One Good Client Is All You Need

Everyone sees the sabbaticals, the retreats, the nonprofit, the speaking gigs, the podcast. What nobody sees is the one client quietly paying for all of it.

I've been self-employed for almost a decade, and almost everything I've built has been made possible by a single B2B retainer client: one company, one consistent payment, every single month for five years.

Key Takeaways: 

• What B2B retainer work offers that B2C revenue streams can't 
• The burn rate audit I did when I left my job in 2017 and why still swear by 
• What to actually look for in a client and how to leverage your warm network 
• How to find out if your current employer could become your first freelance client!

This is the un-sexy, quiet strategy I still advise freedom seekers on 10 years later!

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Sam Laliberte -  entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle. Her guests have empowered themselves through flexible work as a way to “have it all” - financial, location AND schedule freedom.

Transcript

Hello, Freedom Seekers. Welcome back to The Freedom Lifestyle. This is the show where we question the default, we ditch society's templates, and we figure out what freedom actually looks like for you, because it looks different for everyone. And today we're talking about something that is less popular to talk about, and that's because it's not really that sexy or flashy to talk about.

But damn, does this strategy work, okay?

If you're new here, I am Sam. I'm a serial entrepreneur. I'm a freedom seeker. I have been self-employed now for almost a decade, and in this period, I've taken multiple mini sabbaticals. I've traveled to dozens of countries, launched various creative and really fun revenue streams. I started a nonprofit with my husband called Conscious Kitties.

And if you follow me on social media, you already know all of this. This is the part of my freedom lifestyle that people see. What they don't see, though, is that almost all of this was made [00:01:00] possible by one client, okay? Not 10, not necessarily a diversified portfolio of successful revenue streams. One company, one consistent retainer, the same payment hitting my account every single month for five years.

And I know that almost sounds too simple, but that's because I truly believe we've been sold this story about what it actually takes to leave your job and build a freedom lifestyle, and that story is making this whole thing feel way more overwhelming than it needs to be. When most people think about going out on their own, right, and building a freedom lifestyle, working for themselves, that mental image of what it takes can feel really, like, chaotic and intense.

Scrambling for clients, not knowing when money's coming in next, hustling, posting every day, building revenue streams, finding product market fit, trying to grab attention, posting on all of the different social media feeds. And for a lot of people, what that looks [00:02:00] like is not only overwhelming, but putting themselves out there consistently like that can be quite uncomfortable for a lot of people. And that mental image is often what can prevent people from even taking the leap altogether

 But what if that wasn't the only way, right? What if instead of building 10 unpredictable revenue streams all at once from day one, what if you just needed to find one solid one? Because that's the version of all of this that I've actually lived. I've seen so many friends come in and out of entrepreneurship, test the waters, launch a business, get their toes wet, and then ultimately go back and get a job a few years later.

And I want to break down why my way works and why it's worked for almost 10 years. I have not had to go back and get a job, work in an office, be confined by a traditional employment setting for almost a decade

In my way is one client, one long-term, part-time, super flexible, we're not

And my way is one client, okay? One long-term, [00:03:00] part-time, super flexible, reliable enough to basically pay all of my bills. That one client that then frees up everything else in my life to be pure exploration without any pressure, without any desperation. And I know this probably ar- already sounds almost impossible, right?

So let's talk about why this actually works.

And I know that probably already sounds impossible

And I know that probably sounds almost impossible, but let me convince you why this works, and it's easier than you think. The first distinction, though, that I really need to make is when I talk about one client, when I say one good client, I do not mean one person buying your $47 course, okay? I mean one B2B, business to business client.

A company, an organization, an employer in a sense, who's going to pay you on a contract or on a retainer basis for a specific skill or service that you will bring to their organization. This is different from the world of B2C, business to consumer, right? That's where a [00:04:00] lot of the build your personal brand advice lies.

It's what we often see online when we think of entrepreneurship, people promoting courses, group programs, workshops, podcast merch, speaking gigs. I do all of those things too. But the truth is that my B2C revenue streams, they can often take a lot of marketing, like a lot of marketing. You need to be visible

You have to be visible constantly. Staying relevant in people's minds, being the first person that they think of when they have the problem that you solve. You do have to post, you do have to promote, you do have to nurture, you do have to sell, and you have to repeat that process consistently, even if you're getting lackluster results.

And the pipeline, it never really closes because you're always trying to find new people who don't know you yet. And over time, that can definitely get better. I've really improved that. I've turned one client into a group program. I've upsellled. I've done upselling. I've increased my prices. I've outsourced some of that grind.[00:05:00]

But the B2B freelancer work, this is a completely different animal. You land the relationship once, you do good work, and they just keep paying you. And you're not running ads, you're not showing up on your Instagram stories every day. You're not trying to convince somebody constantly to trust you enough to buy.

The trust is already there because you've built it in a professional context with that employer, and you've done it well. And that is why if you follow me on social media, you see me talking about my B2C revenue streams, right? My podcast, my group coaching, speaking gigs, Conscious Kitties, all of it constantly.

But you rarely ever hear me mention my long-term retainer client. And that's not because I'm not proud of that relationship or the work that I'm doing. It just doesn't need marketing. It just needs me to deliver great work every single week. It's just quietly working in the background while everything else I do gets to be really creative and fun, and I can take risks and bring ideas to the market.

I can dream [00:06:00] up new things. I can follow inspired action without pressure. That loud stuff that you see is loud because it has to be. The stable stuff that's silent that you don't hear about it, it doesn't need me to talk about it a lot

I recently actually posted about this client, about how I've worked for them for five years, and I joked about how people think I can't keep a job. And I think people were genuinely confused. I had a lot of follow-up questions about this client, and people didn't understand how I could possibly have had this part-time job silently over the past five years without making it part of my brand.

And so two things really inspired me to create this episode. One, I don't want anybody to think I'm, like, tricking them, and this is all the way that I make my money, and it's this easy, and these are the things I'm talking about. But also, two, this is kind of my secret sauce to my entire life, so I wanna share it with you.

One good client. What this actually means and what I truly believe

I truly believe you only need one good client. [00:07:00] I have been at this for almost a decade, and despite how much change I've seen in the workplace, how much change I've seen in the workforce in this past decade, like technological changes, shifts in the economy, expectations for how work is done, like this is still solid advice I would give today.

And in fact, if I had to start over tomorrow and build a freedom lifestyle and quit my job, this is exactly what I would do. So I'm gonna get really practical in this episode. I'll give you a step-by-step process for how you too can secure that one great client and what to look for

Speaker 2: But first, let's be really clear about what happens when you actually have this one good client in place, because this is not just about financial security, okay? This is about creating your freedom lifestyle and, like, what is possible when you have this beyond just paying your bills. Like, when I know that I have one reliable retainer client that is covering [00:08:00] my bills, I'm not desperate.

I'm not hustling on my creative process and my additional side gigs from a place of fear. Like, I am saying yes to things I believe in and saying no to things I don't, because I don't need the money. I'm not putting pressure on Conscious Kitties to be profitable in year one, or on my speaking business to book every single gig, or for my podcast to monetize immediately.

Like, all of that creative stuff, the fun stuff, the fun stuff that, like, lights me up, it gets to exist entirely in a realm of inspired action. It doesn't have to pay my mortgage. And that changes everything about how you show up for those parts of your business and your reputation-building revenue streams and projects.

I spoke in my last episode about doing your best work and not settling for good enough, and I can put that extra pressure on these [00:09:00] legacy pursuits because I don't have urgency associated with them. They're not the parts of my business that, like, need to have really generous profit margins immediately.

If you have one client who's truly paying for your lifestyle and they're giving you a commitment, they're giving you that runway, you can play in these other areas from a completely different place. When this client came to me the first time, it was just a three-month test project. They have paid me every single month now for five years.

I can forecast my cash flow. I can automate my investments in Wealthsimple because I know more money is coming in. I can say yes to things that cost money in the future because I know there is consistent money coming in the future from one client. And even right now, as the economy is feeling tighter, and I'll be honest, my other n- my other revenue streams that have required [00:10:00] marketing, my B2C revenue streams, I've had less inbound opportunities.

I've had less inbound work. And I'm actually not panicking because I have this security. I'm just simply adjusting my spending habits, which is what I did when I even started my freedom lifestyle 10 years ago, which we're gonna get into in this episode

But where I'm at, despite this fluctuations in the economy, is not having to feel like I'm scrambling for more work or getting stressed as AI is, like, taking our jobs, as people are saying. I'm just really prioritizing this client. I'm showing them respect. I'm over-delivering. I'm saying yes when they ask for some things that are out of scope.

I'll take a call with them even if it's not a convenient time. I'll send them a report whenever they're asking for a report. Like, it is a mutually beneficial relationship that is based on respect. And for that, I am willing to bend my boundaries. Despite me being somebody who [00:11:00] is so firm on my boundaries and really trying to empower you and empower myself, there is a time and a place for that, right?

And when you have this client who is supporting so much more than just a free afternoon, it's really allowing you to build a freedom lifestyle. You, you gotta show them that respect back

And what will you get in return? For me, I get total freedom, okay? And that is worth bending things for. That is priceless. Before you can do this, though, there's one thing that we haven't even mentioned or discussed yet, which is one of the first things that you should do, which is know your numbers. Know what it actually costs you to live.

Like, know your burn rate. How much are you spending every single month if you are going to try to find that one client who pretty much pays for everything? When I left my last job, 2017, working in sales downtown Toronto at a tech [00:12:00] startup, the first thing I did is I sat down with my credit card statements.

I looked at multiple months' worth of spending and actually figured out what I was spending on what. It was humbling. I honestly hadn't done it. And when I speak to people, a lot of people admit that they do not do this. They really focus on the money that's coming in and less so on, like, the money that was coming out

And what this allowed me to do was have an honest conversation with myself, my journaling, my reflecting process about, okay, how do I actually want to be spending my money knowing that for everything I spend, I'm gonna have to go out on my own as a self-employed entrepreneur and go make that money in order to spend whatever I'm spending it on?

And I identified multiple areas in my life where I was spending on things that didn't actually matter. I was living in downtown Toronto, where Uber was everywhere and so easy to just get an Uber, and I would just, like, default to just ride-sharing apps, going to a friend's house.

[00:13:00] And that, like, was really adding up. I didn't realize how much I was spending on Ubers to just get around the city until I went and looked at my credit card statements and actually saw that number and realized I have a lot more time now that I've quit my job. Why don't I just, like, speed walk to my friends' houses or the grocery store or whatever errands I'm doing?

It can be part of my workout. It can be, like, deep thinking time, and I can, you know, reduce that number significantly. I would also often socialize with friends, getting drinks after work, going to a cocktail bar. Even happy hour is expensive. What about if I just had my friends over to my cute apartment and got, like, a really nice bottle of wine instead of, like, literally spending 4X on a cocktail bar?

Do I really need to be getting a $100 pedicure every single month or can I just buy a $20 bottle of nail polish and do it myself?

None of these things felt like deprivation, by the way. I wasn't cutting the things that actually [00:14:00] mattered to me, and that is a big part of this. Like, part of a freedom lifestyle and a rich life is knowing where spending money is actually going to give you meaningful returns, and not feeling shameful about spending money on those areas.

I still, to this day, spend freely on health stuff. Fitness classes, supplements, products that really align with my values, I don't make any compromises there. But I did stop spending on the things that were kind of just becoming habits. Habits from my old life, like status symbol style purchases or things that just gave me convenience or honestly, like, shopping that I was doing just to make myself feel better about my miserable office life.

Once I really reduced that monthly spend and made some of those cuts, I found that the number that I had to make each month felt a lot more approachable and accessible

[00:15:00] It made it a lot more digestible to leave that steady office job knowing that this is how much I needed to make to cover my life. And I wasn't necessarily trying to replace a corporate salary. I was trying to cover a leaner, more intentional lifestyle. And that is a completely different target, and I really recommend doing this at the beginning of your journey.

Even now, 10 years later, when I have more excess cash, I am still standing by a lot of these very prudent spending habits. I don't just get on the hedonic treadmill and increase my burn rate because my revenue is up. If anything, I save, I invest, and honestly, I donate a lot of it too, which feels way more meaningful than buying a new bikini for every single trip or, like, upgrading my denim collection because skinny jeans are no longer in, so now I gotta get baggy barrel jeans.

Like, I [00:16:00] don't need to be doing that. I work hard. I work intentionally for my money, and I spend it just as thoughtfully. So know your burn rate going into this, be intentional about your spending, and really aim to find one good client who can cover most, if not all, of that monthly cost And when I talk about getting one good client, definitely a piece of this is the money, but it's also gonna be the type of work and your relationship to that work that you're now doing that is going to matter a lot.

You need to have one good client who, yes, pays for your bills, but also one that doesn't suck all of your energy, one that allows you to work on your own terms. So, ideally, it's gonna be an arrangement where there are clear deliverables that you can complete at your own pace from your own place, right? In my case, the client I have, they require me to deliver a weekly podcast episode.

So [00:17:00] every Wednesday at 8:00 AM, it needs to be shipped and distributed on all the major podcast players. When I get that done, where I produce this episode from, they don't care. As long as I'm consistently putting out a high-quality episode every Wednesday, they really don't care. They work with my life.

They don't work against it. In fact, when I went on my four-month sabbatical last year with Jairen, living in a van, living in New Zealand. Go back and watch some of those episodes. I created a lot of really great content on the podcast about it. That client, they 100% supported it. In fact, they accommodated it.

They allowed me to batch a bunch of podcast recordings before I even went on the trip so that I wouldn't have to schedule any recordings with guests during those four months while I'm, like, living in a van in a different continent and time zone. They were happy to do that. And in return, I didn't mind [00:18:00] grabbing my laptop a few times a month on that trip to just check in on projects, respond to any questions, sending them reports.

I knew I was gonna come back from that sabbatical to that one client's consistent work versus returning from that sabbatical panicking because for four months I hadn't been nurturing any new work and I now needed to find my next contract and, like, having that safety net waiting for me was truly priceless, was truly priceless.

I bet I would've spent the last month of my sabbatical getting to, getting ready to return to work, starting to market myself, starting to pitch myself while on the road so that I had a client waiting for me in month five so that I had at least money coming in in month five. I didn't have to do that.

Launching Conscious Kitties, this wellness brand with Jared from scratch, there's been no pressure for it to immediately work. All of this has been possible. Speaking at events, turning down ones that didn't feel right, building a speaking business that I actually am proud of instead of just booking whatever comes [00:19:00] in.

It all comes back to me having one solid, maybe un- like not that sexy B2B retainer client working in the background. And when I talk about not sexy, it's like we live in a world where what is really impressive about having a business is scaling, raising money, hiring a team, getting media attention. This client doesn't give me any of those things.

It's not that impressive to talk about, but like behind all of it, it's the foundation for everything

And so when I say go out and find that one good client, what are you actually looking for? Because like I said, it's not just about finding somebody who will pay for you to do something because that part is easy. It is about finding the person who will give you the right fit. So the type of profile that I would get you to build towards and look for is definitely a company that is gonna pay you consistently, reliably, [00:20:00] a company that is fully remote or has a lot of remote workers and contractors, and that is part of their business model

A company who's willing to commit to a longer term project, like ideally a six-month contract so that you have some runway for you to actually work with it, but I'd even probably settle for three months at the beginning. And ideally, it's an arrangement where there's opportunity for you continue to work with them if you succeed at the project.

And don't get discouraged if they say this is just a one-time thing. I've seen so many times a company truly create jobs for people that they like to work with and enjoy working with. So even if they say it's just a one-time thing, like, mm, just really focus on doing incredible work and have faith that it could turn into something bigger.

You just need enough runway for you to have some freedom that you can work with and start to plan your life around, and can [00:21:00] just deliver amazing work and still have energy left for the other things that you're building that eventually you want them to be the full-time thing. But for now, you can build them from that place of inspired action.

They can be fun because you have this reliable, solid thing as well. The work, it should be project-based, right? It should be part-time. It shouldn't be a full-time job. You're gonna need that extra time. You're gonna need that extra energy for those revenue streams you wanna build, for those side hustles that you're trying to find product market fit with, for your inventions, your innovations, all of that creative reputation building pursuits, you're gonna need extra energy for those.

So you need this gig, this contract to be flexible in how you get work done, when you work. They should just care about the deliverables, not where you're sitting, when you did it, or how many Zoom calls you're attending with their company. there should also be clear and measurable deliverable results for you.

It should be very binary, like you did it or you didn't. You're also gonna want a [00:22:00] relationship that is based on genuine trust and respect, and that can get built over time from you consistently delivering good work. But that should be one of your goals, right? Is to over-deliver to them, and in return, they're gonna give you that respect back

This is what you're looking for. This is not a paycheck. This is a relationship that actually fits inside a freedom lifestyle. So, okay, we know what we're looking for. We know a general idea of the number that we need it to be for us to have this consistent security and cover my bills while the fun stuff can be the fun stuff.

So the next common question is, "Okay, but where do I actually find this organization or this company?" And my honest answer is it's closer than you think, or at least it should be. And if it's not, we'll come back to what you need to do immediately. So some of the best B2B clients I've ever had were people who already knew my work, so people who I'd already worked for or worked with.

The first ever [00:23:00] freelance client I ever had was my old boss. It was just a one-month project that he hired me for, but it did give me a runway to start wor- start with, and the idea that it could actually be that easy. Since then, I've had multiple clients who were previous bosses or previous colleagues, people who worked alongside me at one job, saw what I was capable of, saw what I was like to work with, and then when they moved to a new company, they either reached back out or I pitched them on bringing me on, , as a contractor for the new team that they were with or had started So think about that for a second.

People who already trust you, right? People who've already seen your work, people that you don't have to convince of anything, right? You literally just have to make the ask. You just have to put it out there to them that you are available for part-time flexible work. Here are some ideas of some skills that you could contribute to their team.

Here are some projects that you could work with or that you could own. And put that out there. And start with a relationship of [00:24:00] somebody who already knows you, likes you, trusts you, and let them know that you're available, you're interested, you're excited about their mission or the products that they're building, or you loved working with them in the past, and you'd love to come back and work with them, and you're available for part-time casual work.

And so often that is well-received and appreciated because a lot of times companies have a lot of different things that they want to do, but their current team is full. Their current team is already maxed out with the projects that they have, so they're not gonna give any more work to their current employees who are full-time, on salary, getting benefits.

They just need them to do their job. And so they'll have a lot of dreams or ideas that are just sitting on the back burner that you could come in and say, "Let me take care of that for you. Give me a six-month project. I'll own it. I'll lead it. I'll make it happen. Here's how I'll track my results. Here's the kind of reporting that you'll get.

Here's why I'm confident and I know I can make it happen. And guess what? You can fire [00:25:00] me at any time," 'cause it's a contract, and it's part-time, and it's gig work. It's such an obvious yes for companies, so do not think that you're asking for a favor. You are literally offering something extremely valuable, and it's just gonna be even easier for you to sell that obvious offer to people who already know you, like you, and trust you, 'cause they're gonna open your emails.

They're going to respond to your LinkedIn message. They're gonna take the call. They're gonna say yes to the coffee or the lunch that you offer them, because that is just how reciprocity works and relationship building is if somebody already knows you, likes you, and trusts you.

In fact, maybe you haven't left your job yet, and is there a scenario where your current full-time job becomes your first flexible revenue stream and your first client in your new entrepreneurial lifestyle? Like can you say to your boss, "Look, I love what we've been building here. I love this mission. I love this team.

I don't wanna leave, but a full-time job just isn't allowing me to pursue the other things in my life that I'm [00:26:00] really excited about right now. I wanna stay on this team. I want to continue to contribute to this mission. I believe in, I respect you, I love your vision. Are you open to me staying on as a contractor, a part-time freelancer?

Here's a project that I know I could own. I've already been doing it partly. Let me run with just this." You're not asking them to keep you on full-time or keep you on that same salary for the same work. You're offering to do a focused piece on a freelance basis on your own terms. They don't need to manage your schedule.

They don't have to include you in every meeting. They don't have to give you any benefits or perks. You just now deliver that thing and they pay you for it. A lot of companies will say yes to that because they already know what they're getting, and they don't wanna lose you because you're amazing, right, freedom seekers?

Is that a possibility for you? Some of my favorite entrepreneurial launch stories start like that. [00:27:00] Maybe your current employer isn't gonna work, and so you gotta make that list, right? You gotta find, let's say, 10 people in your network who know you, like you, trust you, who've worked with you in some capacity.

Fol- find them on LinkedIn. Go see where your past colleagues are working right now. Make a list of all the different organizations and companies you've worked for. Remember your colleagues, see where they're at, do some research, build your list, and ask yourself, "Is there something in this organization that I could support on a contract or retainer basis?"

Even a six-month project to start

If this whole time you're thinking, "Sam, I just don't have that network of people who would want me to work with them," that is a red flag, and that is something that you should immediately start correcting. in 2026 and beyond, our relationships are going to be priceless. Your network of people are going to be more important than ever.

I really believe as AI continues [00:28:00] to come and change the workplace, having these relationships of people that you can count on and go to is gonna be, like, very important for us to leverage. And if you haven't been networking or maintaining relationships, whether that's even just having a social media presence where your old colleagues know what you're up to, or you have been checking in with people or engaging with their content, going to networking events.

If relationship building has not naturally been part of your lifestyle, it needs to be. It does. If you're building a freedom-based lifestyle and are going to follow this strategy,, having some relationships you can tap into, that is really important. And so that is maybe one of the, the very first things I would get you to do is to start getting more comfortable with networking.

Make that part of your lifestyle. [00:29:00] And so if you've got to this part of the episode and you're like, "I can't think of anybody who knows me, who likes me." Of like, "I can't think of anybody who knows me, likes me, and trusts me," that's a problem.

And that's one of the first problems that you could solve. I don't think there's gonna be many people listening to this who feel this way. And so for those of you who could think of a couple people, what I want you to take away from today is you do not need to build your entire freedom lifestyle empire in one day.

Yes, I have dozens of revenue streams, some passive, some active, some more successful than others. I do have many clients, many products, but I didn't need to have them all launched on day one. I didn't need to have a personal brand with 100,000 followers. I have just needed to have one solid revenue stream, and in my case, it's a B2B client, someone who's paying me consistently, trusts me, giving me flexibility, and they don't drain my soul, okay?

That is the thing that makes everything else possible. So start with who already knows you, your old [00:30:00] boss, your former colleague, a current employer. If you can negotiate the right arrangement, that could change everything and open up a whole land of possibility for you. Finally, know your number. Get honest about your burn rate so that you know exactly what you're aiming for. Because when you know your number, that target becomes a lot less scary and a lot more doable because you know what you need. And then let that one client support you while you figure everything else out, while you build the thing that you actually wanna build, while you finally have the space, maybe for the first time in your life, to breathe and explore and live life on your own terms.

Maybe that's inside of work, maybe that's outside of work. Coming on 10 years of this freedom lifestyle, it is still the advice that I would give people and that I do give people the most, and not because it's glamorous, but because it works, right? Service-based businesses, they're never [00:31:00] gonna capture the cover of Forbes.

They're just not. You're never gonna get the ego boost of getting to tell somebody you just raised a Series A from VC investors. You're not. But your lifestyle, it will speak for itself, okay? And your energy, it will give off a vibe that only true freedom can. People will be able to feel it. Okay, friends?

If this one resonated, please send this to somebody who's been thinking of making the leap but just can't get out of their own head about it. Sometimes all it takes is one episode that could shift the whole picture. So find me on Instagram at sam.laliberty. Follow along, I'll follow back. We'll inspire each other's freedom lifestyles.

And as always, until next time, enjoy your freedom.