How long do you associate with which business partners? Earning freelance “survival strategies”

Dividing sales into "three tiers"

"I love my job, but the pay is so low that I barely make a living..." I lost my job..."

Freelancers can be stressed because they don't get the income they want.

For a few years after I became independent, sales fluctuated wildly and I couldn't control my income at all.

As a result of trial and error, I arrived at a method of dividing sales into segments (groups with similar attributes) and selecting customers while looking at the balance of the combinations.

Dividing sales by segment is, so to speak, "visualizing sales" (= dividing sales by hierarchy). In order to "visualize" sales, we will divide them into three layers: "basic income (base income) layer", "earning layer" and "investment layer".

The "basic income layer" includes jobs that have been ongoing even if the rewards are not high. For example, in my case, companies with which I have a long-term advisory contract pay me regardless of the amount of work, so it tends to be easier to continue. With this basic income level job, I will secure my monthly living expenses.

In addition, even if the sales amount is low, customers who have high continuity, good compatibility with customers and little stress are also included in the "basic income group".

An important criterion for entering the "basic income layer" is whether or not the job is easy to continue even if you have poor health or family troubles. If you lose your job, it's easy to cut off relationships, and it's hard to get a job again.

Therefore, in order to minimize the impact on your income even when you are ill, we will secure work that will not be interrupted, such as customers who only have a meeting once a month, or customers who do not have any problems with remote meetings and work. . Even during the period when I was down due to depression, I was able to continue my business without bankruptcy because of the presence of these customers.

When you are just starting out as a freelancer, even if the fee is a little low, the ability to find long-term or continuous contract customers as quickly as possible will lead to stable business operations.

In the "earnings layer", there are jobs that are likely to generate large sales. For example, working with a large company on a large project, where sales suddenly increase. Even if there is a lot of hard work, it is a premise that you will receive a reward that is commensurate with it. Even if you don't continue, let's put the work that makes money in the income layer and increase sales.

In the "investment layer", there are jobs that do not require much sales. For example, in my case, I work with an IT startup before funding. Since it has not yet been funded, I can't expect much compensation, but I can gain experience by being involved in the work of a startup company that I am very interested in, and if I accumulate it, it will eventually become a track record.

In this "investment class" job, hone your skills in your favorite field, acquire even higher abilities, and increase the achievements of your favorite work in your portfolio (collection of works). In my case, more than 20% of my work is always devoted to this "investment layer".

By "visualizing" sales, you can challenge your favorite fields, secure a stable income, and make a good living.