Allison’s Rule of Three

Three is a sacred number in many religious. In Christianity, there are three gods in one (called “The Trinity”). In the Hindu world, you have the three main gods – Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Muslims make pilgrimages to three holy cities. Wiccans believe in a rules of three. Odin takes three forms in Eddic mythology, and there are three Greek fates.

The number three is also used in industries and arts. For example, in photography and art, the rule of three refers to the best focal points on a page. Many philosophers have rules of three (for example, Aristotle’s 3-in-1 idea is mind, self-knowledge, and self-love). Some people believe that luck “comes in threes.” I could go on and on, but I’m sure you’re starting to get bored of this by now.

Image: sxc.hu

Why am I telling you all this? Because I also have a Rule of Three, and mine applies to freelance writing. I hinted about this rule earlier today when I talked about being secure as a freelance writer, but I wanted to explain it a little further.

Allison’s Rule of Three is all about clients. There are three parts, each with three components:

• Major clients
• Minor clients
• Intermittent clients

Major Clients

Major clients refers to any client that orders a huge quantity of work every single month. These are your long-term gigs that pay really well. You can set your own cut-off point, depending on your income. For me, a major client is someone who pays me $500 or more.

You should have at least three major clients.

Minor Clients

Minor clients are clients that order work from you without fail every month…but not enough work to pay many bills. Again, my cut-off between major and minor is $500, but yours could be different depending on your income and cost of living.

You should have at least three minor clients.

Intermittent Clients

Not all of your clients will order work every single month. In fact, most won’t. I call these intermittent clients. Some will order more regularly than others, but you don’t have any kind of long-term commitment with these clients.

No, you shouldn’t have just three intermittent clients! You should have enough of these clients in your life that at least three of them order work from your every month. You can’t make people order work, so how do you ensure this? Have some of your “intermittent” clients be places where you can opt to take work or not, depending on your schedule. For example, Demand Studios is a place where you can take work some weeks, but decide not to take any work other weeks. Writing companies in general are good for this type of thing. They fill the space when you lose a major or minor client as well!

I’m not always the best at following my own rules. For example, right now I have just two major clients and more minor/intermittent clients. This is about a goal though. Strive to fulfill Allison’s Rule of Three, and you’ll have a much more secure workload as a freelancer.

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