Do you have recurring revenue in your biz?
This mindset shift will change your life.
The Sustainable Solopreneur is a weekly newsletter about seasonal, cyclical, supportive business strategy for solopreneurs and creative souls who want more out of life than the status quo, hosted by business coach and strategist Jenni Gritters. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while and you receive value from it, I’d encourage you to sign up for a paid subscription.
In growth mode and want to join a team of creatives who are on the same track? I’m opening up enrollment for The [Sustainable] Scale Club! It’s a small mastermind group that I’ll be offering 2x per year for a group of 15 creators. We’ll cover how to grow in a sustainable way, with a focus on money, launching, proposals and systems. You’re invited!
There’s this secret that high-paid freelancers and creators are keeping. And I want to let you in on it.
It’s called recurring revenue.
Let me back up: When you start working for yourself, many of us (myself included) begin by taking on projects — or gigs. For most of us, being a freelancer means juggling. If you’re a freelance writer, you’re probably working on dozens of projects at the same time. Same goes for programmers or digital content creators.
The problem with this method is that it works for a little while. For three or so years, most of us are able to sustain that conveyer belt of projects. But slowly, we start to get tired. I mean, who can run on a treadmill for that long? When we get tired, or we try to exhale, it also means we stop chasing down projects.
And you know what happens next: Revenue slows, or sometimes stops altogether.
It can seem like you’ve built a business monster that requires you to stay engaged every single second of the day. If you step away, you stop earning and you can’t pay your bills. So you run and run and run and run.
It’s a hamster wheel. It feels awful, mentally and physically.
About a year into my journey, I realized that 6-figure freelancers and creators were doing something different: Most of them had recurring clients. By this I mean that they had clients who gave them work over and over again. Some of these freelancers were on retainer, which meant that a contract governed the relationship and allowed them to get paid the same amount, month over month, for a set number of hours or projects. Others had relationships that I call rotating stability, which meant that their clients handed them a new project each time they finished one. That client was always present on their project list, to the extent that they could rely on that income. Still others had programs, courses or resources that provided them with a steady $1,000 or $2,000 per month.
Recurring revenue is revenue that shows up in your bank account over and over again, month over month, year over year. As a business coach, it’s always my goal that your recurring revenue covers your basic expenses, like rent and utilities.
And this is what I’ve come to understand, after teaching hundreds of freelancers how to get off the conveyer belt and implement recurring revenue (a lesson that makes up the whole first module of SUSTAIN, my group coaching program — it’s that important!): Recurring revenue is incredible because it helps you feel safe.
When you feel safer, your nervous system can calm down. If you’re able to move out of sympathetic nervous system mode (fight, flight, freeze and fawn) and into parasympathetic mode (rest and digest), you have more gas in the tank for business sprints and making risky decisions. You are also more open to others and develop authentic relationships. Your marketing starts to feel less sticky and, as a result, you more easily land new clients.
In short: Recurring revenue works because it calms your nervous system.
When you know your basic bills are paid, you can rest.
Here’s an example: I built my group coaching program, SUSTAIN, to be sustainable for my clients and for me. At the moment, clients’ membership fees bring in about $7,000/ month of revenue. Every month, when I see those payments drop into my account, I feel deeply relieved. And, I feel like I can take risks in my business and try new things, which almost always works out in my favor.
For a long time, back when I started my writing business in 2018, REI was one of my core clients. They even paid me a retainer fee while I was on maternity leave! Their payments made up about $40,000 of my income each year. I did all kinds of projects for them, but landing that client made me feel like I could breathe. It was the whole reason I kept freelancing in those early days.
This is what I want for every freelancer: The ability to get off the treadmill and feel safe. It’s literally the key to feeling free to take risks, which is directly tied to building more wealth. and impacting more people.
When you first start working for yourself, especially if you’re a gig worker, no one talks about this. Everyone is chasing that big-budget project. But I’d rather you have a client that pays $1,500 a month versus you picking up a $10,000 project. Why? Spreading that work out and making it reliable is a game changer.
I know you’re asking: Cool idea. But, how?
You can ask your current clients to move into a more patterned relationship by proposing rotating stability or a retainer.
You can consider adding offers to your service menu that can only be purchased via a retainer.
You can build your own programs with an eye on recurring revenue.
(I teach all of this in SUSTAIN so again, you can join the program and get access to retainer templates, language, ideas, and beyond right now.)
The bottom line is this: Give yourself permission to implement stability. It’s not actually counter to flexibility at all — in fact, stability actually allows for more flexibility.
You deserve rest.
xo,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. I’m obsessed with teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here, and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.