Poll: Your income depends on how many clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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My monthly income depends on 6 regular customers (four agencies and two direct clients) and a lot of smaller clients (one of these was a big one but over the years things changed). The “problem” is that the big clients are not regular, some years they have no projects at all and then suddenly a huge job materializes right in front of you, while my smallish customers are very, very regular and they keep me working all year round…
| | | | Nikolay Novitskiy 
Russian Federation
Local time: 13:41
Member (2018)
English to Russian
| Grave mistake | Aug 22, 2023 |
One should never rely on one or two major clients because it makes you vulnerable. The more clients you have, the more negotiating power you posess and the more stable you income is.
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I made that huge mistake and I learned my lesson the hard way! When I started out translating some 40 years ago, I had just a single excellent client: a Belgian translation agency who gave me regular work (circa 150 pages every month) very well paid and on time until suddenly for no fault of mine their contract was cancelled and I found myself with no work at all. It was quite a blow and it took me an entire year to recover from!
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Last year, approximately
25% from 1 client,
25% from 2 clients,
25% from 5 clients,
25% from 22 clients.
That's about normal, though with all the figures down somewhat on previous years. One agency (4% of income), twenty-nine direct.
The smallest clients (20 clients below 1000 euros/year) can be very useful - in some cases they will pass on my name and in others they will come back in later years with big jobs, so they're all worth looking after.... See more Last year, approximately
25% from 1 client,
25% from 2 clients,
25% from 5 clients,
25% from 22 clients.
That's about normal, though with all the figures down somewhat on previous years. One agency (4% of income), twenty-nine direct.
The smallest clients (20 clients below 1000 euros/year) can be very useful - in some cases they will pass on my name and in others they will come back in later years with big jobs, so they're all worth looking after.
As Nikolay says, it's not a good idea to rely on just one or two major clients, though it's often not a matter of choice. It can be very difficult to build up a large client base, especially if you work with agencies, who are unlikely to pass on your name to other clients. ▲ Collapse
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Looking as Simon's balanced stats makes me jealous. I hate to say it, but the major part of my income currently comes from 3 agencies. Another handful send me work sporadically.
From August 2010 to date:
25 customers make up 99% of my income, and 5 of them 80%.
1 client 50%
3 clients 30%
The rest 20% (including one-offs)
I know it's bad to have all my eggs in very few baskets, but I am on my beat to sell all my working time (limited resource) at... See more Looking as Simon's balanced stats makes me jealous. I hate to say it, but the major part of my income currently comes from 3 agencies. Another handful send me work sporadically.
From August 2010 to date:
25 customers make up 99% of my income, and 5 of them 80%.
1 client 50%
3 clients 30%
The rest 20% (including one-offs)
I know it's bad to have all my eggs in very few baskets, but I am on my beat to sell all my working time (limited resource) at my conditions.
As couples happily married can last forever, a few busy agencies can easily take it all up. Love at first sight then makes me forget about every principle of wisdom. I just dive into the relationship while striving to keep partners happy, mostly through orgies of manually ice-picked translations and hand-cuffed QA checks. And if ever the partnership goes sour, we divorce, I leave them regrets and I keep my brain and time for other speed-dating candidates.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:41
French to English
I get most of my work from one direct client and one agency, then there are quite a few other agencies that I work occasionally with, and a fair sprinkling of direct clients who pop in and out of my life as per their needs. I couldn't give percentages. I would rather it was a little less lopsided, but the two top clients give me such interesting work I can never refuse!
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The thought of working with, like, 25 agencies sends shudders down my spine. I find keeping up with the stupid systems of two of them hard enough.
I've been happy to have one client account for 50-70% of my work most years in the past. This year, it's been more balanced with four lots of 20-25% plus a few gap fillers. Haven't had any new clients in the past two years, and that's how I like it.
More interesting to me, looking at the stats, is that I've only had 9% of my ... See more The thought of working with, like, 25 agencies sends shudders down my spine. I find keeping up with the stupid systems of two of them hard enough.
I've been happy to have one client account for 50-70% of my work most years in the past. This year, it's been more balanced with four lots of 20-25% plus a few gap fillers. Haven't had any new clients in the past two years, and that's how I like it.
More interesting to me, looking at the stats, is that I've only had 9% of my work from Sweden, the country where I've lived and whose language I speak. That market seems to have been taken over completely by blood-sucking vampires. Whereas I'm getting more and more from Norway and Denmark, where they still seem to appreciate quality. ▲ Collapse
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