A marketplace is not a customer list

If you're building up clients on a marketplace so you can work with them directly later, I'd check that second part now.

It's a reasonable way to get started. You need customers, the platform has people looking for help, and finding work yourself takes time. Once clients start coming back, putting more effort there makes sense.

Take Upwork, though. Moving a client relationship off-platform involves a conversion fee. Afterward, its payment protection and dispute support no longer cover that relationship. A client wanting to hire you again doesn't remove that cost or replace that support.

I don't see anything wrong with paying for those services. If the arrangement suits the business I want, I'd keep using it. Handling everything myself isn't a goal.

But if I'm counting on eventually working with those clients outside the marketplace, more bookings could help pay for that move. I could still be getting busier without having worked out what the move would involve.

That's what I'd look at before putting more time into the channel. Can I make the move I have in mind, and does it still make sense once I include the conversion cost and how I'd handle payments and disputes afterward?

If it does, I'd budget for that transition. Otherwise, some of my time needs to go toward finding new clients directly. I can keep taking marketplace work without giving it all of my effort.