The 40-client cutoff that made me rethink my freelance caseload
I was sitting at 40 active clients last spring in Phoenix, and my average turnaround had crept up to 6 days, which I thought was fine. Then one client sent a 2-line email about a missed filing deadline, and I realized I was juggling too many small gigs to do any of them properly. Is there a magic number where you all stop taking on new work, or do you just ride the wave until something breaks?
That "ride the wave until something breaks" line hit hard because that's exactly what I did, and the break was ugly. I capped myself at 15 active projects after a month where two clients needed urgent fixes at the same time and I dropped the ball on both. Since then I've realized the real limit isn't the number, it's how much mental space each one takes up, and that's way harder to measure.