While new freelancers might struggle to find one customer here or there (and will serve the heck out of that customer to keep them happy), seasoned freelancers who start to make a name for themselves will have an opposite problem: Too many clients and more on the sidelines who are eager to sign up.

There is such a thing as too many clients. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to tell what the “magic number” is because some clients might have varying needs or might send projects back multiple times. There was a time in my career when I had two clients and they took up twelve hours of each day; and there have been other times when I had fifty clients who, collectively kept me busy for eight hours a day.

Recently I found myself forgetting who all of my clients were and starting to stress out about the possibility of missing a deadline. When that happens, it’s a sign to me that I need to optimize my client list. (Yes, I raise my fees from time to time and yes I schedule work farther and farther out, but I’ve found that there needs to be something else that addresses the current list of clients). So, here’s what I do when I start to froth at the mouth from being overbooked:

• First, list all of your clients on a big piece of paper or the closest whiteboard. Search all sources and include clients even if they get a tiny project from you once in a blue moon.
• Second, draw 6 columns, and these 6 columns will contain the criteria you’ll use to determine how to optimize your client list. (I’ll tell you what goes in the columns in a moment).

Choose your favorite 3-level scoring system. Green, yellow, red; +1, 0, -1; happy face, neutral face, sad face; good, bad, ugly; high, medium, low. That kind of thing. Make it easy on yourself; don’t bother with a percentage or out-of-ten number. This is all “gut feeling” stuff.

The columns are as follows (and you can put them in any order, but this is the order I put them in):

• Rate: How much do they pay?
• Ease: Are they easy to work with? The easier the better. (Of course you want a challenge but I’m talking about those nit-picking customers who send stuff back ten or twelve times compared to the ones who love you and accept your occasional errors)
• Consistency: Do they send you regular work or is it sporadic? Are you their “on-call” person or their go-to person?
• Size: How big is the workload they send? Are they sending you a dribble each month or a torrent? (Of course you may not ONLY want to work on big projects, but working on a few big projects tends to be more profitable than switching several times a day between smaller projects).
• Opportunity: What does your future relationship look like with them? Is it bright? Is there a lot of work coming down the pipeline or is this a one-off project?
• Leverage: Can you leverage this relationship in the future? (For example, a ghostwriting project with a strict no-attribution policy will receive a lower score than something you are a co-author on).

Now, rate each client based on these six factors. At the end, you’ll have a very clear idea of the clients who are the best and brightest for your long-term growth. Make a plan for each client: For your best clients, figure out how you can lock yourself in by adding value and strengthening the relationship. For your worst clients, figure out how you can improve the situation or extricate yourself from it.