Strategic tasks to do when client work is slow
One to one client work can be inconsistent and sporadic, especially when you are first getting started in business. Some months you may have more work than you can handle and in other months you may be very quiet.
At other times world events that are out of your control can cause a market to slow down or client to become wary about spending money or moving forward with projects they had already been speaking with you about.
In this post I share some strategic tasks you can be doing in those quieter periods between clients that will help you even out your workload and create a more steady stream of clients over the long term.
Proactive Lead Generation
Almost every designer I meet who complains about not having enough clients or enough revenue are simply not doing enough proactive, daily, consistent lead generation. And when you are having a slow period in your business it’s time to really ramp up the work you’re doing to find new leads.
And I don’t mean simply posting an image on your Instagram account each day and waiting for clients to come to you!
I mean the scary stuff like:
💡 reaching out to potential strategic partners and building relationships
💡 actively seeking out client referrals
💡 using social media strategically as a business and lead generation tool
💡 building connections and networking about your business everywhere you go
💡 reaching out to your network regularly to find new potential opportunities
If you need help - here’s a training where I will break down heaps of lead generation strategies that you can start using today - Find more clients with better lead generation
Batch new content and social media posts
One of the best ways to find more leads is to start creating more valuable content (e.g. writing blog posts, posting on your social media, posting reels, creating a video show, starting a podcast).
Your free content helps build your authority as an expert in your niche area and it also helps your community get to ‘know, like and trust’ you. In addition, publishing consistent content will help to keep you top of mind with potential clients, so that when they are ready to start working on their project then you are the person they think of to help them.
While things are quiet you should be using the time to create huge amounts of content for your business that you can then set on a schedule to be posted once you become busy again. This content should help people start to get to know about you - who you are, what you do, why it matters and who you are trying to help.
Once work picks up again you will be setting yourself up with a great advantage as you will have a steady stream of consistent content ready to post - rather than this aspect of your business falling away once you become busy with client projects again.
Don’t waste the down time that you have when business is quiet - use it to:
share what you know with your community - be generous with your knowledge and share helpful tips and ideas
batch create lots of reels for Instagram (and purpose them to TikTok)
start a YouTube channel or podcast
write some blog posts and schedule these over the coming months
create a content schedule for your social media (e.g. Instagram)
put together a content plan that you can stick to once work picks up again - map out the content topics and when you will post each topic so that you don’t have to think about this when work is busy. This will make it easier to be more consistent with your posting.
batch as much content as you can - e.g. write 5 blog posts and set them on a schedule to automatically publish over the next 5 weeks.
Review and remove unnecessary expenses
If you don’t have quite enough work coming in then you want to make sure that you are running your business as lean as you can - and this means making sure that you aren’t paying for expenses that you aren’t using.
One thing that can easily happen in a business is to build up a number of regular automatic payments for software or other subscription type products. It can be easy to lose track of these and you can end up just paying out for them month after month.
So in your down time here’s some things you can be doing to cut out unnecessary expenses:
Take stock of all your current subscriptions, automatic payments, other bills and expenses. You will likely have some that you have forgotten about and that you no longer use.
Go through your bank statement for the last 6 months line by line and use this time to review each payment and cancel any subscriptions or expenses that you are no longer making use of.
Tip: If you have heaps of subscriptions or you are worried that you have missed some you can get your bank to reissue you cards for you and ask them to stop any automatic payments that are being taken out of your account. If you start finding that you are missing things you make use of you will soon realise and can update that provider with your new details. For those that you haven’t been using - you will automatically stop paying them by using this method.
Create additional streams of revenue
Use your down time to think about how you can scale your business by creating additional streams of revenue. This might be through the creation of new products or services or perhaps via finding new ways to deliver your existing services.
Putting together new products or services isn’t easy to do when you have a full client workload so make the most of this downtime to map out some new ideas and actually get them created.
Here’s some ideas:
Create online design consultations. Zoom is a great tool for this as you can record the meeting and offer this as an ‘add on’ to the client so they can refer back to the content later.
Host a live or pre-recorded training or webinar around one of your areas of interest or expertise.
Think about the questions you get asked all the time and create scaleable products that you can sell on your website - e.g. ebooks, templates, resources, downloads, checklists, done for you designs etc.
If you’re interested in some more ideas around this then check out these other posts I’ve written:
Make more money in your design business with multiple streams of revenue
Heaps of other ideas for growing your business on the full blog
Improve your systems and processes
When we are busy it can be hard to take the time to create systems and processes that will save us time later on.
So use your quieter period to take stock of your business over the past year and ask yourself some questions:
How has the business been running? Does it feel chaotic or in control? if it’s chaotic - how might this be improved?
Which areas of your business do you do over and over that you could streamline and create processes around - or perhaps outsource to a virtual assistant (VA)?
What systems could you set up so that when your work picks up again it will be faster and easier for you to deliver (which means you can handle more clients on the go at one time)?
I personally find Notion a really helpful tool for managing systems and processes within my own business.
If you need help getting started with systems then you may find my business templates and course helpful - browse them all HERE
Learn new skills
The best way to be growing as a business owner is to always be learning.
This might be learning more about your craft itself or it might be learning about the other essential aspects of running a business like marketing, social media, leadership or even about how to improve your productivity.
Use your slower periods to upskill yourself in areas of interest or weakness by:
listening to podcasts
taking online courses
watching educational content videos
reading books (or listening to them)
finding a mentor or business coach who can help you improve your business.
There are so many proactive and practical things that we can be doing during slower periods in business. Instead of taking a break or feeling down about not having enough client work.
So if work is slow use this time to build solid foundations not only for your business itself but for your own personal and professional development.
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
