Every creative eventually discovers the same quiet truth: the projects pay the bills, but the retainers let you sleep. A base of recurring income is the single biggest thing that turns feast-or-famine into something that feels like a business.
And yet retainers are often the messiest thing on the books — a standing arrangement that lives half in your memory, half in a recurring calendar reminder to send an invoice you sometimes forget.
A retainer without a project attached
In Chord, a retainer is its own simple thing — ongoing monthly income and hours, with no project required. You set the monthly amount, the included hours if there are any, and when it started. That's it. It quietly does its job in the background, month after month, whether or not there's an active project tied to it.
Active or passive — your call
Some retainers are work: a set number of hours a month for a client. Chord calls those active, and folds their hours into your workload so your capacity view stays honest. Others are pure income — a monthly software fee, a hosting arrangement — with no hours attached. Those are passive. Both count toward your income; only the active ones eat into your capacity.
It feeds your forecast automatically
This is where it pays off. Because your retainers know their monthly amount, they roll straight into your income forecast alongside your invoices — so the forward view of your money already includes the reliable base you've built. Mark each month paid as it comes in, and the picture stays accurate without a spreadsheet in sight.
The point of recurring income isn't just money
It's headspace. When a predictable floor is already in place each month, a slow patch of project work stops feeling like an emergency. You price with a little more nerve. You take the odd week off without the maths spiralling. Retainers don't just smooth your income — they lower the background hum of financial anxiety that quietly shapes every decision a solo creative makes.
Building a base of recurring work is one of the calmest things you can do for your business. Chord just makes it the easy thing, too.