreaded “feast-or-famine” cycle—and what you can do about it when you see it looming ahead.

By the way, if you missed last Friday’s Bonus #6: Pitch-to-Published Checklist that arrived in your inbox, I encourage you to download it ASAP. I make Bonus Items available to download for two weeks, and then they disappear. (Don’t mind me…just tapping into your FOMO. 😂)

Today’s newsletter dives into spotting a famine—and what you can do to prevent it.

🔍 Key Takeaways: 

• Set and Track Income Goals

• Proactively Monitor Your Workload

• Consistent Marketing is Key

P.S. Before you dive into this issue’s Freelance Focus, please take a moment to check out the newsletter sponsor below. Sponsors help keep the newsletter free, so please click on their link to check out their offer!

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Freelance Focus: How to Spot (and Prevent) a Freelance Famine

Another good Ask Me Anything question from a subscriber deserves my focus in this issue:

First, I want to point out that Chiara wisely has some savings set aside. She can rely on this, if needed, to help cushion any cash shortfall she might have from her freelance business. If you don’t have any savings, make this a priority.

Second, this is really a brilliant question—and one every freelancer needs to consider.

As a freelancer, you're likely familiar with the dreaded feast-and-famine cycle—the ups and downs that leave you either overwhelmed with work or struggling to find enough.

But how can you spot the beginning of a famine before it catches you off guard?

Understanding the Feast-and-Famine Cycle

Almost every freelancer faces the feast-and-famine cycle at some point. One month, you’re drowning in projects. The next, you’re desperately searching for your next gig. This unpredictable income stream can be 😧 stressful and financially unstable. 

While savings can cushion the blow of a slow month or two, the real key to sustaining your freelance business is learning to spot the start of a famine cycle before it spirals into an out-of-control drought.

Many freelancers wait until it’s too late, panicking and going into reactive mode when they’re in a full-blown famine.

But there’s a better way.

Why Proactively Addressing the Cycle Matters

The key to sustaining your freelance business is spotting the beginning of a famine cycle before it spirals into a long dry spell. By identifying and preventing these cycles early, you’ll be able to maintain financial stability year-round.

And it all starts with setting income goals. (Fellow math-avoiders, I hear you—you don’t do numbers. Me, neither! But you’ve got to get a grip on this foundational concept if you want to achieve financial stability.)

A Better Approach: Setting and Tracking Income Goals

You need a clear plan that allows you to anticipate slow months before they happen. By tracking your monthly income goals and consistently evaluating your workload for the next month, you can spot gaps in advance and adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.

This proactive approach ensures you stay ahead of potential slow periods, preventing those dreaded famine cycles from wreaking havoc on your income.

While I’ve definitely experienced slower months in terms of workload (thus generating less income), I haven’t had a complete “famine” of absolutely zero work in years.

How do I do it? Let’s dive in.

Set Income Goals

A proactive approach to preventing a famine starts with setting clear income goals. I start with a yearly goal, then break that down into a monthly goal.

Why? Because knowing what you should be earning every month is critical—it allows you to track whether you’re on pace or falling behind on a monthly and quarterly basis. This goal doesn’t have to be set in stone and it definitely doesn’t have to mirror what other freelancers are working towards. You do you.

Your annual income goal should reflect your personal needs, financial commitments, and business growth goals. 📣 Let me say it louder for the kids in the back: Set your income goal based on your specific circumstances.

Bear with me while I push through my/your hatred of math 😳 to give you an example of what this could look like. (Trigger warning: Math chart ahead.)

Let’s keep the example simple and say you’re aiming to earn $90,000 for the year. If you break that down into a monthly goal, that means you need to earn $7500 for 12 months to achieve that end-of-year $90K.

Instead of waiting until the end of the year to see if you’ll hit your goal—(Surprise! No Christmas gifts this year—mommy didn’t make enough money.)—you can now have a clear picture every month if you’re on track.

Monitoring Your Workload and Taking Action

By regularly monitoring what you’ve made so far and what work you’ve got coming up, you’ll be able to gauge where you stand much easier. This will depend largely on how far in advance you typically book your projects. And it will also depend on the seasonality of your business. For instance, you might know that January is historically a slow month or maybe the entire summer is a slow time of year. (This wisdom comes after being in business for a few years.)

Here’s how it works for me: I’ve typically got work mapped out on my project calendar about two to four weeks in advance. (I’ve usually got a small buffer in my calendar to allow for a handful of unexpected projects that pop up and the occasional quick-turnaround project from current clients who are willing to pay a premium for the tight deadline.) But, generally speaking, this means that I can see at a glance if I’ve only got a few projects on my calendar in the next two to four weeks. If so, I’ve got to increase my marketing now to line up work soon.

By mid-month, I evaluate the projects I have lined up for the next month. If I already have half or more of my income goal secured with projects booked on the calendar, then I’m on track. If not, it’s time to step up my marketing efforts.

Of course, your timeframe and project calendar might look different. Maybe you’ve only got one or two week’s worth of work lined up at any given time. Or maybe you’ve typically got two to three month’s worth of work mapped out on your calendar. Either way, step back weeks ahead of time to look and see the confirmed work you’ve got on your project calendar.

Now, back to our example. Once you know your monthly income goal, it’s easy to closely monitor your workload. In the above example, you aim to earn $7500 a month.

• On-track scenario: If, by the 15th of the previous month, you’re already at $4000-$6000 worth of work booked for the following month, you might simply continue with your current marketing efforts.

• Falling behind scenario: If, by the 15th of the previous month, you see that you only have $1000 worth of work scheduled for the next month, that’s a clear signal that a famine could be on the horizon. This insight gives you at least a two-week window to ramp up your marketing and secure additional projects.

Many freelancers only realize they’re in a famine when it’s too late to avoid it, months into a dry spell. By regularly assessing your project calendar and income goals mid-month every month, you can take timely action.

Even better, this approach also allows for quarterly check-ins to see if you’re on track. If it’s the end of June (month 6) and you’ve only earned $27,000 by now, you can quickly see (from the scary math chart) that you’re off target to where you aimed to be by this point: $45,000. So, you should reassess your goals to see how you want to proceed for the remainder of the year. You’ve got two options.

• If you want to still hit that $90,000 goal, you’ve got to readjust what you’ll need to generate in the next six months to make up for the slow start. In the above example, you’re $18,000 behind where you want to be by the end of June. If you split that amount up over the remainder of the year, that means you’ll need to earn an additional $3,000 every month—on top of the $ 7,500-a-month goal you initially set—to make $90K. This means you’ll need to double down on your efforts to get steady work that will generate $10,500 a month for the next six months. That might motivate you or terrify you. Your call.

• If you don’t want to hit that $90,000 goal, that’s also an option. (Goals are not set in stone—they’re guideposts.) Based on your specific circumstances, maybe you think it would be better to readjust your annual income goal to a more realistic amount—maybe $70,000. This way, you won’t stress yourself out for the next six months overworking and getting burned out just to hit a specific number if you don’t truly need it to pay bills and handle your financial obligations.

There’s no right answer. Do what works for you—taking into account your lifestyle, business goals, financial obligations, and your physical and mental well-being.

Preventing Future Droughts

Avoiding a famine isn’t just about spotting a lack of work on the horizon—it’s about preventing it. Once you’ve set your monthly goal and checked in mid-month, you have a roadmap for either maintaining or ramping up your marketing efforts. And now you can do a quarterly check-in, too. You can literally mark this on your calendar as a recurring business assessment appointment.

When you notice your workload is light in the coming month or so, you’ll know it’s time to double down on outreach, pitches, or reconnect with clients. I find that the easiest way to drum up quick work is to reach out to current clients and let them know I’ve got some availability in my schedule. This works almost every time.

As I discussed in EF#4: Diversifying Your Freelance Income, you’ll stabilize your business more easily if you expand your revenue streams. Another way? Securing ongoing contracts, such as blog writing or social media management, delivers steady income. (For more ideas, check out EF#2: How to Find Steady Work.) These projects provide a reliable baseline so that even in slower months, you’re not starting from zero.

But it all boils down to the need for consistent marketing—not a flurry of sporadic marketing efforts once you realize you’ve got no projects lined up. (For inspiration, check out EF#3: Marketing Smarts for Freelancers.)

By combining goal-setting and income-tracking with consistent marketing, you’ll be able to navigate the feast-and-famine cycle more smoothly, ensuring your freelance business remains steady regardless of market fluctuations.

FYI: Can’t find work? Check out my LinkedIn post that lists 10 newsletters (most of them free) that regularly curate freelance jobs/opportunities. Feel free to share the post with your network.

P.S. Apologies for all the math in this issue. 😂

High/Low

⬆️ High: A client reached out to see if I could write a travel guide to the tune of $6,000-$9,000. #YesPlease

⬇️ Low: I’m so busy this week that I didn’t get to my yoga class even once. #OutofBalance

Up Next

• Writing proposals that win jobs

• Healthy business habits for freelancers

• Making LOIs (Letters of Introduction) work for you

Thanks for allowing me into your inbox!

I look forward to sharing my freelance journey with you, and I look forward to hearing about yours. I’m just here as your guide. Take what works for you, and tweak it to your needs. Rinse. Repeat.

I’ll be back in two Fridays with another edition of Expert•ish Freelancer.

In the meantime….

Be kind. Do good. Give thanks. 😊

With gratitude,
Lisa

FYI: In yoga, the instructor often closes the session by saying “namaste” as a way of acknowledging and honoring the light, spirit, or goodness within each person in the class. 🧘‍♀️ It’s often used as a closing to convey unity (we’re all interconnected), gratitude (thank you for this shared experience), respect (I respect you and your journey), and peace (may you find peace within yourself). Essentially, it's a way to acknowledge the shared experience and to leave with a sense of peace and connection. 😊