As a freelancer, securing a steady stream of clients is one of the most important aspects of running a successful freelance business.
Although it can be one of the most frustrating and time-consuming tasks, it’s also one of the most important…
Especially when you’re starting out.
Despite the challenges, finding and working with clients is a critical part of the freelance journey, and it’s essential to invest time and effort into building a strong client base.
And over the past 2 years of doing freelance copywriting, I’ve created this blog post to help you effectively find freelance clients, sidestep the common frustrations, and some tips for making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible.
So, whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out on your freelancing journey, let’s get started!
Upwork
If you’ve been doing your own research, you’ll most likely have heard of Upwork…
You might have heard some good things, but also some bad things.
Yes, it has pros and cons and you might hear people say “It’s a red ocean, it’s too saturated!”
But…
If you’re just starting out, it’s a perfect place to get paid to learn.
For whatever service you’re freelancing for, there are a tonne of people with money in their hands wanting their problem to be solved.
And when reaching out to clients on a site like Upwork, as long as you’re sending out the right kind of proposals, it is just a numbers game.
You can’t expect to send out 5 proposals and land a client…
I mean it could definitely happen.
But you want to be stacking the odds in your favor and applying to as many suitable projects as possible to give yourself the best possible chance.
From my point of view, it’s been amazing.
It’s got me, hordes of testimonials, repeat clients, and a steady stream of dependent income, take a look…
The above testimonials are just a few of many.
And when you begin to build up a solid profile, it becomes easier to land clients and you’ll also begin to get inbound leads for your services.
Not only that but if you’re starting from zero, getting paid to learn is a fantastic way to get started.
And even if you’re not a beginner, there are plenty of freelancers on that site that kill it every year…
If you’re doing an amazing job for your clients, this will no doubt result in repeat clients, referrals, and continued work.
And I’m speaking from experience!
What are the cons?
I’m not going to pretend that there aren’t any cons, because there are!
Here’s some:
Competitive marketplace:
Yes, many freelancers compete for the same projects, but if you’re consistent, send good proposals, and go the extra mile, you’ll be just fine.
At the mercy of clients for your JSS score:
Your JSS score stands for ‘Job Success Score’.
And obviously, you want it to be as high as possible.
But, there are some clients out there that will score you even after successfully completing a project because some people are just like that…
Yes, this is rare!
But it does happen and can be infuriating when it does.
So, if you don’t already have an account and want to get started, click the button below.
Fiverr
I won’t go into too much detail about Fiverr as it’s almost identical to Upwork.
Fiverr is a freelance site where you can sell your services to clients
I personally prefer Upwork as I feel like it’s more premium and you can get better clients.
One of the main problems with Fiverr is that you rely on the platform to rank you higher which can be frustrating and is one of the main reasons I prefer Upwork.
But, taking a look at what Fiverr can offer will do no harm.
If you want to learn more about Fiverr, you can click the button below:
Linkedin is a goldmine when you’re looking for clients for your freelance business.
There are a couple of different options you can take with it in order to get to your desired outcome, here they are:
Build a personal brand on Linkedin:
Constantly posting about how to solve your target markets problems is a great way to attract clients for your services.
This can be done on almost any social media platform, but sites like Twitter work best.
Although I have transitioned over to Twitter for putting out content, I did start out on Linkedin and would get DM’s like this:
So my advice to you would be this –
Post helpful content on the Linkedin timeline that helps your ideal client and you’ll begin to get inquiries for your services.
The Linkedin Research method:
Here’s a good way to find clients who are looking for your services on LinkedIn.
This is what you’re going to do:
Go to the search bar and search something along the lines of:
“Looking for freelance copywriter” or whatever service you’re trying to get clients for, and then sort the results by ‘posts’ (as seen in the screenshot below):
And then, to get even better results, you’re going to want to filter the searches even more by the date posted.
I like to filter the searches for the last month because you’ll often get posts popping up showing people’s posts from 6+ months ago which are for the most part, useless.
Then, this will populate all the recent posts on LinkedIn for people looking for freelance copywriters.
And to get even better results, I would recommend sorting by the date posted. From experience, sorting by posts in the last month is a good filter.
Here are the results:
And this can apply to any service you want to sell, whether it be:
- Email marketing
- Seo
- Web design
- Computer programming.
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for freelancers looking to grow their businesses and find new clients.
Linkedin ProFinder
The last way to get clients to use LinkedIn ProFinder.
LinkedIn ProFinder is a freelance recruitment platform and is a perfect way to increase the eyes that you get on your freelance business and take it to the next level.
Setting this up and pairing it with helpful content that you post on your account is a brilliant way to attract clients for your business.
If you want to set up your LinkedIn ProFinder Profile, just click the button below:
Indeed
If you didn’t know, Indeed is a job marketplace where you can search for a variety of different positions.
Simply create an account and search for what services you want to deliver.
For example, I searched for ‘copywriter’ and chose for the gigs to be remote, and this is one of the options that came up:
As you can see, for an eCommerce copywriter, remote work starts at £22,000-24,000 a year.
And this is one of many results there.
Cold EMail
There’s a lot of stigma around cold email.
People don’t like to do it because they think they’re ‘bothering’ people, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you’re someone who doesn’t like selling, then let me tell you this quote by Jay Abrahams that will shift the way you think and make you love selling. It’s this –
“If you truly believe that what you have is useful and valuable to your clients, then you have a moral obligation to try to serve them in every way possible.”
If you want to learn more about cold email and the ins and outs of it, I would recommend watching Alex Berman on Youtube.
Specifically, this video if you’re just starting out:
Then go over to Twitter and follow @Blackhatwizarrd (Cold Email Wizard).
Using these two resources will give you everything you need to get started on landing clients with cold email.
One last thing I will say, make sure you’ve got thick skin if you’re doing this because the chances of you getting some not-so-pleasant replies are quite high (This can be mitigated by sending GOOD cold emails and spreading out the time between sending follow-up emails).
Building a personal brand
Building authority via a personal brand is one of the most effective ways to land high-paying freelance copy clients in my opinion.
When you have a personal brand, you command a certain level of authority and knowledge and can position yourself as an expert.
This is something I’m currently trying to do over on Twitter (Follow me by clicking here).
Yes, it does take time, but out of all the options above, if you take the time to build that brand, it’s probably the most effective way to get clients.
There are plenty of resources out there that show you how to build a personal brand.
But, simply following @OneJkMolina on Twitter will give you everything you need to get started.
Conclusion
There are so many ways to find clients for your freelancing business that it can almost be overwhelming.
And if you’re deciding on which way to get clients, this would be my advice:
Pick 1-2 ways to get clients and stick to it till you get results. It won’t happen overnight and will take constant iterations over weeks and months to get effective results.
If you have any questions, let me know by either leaving a comment below, messaging me on Twitter (Click here), or sending me an email – at Jamie@EmailMaximalist.com.
Before you go -
If you haven’t already seen it, I recently put together a guide on how I create emails for myself and my clients.
It’s everything I’ve learned over the past couple of years distilled into a simple and easy-to-consume guide.
You can get it by clicking here.
And, if you have any questions that I haven’t mentioned, either send me an email at jamie@Emailmaximalist.com
Or Just send me a DM on Twitter @EmailMaximalist
