I keep waiting for the shoe to drop. Every January I lose an anchor client by no fault of my own. It’s usually an agency lost a contract. Or often the project lost the freelance budget. The new year typically means new contracts and budgets, which affects us as freelancers.

And while it hasn’t happened to me yet this year, I’ve heard of others who have lost an anchor client already this month. So I thought now was a good time to update this post. And to remind myself what to do when (not if) it happens to me. Because even if I escape the January curse then I’m sure I’ll lose a big client sometimes this year – it’s just part of freelancing.

If you are in this boat right now, you are not alone.

1. Let yourself feel whatever you want…

…for a set period of time. I usually give myself 24 hours, maybe 48 at most. We put our hearts and souls into our businesses and our clients often become our friends. So very often we have an emotional reaction to the situation. And that’s fine. For me, I find it’s better to just let myself feel whatever I am feeling than fight it. I usually cry and eat more ice cream than I should, but maybe that’s just me.

You can feel upset with yourself if you did something wrong. You can feel mad at the universe. You can even be mad at the client. You can be whatever you want. Just try not to feel ashamed or embarrassed. It happens to every single freelancer, regardless of their years of experience or expertise.

But what you can’t do is panic. It just isn’t helpful. Once you start to panic, then it’s time to move onto the action phase. Sometimes I will move to the action phase and realize I need to come back to step 1 for a little longer and that’s okay. But don’t get stuck there.

2. Figure out the numbers.

Take a deep breath and sit down with your accounting system. Add up how much income the lost client represents per month. Then figure out how losing that amount affects your budget. Does it mean that you won’t be able to pay your mortgage? Or just that you are saving less for retirement? Look at your budget and see if there is anything you can cut in the short term, if you need to. Write down the amount of money that you absolutely have to replace right away. Then write down the amount of money you would like to replace in a reasonable amount of time. This amount is probably the amount of income you previously earned from the client.

3. Find a short-term solution.

This means figuring out how to replace the first amount you wrote down, which is the amount you must have in order to pay your bills and keep your lights on.

Two effective ways I have found of doing this are:

1. • Reach out to current and former clients. People you have already worked with are most likely to hire you quickly. They know you, they like you and you already have all the necessary paperwork. This post tells you how to do it. An important point: I have found it’s most effective to say something along these lines, “I just finished a big project with [insert impressive name if you have one] and have some availability.” It’s true. You did just finish a big project. And even if you don’t have a big brand name to toss out, it still makes you sound like an in-demand writer and not  desperate hack. Even if you got fired by a client, it’s still true – you finished a project.
   • Let your writer friends know what happened and ask for their help. Most writers wait too long to do this because they are embarrassed. But you shouldn’t be. Everyone who has freelanced for more than two minutes has lost an anchor client. And every one of us knows the desperate feeling of needing more work. So contact your writer friends and let them know you’re looking. Remind your friends of your niches and experience then ask if they would pass along any leads they run across. And if you’ve been helping other writers – referring work, passing on leads and giving advice to other writers when they need it – then the universe will very likely smile on you and you will very shortly find your inbox filled with editors’ emails, gig ideas and possibly even some introductions to potential clients. If you are a positive contributor to the writer community, then you will find the writer community will have your back and help you out. Because each of us knows that it’s only a matter of time before we are the one writing that very same email.

4. Think about what type of client you are looking for.

If the client you lost represented more than 20 percent of your income, then you should be looking for multiple new clients. The next step is to look at your current client list and see what type of client would be a good complement to your list. I personally try to have a diversity in agencies vs direct businesses as well as industries to minimize my damage if an industry bottoms out. (Think of the mortgage crisis of 2008.) Now is also a good time to look through your clips to see if you have a developed a new niche to take advantage of, or if you have any double-niche clips you can use. Then write down around five types of clients, such as agency, hospitality technology business, insurance agency, hospital, and cloud computing company. This is also a good time to think about your perfect client so that you can more easily spot clients that are likely to turn into anchor clients.

5. Make a list of potential clients.

Use my Audience First method to make a list of potential direct clients. If your target is a new agency, then use this post for ideas. I personally like to do this part while I’m doing something that doesn’t require my full attention, such as watching a sports game on TV or a movie with my family that I am not really interested in but still want to be near them. Then when I sit down to market myself, I don’t waste time figuring out where to start, I just pull out my list and get to work.

6. Update your website and LinkedIn.

Spend some time adding new clips to your website and updating your About Me page. This is also a good time to update your Skyword and Contently profiles as well. Then move to LinkedIn. Is your title accurate? Do you have all of your niches listed? Is the list of brands and publications up to date? Do you have any happy clients that you could ask for a recommendation? It’s essential to get your passive marketing up-to-date BEFORE you start marketing, otherwise your marketing might not turn into work.

7. Make a plan.

Come up with a list of marketing activities that you want to do every day as well as on a weekly basis. Check out my post on what I did after I lost three anchor clients in 2016. And be sure to read Holly Bowne’s post on her massive action daily marketing plan and then her follow up post a year later on what happened (spoiler alert: she doubled her income!). The trick is writing down your plan in very specific detail: “I am going to send out 5 Letters of Introduction each day and 25 LOIs a week. Each week I am going to follow up on 10 LOIs that I sent last year and contact at least two former co-workers.”

8. Get to work.

Don’t put it off. Get started on your plan. Figure out the best time of the day to work on marketing and put it on your calendar. Here are a few posts to help you with your marketing efforts:

1. • Five Week Marketing Plan to Increase Your Income. This plan walks you through the steps of launching a major marketing effort.
   • Three Pillars of Landing Clients. There are only 3 ways to get clients. And this post explains how to set up your business to take advantage of those pillars.
   • 80+ Marketing Activities for Freelance Writers. This giant list should give you plenty of ideas of ways to look for new clients.
   • Getting work through LinkedIn profile views. I got an anchor client earlier this year using this method. It works. If you just have the basic LinkedIn, you have to check who viewed your profile often since you can only see the last two or three people.

And the good news is that it looks like I gained two new clients already. A local company in my niche reached out to me cold on LinkedIn and offered me regular whitepaper work. They loved the outline I did last week and am working on the draft this week. And I had a call last with an agency that needs regular case study work with a ginormous tech company that looks promise.

Because I made myself follow my own advice and reached out to past clients, I’m now on the second draft of a new whitepaper that I landed with a single check-in email with a client I hadn’t heard from for a few months.

Yes, it sucks when you lose an anchor client. Yes, it’s scary. I had several hours of panic. Yes, it’s normal to feel like you are a fraud and are never going to find a new client (if that’s you, read this). But the most important thing to remember is that there are companies and agencies out there looking for writers with your exact personality, strengths, skills and experience. They need you. And it’s your job to find those exact clients.

You can do this. I promise.

What did you do when you lost an anchor client? Share your experience – how you felt and what you did – so that others in this same predicament will feel less alone.