Quit my $2k/mo retainer clients, best decision I made this year

I spent the first half of 2024 doing monthly retainers for two small ecommerce shops. Each one was $2k and each one demanded daily Slack access, weekly calls, and constant revision of work we already agreed on. Last July I had a breakdown moment on a Tuesday at 4 PM when both clients pinged me about the same minor font change. I fired them both that week and switched to project-based pricing with 50% up front. My income dropped for two months but then I picked up three bigger one-off projects that paid more than both retainers combined. The weirdest part is I actually look forward to client emails now. Has anyone else dumped recurring revenue and found it worked out better long term?

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mia_anderson25d ago

My old agency partner swore by retainers and I bought into it for like 3 years straight. We had a $1500/mo client who would Slack us at 11 PM about color hex codes, then ghost us for a week when we asked for feedback. I thought steady money was the only way to stay safe until we did one big project for a local brand and made $8k in 6 weeks with way less stress. That one project showed me the math was broken, retainers just pay you to be on call forever. Now I only do fixed scope work with clear boundaries and my weekends are actually mine again lol.