The "one client" timing dilemma
Like many people I had a lot of work 10+ years ago when pretty much everyone was doing some kind of freelance work.
At some point I got a client that kept growing and I hired a team to support that client, but in the process I learned that I'm not a person who thrives in building a business - I'm more of a "basement scientist" kind of guy.
Anyway... my team grew to 20 people with pretty much 10+ hrs/day of work requests including myself. I built a website, case studies etc. as an approach to gain at least another big client and create a sustainable business, but I also have a family so my time was extremely limited, I put 24/7 time for this single client.
This kept on for 8 years then one day they said that they need to reduce their dev budget by 80%. Unfortunately I had to let go of lots of team members since we didn't had any other client to support our income.
Currently we are on a skeleton crew supporting this client. I reached out to old contacts but everyone is now doing DIY with Claude. I also submitted my CV for remote and hybrid work as I need to support my family, but market is insane right now.
Apologies for the rant... my question is, in the current market - especially with AI - how are you acquiring stable clientele outside of direct referrals?
Second question is - how do you manage to acquire AND intake new clients while in parallel supporting existing clients, staying profitable and having a life/family?
My current plan is to focus for the next 3 months on a single platform but we are starting at zero.