#173: How to Rethink — and Land More — Anchor Clients, with Wudan Yan

Deliberate Freelancer

Today’s guest is Wudan Yan, a narrative writer and independent journalist from Seattle. Wudan is also host of The Writers’ Co-op, a podcast, online community and learning academy for freelance creatives.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The different ways to define an “anchor client.”
• Why and how Wudan is rethinking the concept of an “anchor client.”
• How the current economy is affecting freelance creatives.
• The importance of “offboarding” clients.
• How to turn current clients into anchor clients.
• The importance of building and maintaining business relationships.
• Why Wudan and I charge mostly project rates.
• How Wudan pushes for project rates in service areas that are traditionally paid by the hour.
• Why now is the time to start planning for January and the rest of 2024.

Biz Bite: Do a business audit now at the end of the year

Resources:

• Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee
• The Writers’ Co-op
• Register for the November 29 “The 2023 Business Refresh with The Writers’ Co-op”
• Linktree landing page of resources and events from The Writers’ Co-op
• Wudan on Instagram
• Episode #74 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Get Paid on Time & Charge Late Fees, with Wudan Yan
• Episode #92 of Deliberate Freelancer: Improve Client Relationships with Stellar Onboarding and Offboarding, with Kat Boogaard
• Episode #11 of Deliberate Freelancer: How to Find the Right Anchor Clients
• Connect with Melanie on Threads @MelEdits_DC
• Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn
• Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group