It’s been just over a year since I’ve started freelancing, but I thought I’d share some really broad observations about the flow of business, and how it affects a small freelance shop like my own. Take all of this with a grain of salt, as it’s an insanely small sample size (just me) and observed during both 1) my first year of business, and 2) one of the biggest economic downturns in history. Nothing in here is a hard rule — this is just what I’ve found, one year in.

Slow start

The first three months of the new year, January and February especially, are fairly slow. It’s a gradual stream of leads, but it seems that many firms are still just “getting back to things” after the holidays. I didn’t do enough of it this year, but it’s great to use this downtime to really focus on internal marketing and sales. Spend time publishing more frequently to your blog, spruce up your portfolio site, and execute on new ideas.

Spring fever

Around late March an early April, things seemed to pick up. I had more solid leads in one day in early April than I had during the first three months of the year. I’m not sure if this is a real trend, or just luck. Honestly, there’s no reason to think that things will be the same next year — things could look very different (i.e. fast in the late winter, slow in the spring — or all slow/all fast)

Everyone golfs in August

While not every industry does this, many professional firms shut down in August, as many employees take their summer vacations. Lawyers, investment firms, executives, etc. all seem to run away, en-masse, at the same time.

Of course, this isn’t the whole economy, but it can be an important trend to consider, as many key stakeholders in your process may be difficult to engage or absent during this time. Plan on focusing on non-professional services clients (maybe shift to small tech firms, or the non-profit sector) or taking a short vacation of your own. Of course, you can also use any free time to focus back on your own firm’s marketing.

Ramp up to the holidays

Throughout the fall, all the way until just before the holiday season in December, many firms and organizations scramble to spend any remaining marketing budgets. This can be a great time to recover from any late summer slowdown, and really land some great projects to keep you busy until the holidays. Plus, I find working hard in the winter a great way to avoid thinking about shitty weather and focus on my projects. Work’s always the same, rain or shine.

Always be working

Really, I wouldn’t look too far into these observations as a template for discrete business cycles. Again, this is a very easily influenced sample size of one — just my firm and what I’ve been through in my first year of business. What I’ve seen this year will more than likely change next year, and the year after that, especially as my business grows and changes.

The important thing is to be prepared for very unexpected changes in your sales funnel. If you find you’re not getting enough work to be fully utilized, start putting those extra hours into marketing and generating new leads.

When you’re getting swarmed with leads and new clients, do your best to schedule as much work as you can — try to say yes to the most promising projects you’re a great fit for, and keep your days packed with work. If you’re overbooked in the short-term, try to convince the client to commit to starting later, when you’re free. This will help you keep things fully-utilized and build up some extra savings for when things inevitably slow down again.

If you’re smart about it (and a touch lucky), you can mitigate some of the common cash-flow issues freelancers face by being adaptable to the sales leads coming in.