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The biggest challenge for newbie freelancers is finding clients.

Meanwhile, for established freelancers who’ve been in the game for 2-3+ years, the biggest challenge is more variable. It could be feeling burned out or oscillations in monthly income that cause a nagging feeling of insecurity.

With these common challenges in mind, should you try to chase the relative security of retainer clients or pursue the freedom of one-off projects?

Here’s what you can expect in today’s edition:

📤 The major pros and cons of retainers and one-off projects as a freelancer

🙃 Why retainer-only setups are overrated

🎂 Yes, you can have your cake (freedom) and eat it (stability)

💡 How to grow with BOTH retainers and one-off projects

📤 The major pros and cons of retainers and one-off projects as a freelancer

All freelancers — and I guarantee, ALL — will experience a strange irony at some point in their journey.

Freelancing once represented freedom (ahem, the clue is in the word). It’s almost like you want to put a middle finger up at mainstream society and say “screw it, I’m the one that’s in charge of my life. I’m going to take the plunge and go out on my own.”

But then reality hits.

Maybe you get one gig, then a few more, and things are looking rosy.

Yet, you’re always looking over your shoulder.

“What if the pipeline runs dry? What will I do then?”

It’s a valid fear.

After a while, you crave the thing you once resented — a reliable paycheck every month.

The “freedom, heck yeah!” part of freelancing is taken over by “I need some consistent income, ASAP.”

Like I say, it’s a strange irony.

And it’s at this point of freelancing (which I find many writers face at the 6-12 month mark), that we crave only one thing more than a chocolatey midnight snack…

Retainer clients.

“If only I could land a couple of clients on retainer, I’d be set…”

I understand WHY we think this. It’s natural. But there are distinct pros and cons of both pure freelancing (one-off projects) and being on a retainer:

✅ Pros of one-off projects:

You may feel more motivated to work to a deadline rather than an ongoing retainer project
You can build more social proof with a longer list of clients to market yourself in the future
You have an easier “escape route” if the client turns out to be aggressive or unreliable
You benefit from exposure to a greater range of projects to broaden your skillset
You can pivot more quickly if a new/exciting opportunity arises

❌ Cons of one-off projects:

You never feel like you can take a breather from the constant pitching and prospecting
You may have to invest a lot of time to secure the gig for a much lower monetary reward
You lack a secure income you can count on each month, which becomes stressful
You may need to juggle many projects at once, which can be overwhelming
You have shallower interactions and work relationships with clients

✅ Pros of retainers:

You can enjoy more security of income than one-off gigs
You have more exposure to certain types of tasks to deepen your skills
You are more likely to receive positive reviews and testimonials for your work
You are also more likely to generate referrals, helping with your future marketing
You get to develop longer-term relationships with clients, which can be rewarding

❌ Cons of retainers:

Your clients can be more demanding and treat you like an employee
The work can soon feel repetitive and boring if you’re not passionate about it
You have less location freedom if they need you to be in or close to their time zone
You have less time freedom if they need you to be available on set days of the week
You may be unwillingly drawn into the office gossip/politics (yes, even in remote teams)

Before we continue, here are two previous editions in case you want a recap:

🙃 Why retainer-only setups are overrated

Overrated? How can a steady batch of work (and money) coming in every week or every month be overrated?

Let me tell you why.

In my experience, if I’ve got a retainer gig that:

Means I have to write about dull, snooze-fest topics
Means I don’t have much (or any) variety in my work
Means I have no autonomy and have to take instructions like a FT employee
Means I have to attend Zoom meetings and reply to Slack messages without being paid for it

Then yeah, it’s overrated!

And the situations above do happen.

It’s a horrible feeling when that spark of “ooh, this is fun” turns into “oh boy, I have to work on this AGAIN?”

You’re wrong if you think I’m against retainer setups.

But filling your schedule with retainer work without room for anything else?

It’s a mistake, in my view.

Which leads me to…

🎂 Yes, you can have your cake (freedom) and eat it (stability)

Freelancing without having secure work on retainer is unnerving.

And being exclusively on retainer with no time for one-off gigs is career-stunting.

So what gives?

Well, you can do both.

Most freelancers want to find a happy medium of freedom and stability.

Freedom is associated with autonomy, creativity, and self-expression.

Whereas stability is associated with calmness and safety.

All of these are core human needs.

Rather than pursuing one or the other, consider this:

What does the ideal work schedule look like for you?

Rarely will it be 100% retainer work or 100% one-off projects.

Sure, I’ve had phases of my career where circumstances allowed me to be “braver” and only do one-off projects in order to give me a greater breadth of experience.

And I’ve also had months where I wanted to take a short break from the freelancing rollercoaster and was happy to “coast” working on a solid retainer.

All sorts of factors are relevant here:

Your current emotional state
Your current energy levels
Your current financial needs/responsibilities

These will alter whether you’re more motivated by freedom or stability.

However, aiming for anywhere from 50% one-off projects and 50% retainers to 30% one-off projects and 70% retainers is typically the sweet spot for most freelancers.

Time to go get that cake (and eat it with gusto!)

💡How to grow with BOTH retainers and one-off projects

So, we’ve established that you probably want a healthy mix of retainers and one-off projects coming your way.

Now how to get them?

Personally, my current setup is like this:

Around 70% of my work is on a retainer as a contractor and 30% of my time is spent on one-off projects.

One-off projects that can pay well include:

Advertorials
Email autoresponder sequences
Landing pages
Sales pages
Video sales letters (VSLs)
Website copy
White papers

And what about types of work that lead more naturally to retainers?

Blog articles
Email newsletters
Email list management
SEO management
Social media content

If you can prove your worth beyond writing, retainers that involve more of a hands-on management or strategist role pay well if you package them in the right way.

After all, there’s no shortage of freelance content writers.

There are a limited number of truly great copywriters.

And those creative folks who a client can rely on for both writing and managing their SEO, email list, or social media strategy…

They are the unicorns.

They’re the ones who have the most power to raise their rates and enjoy a variety of work.

It’s easier for a client to replace their content writer than to find a replacement for their combined copywriter + SEO specialist or email list manager.

At the heart of it:

Be of more value to clients = be less replaceable.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to connect on LinkedIn if you feel like it.

Declan Davey — Health and Wellness Copywriter

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