The more I've done client work, the more I've noticed that one thing stops my creativity and hurts my business:

Having to spend time as a project manager.

This is a huge challenge for Solo Writers who offer ghostwriting services. Clients want someone who's creative and good at writing, but there's a lot more work that goes into a client engagement.

In a lot of my client engagements, at least 50% of the work is managing the client's expectations and managing the project. That's a lot of work before getting to the actual writing, the thing I was hired to do.

The more time I spend as a project manager, the less creative my work is.

Most of my best work has come from having abundant free time to creatively think and write. Often, client work takes on the opposite dynamic:

Clients want as much structure as possible to know what they're getting exactly. How many posts per day, per week, per month. They want their deliverables sent at the exact same time each week. They want a weekly check-in call or a call to brainstorm ideas.

Personally, I've struggled to make those weekly brainstorm calls work well for me. I come up with my best ideas randomly when I let my brain wander, and not exactly at 2pm on Tuesday afternoons.

Think about this. If you were given 2 different assignments, which one would come out better?
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1. Write one page about anything you want.
2. Write a one page report on The Great Gatsby.

Of course #1 would be better because you're given the freedom to explore any topic your interested in, rather than one that's assigned to you.

This explains why the best content is rarely ghostwritten. Great content comes from someone exploring their curiosity and interests, rather than a ghostwriter being given an assignment.

In general, I think for the most creative and unique brands, very little structure was used to come up with the initial concept and content.

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More structure = more time spent as a project manager.

More time as a project manager = more time discussing drafts with clients, more meetings to discuss strategy, more time managing tasks the client asked for, and more time 'managing' the writing rather than doing the writing itself.

Of course, this dynamic of creativity vs. structure is a solvable problem for Solo Writers. Here's how:

1. Be very clear about what you offer. If your main selling point is your creativity, you need to make sure clients are aware that you need less structure to be able to succeed. However, if your primary function is taking your client's existing ideas and turning them into well-formatted posts, you probably don't need to worry about this whole dynamic, since less out-of-the-box creativity is needed.
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2. Work on long-term projects only. Creativity succeeds over the long-term. My @huntercoldcalls account took at least 4 or 5 months to get real traction. Most clients can't wait that long to achieve results. That makes client work tricky from a creative perspective: Clients want immediate results, but most creative endeavors takes 6 months to a couple years to get off the ground. Solution: Only work on projects that are long-term in nature. If possible, get an equity stake in the project.
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3. Make sure you can take risks financially. Creating something creative requires taking large risks. It's hard to do that if your client demands to see results immediately. Most clients say they want you to be creative and take risks, but when it comes down to actually doing so, they can't stomach spending 3 months on something they may not actually work. Make sure your client can wait 3 months to evaluate your work. And if you're trying to write for your own project, make sure you can go several months without making a single dollar from the project.
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4. Have fewer clients. The project management aspect of ghostwriting tends to take up the same amount of time for each client, whether they spend $1k a month or $5k. Fewer clients that pay more money will mean less admin and project management time.

This also explains why so many great writers eventually give up ghostwriting to work on their own projects. Having clients creates restraints around your creativity, while owning your projects entirely eliminates constraints and gives you freedom to explore ideas.

However, this is easier said than done. Clients provide great cashflow, while getting your own project off the ground from zero could take months or even years before you see real money from it.

Right now, my personal goal is to work on as few clients as possible and maximize the dollar amount from each one. I could have 5 clients paying $3k a month, but how can I instead have 3 clients paying $5k a month each? The latter is clearly better. I'll spend less time as a project manager by having fewer clients.

Ghostwriting agencies don't scale by having more clients.

They scale by making more money from each client.

Having 3 clients = 3 meetings a week, while having 5 clients = 5 meetings a week.

Having 3 clients = 3 writing sessions a week, while having 5 clients = 5 writing sessions a week.

How many clients can you add to your roster before you are completely maxed out on weekly meetings and writing sessions?

At a certain point, you hit a limit on how many meetings you can attend while also giving yourself time to think creatively and write.

Scaling a ghostwriting business becomes nearly impossible when you don't scale the amount each client pays.