Ask: job is a single point of failure

tl;dr how to diversify sources of income so that one (bad) job doesn't hold you hostage.

Having worked in Europe on freelance / contractor assignments I can observe that quite often the job is not as advertised / expected. Often I am considering going back to the previous client but this isn't possible due to contracts already being broken, new contracts already signed etc. Essentially you're stuck with new client for at least 6 months otherwise you're being stigmatized as a jumper.