𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 :-

First up: where to find freelance clients. You’ll need to know where your clients are hanging out,
so here are some places you may or may not have thought to check yet.

𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 :-

Social media’s not just for getting lost in a sea of cute dog and cat videos, yo!

Your next client might very well be among your existing social network, and you just don’t know
it yet. And I know: it’s uber scary to just put yourself out there in front of friends and family
creeping on your profile. So here are some ways you can use social media to attract that next
client.

𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐒 :-

In case you want to just dip your feet in the water before going all-in on your public wall, getting
on Facebook groups can be a great first step.

Think about the kind of people your potential clients are. Are they busy mom bloggers in need of
a virtual assistant? Dog lovers who’ll pro photos of their dogs taken?

𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: Don’t go into groups for fellow freelancers in your niche. Chances are
they won’t need what you’re offering. Unless, of course, you’re offering something useful for
fellow freelancers different from what they’re putting out.

You might need to check the rules on these groups before you go shamelessly self-promote.
For a personal touch, send a private message to the group’s creators or admins to get their
permission to share your services. (You never know what happens unless you ask!)

𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐏𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄!

Ready to go share your services outside Facebook groups and to your actual network? To help
you out, I’ve got this handy swipe file for you. Just replace the words inside the brackets, and
you’re good to go.

Hi, friends!

I’m offering your service ! If you’re mention your desired client or their need, e.g. “a small shop
owner” or “in need of personalized wedding invitations” , or know anyone who needs my help,
I’d love if you could send me a PM. Here are some samples of my work:

𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊

Your family and friends could be a goldmine for potential clients, and you might not know it
unless you ask!

Bring up the subject with some aunts and uncles, college friends, or old co-workers. Who
knows? You might be surprised by how many people say, “Wow, you’re exactly the kind of
person I/someone I know needs!”

𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐍
If you’re not on LinkedIn already,
then I suggest you hop on there as quickly as you can. Why? Because it’s full of business
owners, startup founders, and solopreneurs looking for freelancers to help them grow their
business.

Take it from me: I constantly get client inquiries from LinkedIn. I don’t look for them, I don’t cold-
message them – LinkedIn lets potential clients find me.

So if you’re not on LinkedIn yet…I suggest you go make that profile!

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 : In all these suggestions, I don’t include any freelancing websites. I don’t really like
recommending generic freelance sites to anyone, mostly because of the high competition that
drives rates really, really…really low. But if you’ve tried every other avenue already, it’s worth a
shot. Just manage your expectations and don’t expect to nab projects at the rate you might
want.

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔’𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐓 :-

Now that you know how and where to find freelance clients, it’s time to wow them with your
proposal. You might be freelancing for the first time ever, but, hey, your client doesn’t need to
know that.

To make you look like the most professional freelancer in the game, here are some tried-and-
tested things you’ll want in your arsenal.

𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐋

First up, a professional cold email will do wonders for making sure you tell those potential clients
exactly who you are and how you can help them.

Make the email succinct; say everything you need to say in as little words as possible. Those
clients don’t have a lot of time to read through your entire freelance journey, after all.

𝐀 𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆

While I don’t think you really, 100% need a website or blog to show your credibility, I still highly
recommend it. Why?

Because a website or blog is a fantastic way to show your expertise in the industry.

Say you want to attract clients that are looking for a rockstar virtual assistant for their new
startup. Who do you think they’d pick: a freelancer with just a cold email proposal, or a
freelancer with a stellar website that shows off testimonials from past clients and blog posts with
their knowledge on startup organization and tells potential clients exactly how to get in touch
with them?

Being a freelancer means running your own business, so every touchpoint a potential client has
with you can go a long way.
Note: I notice that website speed is just as important as anything else. After all, you’ll lose
clients if your website takes forever to load! If you need reliable, fast, and affordable website
hosting, I recommend my personal favorite provider FastComet.

𝗔 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗢

A portfolio is essential to have when you’re offering creative work, but it’s also great even if
you’re offering to do administrative tasks too.

Show off your best and favorite work. If you did pro-bono projects in school or for your aunt or
something, flaunt it.

You can even talk about any results that your work received. Maybe the poster you made was
so awesome that it got 500 likes on social media. Maybe you’re such a fantastic project
manager that your organization saved a lot of time, money, and effort because of your skills.

You’re marketing yourself to find freelance clients – now’s not the time to be shy!

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒

I talk a lot about how to create your service packages in the previous post of this series, so you
can go read up on that here.

Service packages will make it easier for your potential client to understand just what it is you
can do for them. You’re also pairing up a couple of handy skills together, so you can bump up
the price according to your experience.

These’ll also be good for your client to see exactly what they’ll need and how much you charge
right from the get-go.

𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄

Last but definitely not least, a professional Contact Me page can make or break your client
getting in touch with you.

You see, a regular ol’ Contact Me page will have just these elements: Name, Email, Message.

Pretty…okay. But you’re not going for okay here.

Instead, consider making your Contact Me page as a filter for your clients. Say, add some
questions like “What service are you looking for?” or “Describe your business and needs.”

While some clients might turn away from the work they have to do, trust me when I say that the
ones who really want to work for you will make the effort. Besides, you don’t want to spend 90%
of your time just responding to queries, right?

Make sure both your client and you are prepared before you even hop on to a discovery call.
Filter out your clients as early as now, so you’re sure you’ll be working for clients you love.