You’re Booked. Now What? 5 Ideas for Maintaining Business and Keeping Clients - Essayem Creative — essayem CREATIVE - Samantha Storey

NOTE: I am fully booked from JUNE to SEPTEMBER for large projects. I may be able to take on smaller writing projects depending on the scope. Please email with questions or inquiries.

Today, I had to make the radical statement many freelancers both look forward to and dread: I’m booked.

Last week, I re-signed with a long-term client and have continued work with another. I have a handful of minor projects that will populate the summer, along with any vacations or breaks I might fit in. My workload is good. So, why do I feel both relief and anticipatory dread?

Flashback to summer 2021.

Last August, I found myself inexplicably overbooked and working every single day for about three weeks - barely able to eke out a two-day trip my boyfriend Josh, surprised me with for my birthday. Yes, my birthday - I guess, I was just going to work through it? Hadn’t thought that far. I was quickly approaching my internal flood zone.

Saying you’re booked or blocking time off your calendar for yourself can feel like the hardest thing to do as a freelancer. It’s easy to fall into the panicked thinking that every day you’re not working is money left on the table. Or that opportunities, where you don’t make yourself available, will never come around again. That kind of thinking kept me in a salaried position for too long, just waiting for the right thing. Even when I worked myself to burn out on a fantastic project, along with a myriad of other projects I’d already agreed to—when it was over, I still had to negotiate if it had been worth all the energy I’d put in.

For me, deciding to work independently is about making those kinds of decisions for myself and how often I put myself in uncomfortable scheduling situations, if at all. So, to enjoy both my job and my life, I’m temporarily putting up the no-vacancy sign. Now, what do I tell prospective clients?

01. HAVE A RESPONSE ALREADY PREPARED
One of the best things you can do in potentially awkward situations like being booked, or even not a right fit for a client, is already having a response prepared. If you visit my website as a prospective client, hopefully you’ll see the ribbon bar where I’ve noted my availability, if not, I may note it on a services page, but I will definitely tell them via email, and I’ll do it quickly. Having canned emails prepared is one of the best pieces of advice for pretty much anyone, but especially freelancers and small business owners.

02. BE HONEST
Sometimes, clients email me in July asking about my August availability. Then, they contact me in August to book. A lot of times, a client may call on Thursday and ask if you can start Friday. Sometimes, I’ve been on a call with less than a half-hour's notice. The more people you work with, the more crazy schedules you’ll encounter. This is a good time to remind yourself that you’re not only a real person with a real life, but you’re also a business and you’re the only one who has your back. Be honest about your availability, be honest about when you anticipate it opening up, and even consider offering a list of people you would recommend. If your schedule does open up - it never hurts to contact them again, explain the situation and let them know you’re available if anything else comes along.

03. HAVE A SCHEDULE
Maybe this seems like a straightforward decision, but as a freelancer, I’ve always considered myself a multi-tasker. I’ve got twenty tabs open, I’m editing a video; brainstorming liners; making notes on a blog post, and I’m doing it all as it comes to my head. My Notes app overfloweth. That said, I read something recently that stopped me in my tabs: Multi-tasking is a myth. When you’re working for a variety of clients, you may have some you invoice through your own tracking system, you may have some who give you a template to submit every two weeks, you may even have others that ask you to use a time-keeping app and submit your invoices that way. You never know what you’re going to get.

The best way to prevent yourself from being overbooked, or knowing when you’re just booked enough, is to make one schedule for yourself that you keep open and update constantly. I keep mine in Google Calendar and update as needed (but there are a ton of other options and even the Zapier app, which can trigger automatic updates!) When I have a meeting pop up but my client wants me to live in their email system, I copy the meeting into my calendar. The last thing you want to do is tell someone you’re booked when you’ve just looked at the wrong schedule.

MORE: Learn how Jessica Stansberry organizes her schedule with Google Calendar + ClickUp

04. KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
If you’re thinking the goal of all this freelancing stuff is to be booked out and you are, that’s great - but it’s not the end. As loyal and consistent as some clients may be, things happen. The economy changes. Their business changes. Your business changes. When people talk about never putting all their eggs in one basket, this is a great illustration. You don’t want to be empty-handed when that long-term client’s budget gets cut. You want to have a plan.

One of the great things about working independently is that you can work with a wide variety of people and businesses. And if you’re not fully booked out and want to be - this is also helpful, the wider your pool, the more opportunities you’ll have to fill your schedule. If you’re booked, consider a couple of things: raising your rates, strengthening relationships with current clients, and reaching out to prospective clients. These are things you would do in your own time anyway, so it’s important not to let them fall by the wayside even when you’re booked.

05. DON’T OVER THINK IT.
If you’ve read this far, you might already be overthinking this. You want to do this right, and that’s admirable. You may fail the first time you try this - you’re so busy, but a good client really needs something asap. It’s easy; it shouldn’t take too long; just a quick little thing. You control your schedule, and clients who think they always have access to you will probably continue to think that way, well-intentioned or not.

I’d love to know how your experiences have been when you’ve had to decline work due to being booked. Did it work out or did you never hear from the client again? It happens. Sometimes, we dodge a bullet in not agreeing, and other times, we forge an even better relationship with a client who’s willing to be flexible in their schedule as well or take you up on recommendations. Being an excellent resource can be as good an asset as your primary service, especially when you can still come in clutch.