Know when it’s time to reach out

One of the most important parts of maintaining a healthy pipeline is finding your rhythm. You don’t want to reach out too early and risk overwhelming your workload, but you also can’t wait until the last minute. Every new job and client has an onboarding period. Waiting to reach out until you finish your current project means losing income and time during this lag if you don’t have other jobs lined up.

To determine the right rhythm, evaluate how much work you can handle at the same time. Once you know your capacity, you will be able to tell when you aren’t getting enough work from your clients to fill your workload and make the money you need.

Pro tip: If you’ve hit your capacity and you’re still not making enough money, you have a problem with your pricing. Get tips on charging the right amount for your work here.

Generally, you may want to pursue new clients if:

• You don’t have work, or the potential for work, lined up a couple of weeks out
• You aren’t hitting your work or income goals
• You’ve recently lost a client
• You’ve recently lost a project or stream of regular income
• You want to pursue a new direction for your business

Once you know you need to pursue new work, it’s time to prepare.