Feast-or-famine cycle

A so-called feast-or-famine cycle is a problem known to many freelancers — periods of busy work and strong income alternate with periods when work and money are scarce. This is followed by hustling for new work to stop the slump, the work picks up again, and the cycle repeats itself over time.

The root cause of the problem is typically connected to poorly grasped personal marketing, rather than market seasonality. As Poornima Apte explains in her article Avoid the Freelance Feast-or-Famine Cycle by Soft Marketing Your Skills, one of the solutions is the strategy of continuous or “soft” marketing, i.e. spreading self-promotion and business networking evenly over time, and not just into periods of income hunger.

Finally, the author adds a charming gamification tip: Every day counts, so she moves 3 beans from one jar to another every time she does something small to promote or present herself. One look at the jars and she knows right away how she’s doing this month. After all, good freelance marketing is a bit like planting seeds. (Want to plant one too? Join us!)

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