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Poll: How much of your income comes from your largest client?
Persoa que publicou o fío: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
PERSOAL DO SITIO
Oct 23, 2025

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How much of your income comes from your largest client?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 15:55
Membro (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
N/A (it depends on the year) Oct 23, 2025

I have 3 big clients (two agencies and one direct client) and some smaller customers (one of these was a big one but over the years things have changed). The big clients are not regular, some years they have no projects at all and then suddenly a huge job materializes right in front of you, while my smallish customers are very, very regular and they keep me working all year round…
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 16:55
Membro (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
21% Oct 23, 2025

In 2025, until now, my largest client (I suppose that means the client that generates the highest income) represents about 21% of my income.

In 2024 my largest client represented about 24% of my income.

Sebastian Witte
 
Liena V.
Liena V.  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 17:55
Membro (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
A lot Oct 23, 2025

It depends on month and year, but for most of my career I've been able to stay in business thanks to just one main client who kept me busy on a daily basis. However, it hasn't always been the same client and when one was gone or slowed down somebody else had already taken the place. I know it's far from ideal, but I haven't managed to do very much about it and somehow it has still worked for 15 years. The only time I reached a good balance was in 2023 which was my best year ever in terms of inco... See more
It depends on month and year, but for most of my career I've been able to stay in business thanks to just one main client who kept me busy on a daily basis. However, it hasn't always been the same client and when one was gone or slowed down somebody else had already taken the place. I know it's far from ideal, but I haven't managed to do very much about it and somehow it has still worked for 15 years. The only time I reached a good balance was in 2023 which was my best year ever in terms of income, but also the one when I was working on the verge of burnout and could not possibly take anything more.
There are other good regulars too, but I wouldn't have survived with them alone. ▲ Collapse


CasaPhil
 
Gregor Trebec
Gregor Trebec
Slovenia
Local time: 16:55
English to Slovenian
+ ...
what? Oct 23, 2025

What client?

Maria Laura Curzi
 
CasaPhil
CasaPhil  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:55
Membro
English to French
+ ...
Between half and three quarters Oct 23, 2025

comes from the same agency over the past decade. On the same hourly and word rates in all those years!

Philippe
 
William Bowley
William Bowley
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:55
Spanish to English
+ ...
Numbers Oct 24, 2025

What are we basing this on? A month? A year? All time?

Earlier this year, about 75% of my income was from my largest client. In the last three months it's 50%, but the largest client is not the same one. Over Q1 of this year my income was remarkably even across the clients I was working with in those months.

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Poll: How much of your income comes from your largest client?






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