{"id":25940,"date":"2020-04-23T08:47:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=25940"},"modified":"2021-10-19T13:34:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:34:08","slug":"how-find-freelance-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/how-find-freelance-clients\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Found My Favorite Freelance Clients [5 Proven Methods]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Right now, perhaps more than ever, people are considering whether it\u2019s time to start that freelance business they\u2019ve always dreamed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re one of those people, welcome – and I salute you! It\u2019s daunting to be your own boss. Running your own freelance business is exciting and scary, fulfilling and exhausting, and pretty much amazing. At least, that has been my experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ramped up my freelance business to full-time within six months, and I was billing over six figures in less than a year. When I look back, I can contribute my success to a variety of factors-from a tolerance for caffeine and sleepless nights to stick-to-itiveness and good karma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one particular thing, more than others, allowed me to launch my business and to keep growing it today. That one thing is this: <\/em>knowing how to find good clients.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Ways to Find Good Freelance Clients<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The path to success looks different for every freelancer or solopreneur. Below I\u2019m going to share with you what worked for me. In case you\u2019re wondering, I\u2019m a freelance writer and SEO consultant. Here I am:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"freelance<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Tap your existing network<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a reason every freelance article you read brings up networking: it works. My professional network was a HUGE client referral source for me when I started my business, and continues to generate new clients for me today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, because I had spent my corporate career in marketing, I had built up a decent reputation within my existing network for being good at SEO, as well as reliable, professional, and fun to work with. People trusted that I knew what I was doing, and they enjoyed<\/em> working with me. Those are two very helpful attributes to have when you start asking for referrals from your network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is exactly what I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reached out to people I had worked closely with in the past, who knew what I could do, and had large networks of their own - hopefully consisting of people they could refer me to. Three of these individuals became paying clients right off the bat, and one turned into an ongoing referral source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networking isn\u2019t a one-and-done kind of thing. It\u2019s a two-way street. I continue networking today, usually by sending referrals to other people\u2019s businesses, or sometimes a thank you gift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive word of mouth has been hugely helpful for the SEO side of my business. For the writing gigs, I had to become a bit more creative. I\u2019ll talk about that in the following steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Build your portfolio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned, I had effectively made a name for myself as an online marketer and content strategist. The same couldn\u2019t be said for my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, I had penned a few blog posts for my companies over the years, as part of my role as a content manager. But I certainly didn\u2019t have enough to constitute a portfolio<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you might expect, potential clients looking for a freelance writer really want to see a portfolio. In most cases, it\u2019s more important than having a resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I got to work creating my portfolio. I pulled together some blog posts and landing pages I had written for the companies I worked at to show my B2B experience. I created a blog, MakeMineMickey.com<\/a>, about my favorite place in the world (Disneyland) and added those articles to show another, more playful side to my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"disneyland<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I became a contributor to Search Engine Journal. There, I write about SEO and online marketing (seeding referrals for that side of my business):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"seo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also wrote a few guest posts completely for free, just so I could have a few more articles that were longer-form and covered different industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"business<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I linked to all of these articles from my website, and selected examples to share whenever I reached out to potential clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, once I had paying clients, I added their<\/em> articles to my portfolio. Today, I\u2019m constantly updating my portfolio with the writing I\u2019ve done for clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Apply on job boards <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many companies search for freelancers in the same places they hire full-time employees, like Indeed and ZipRecruiter. There are also specialized job boards designed to help connect freelancers with paying work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"freelance<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind that you will be competing against a crowd and odds are that you will lose more bids than you win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you accept this reality, it is up to you to determine what makes sense for your time and effort. For me, it\u2019s been worthwhile to spend a few minutes each day browsing these, because for every 15 applications I send, I get one 'yes'\u009d who pays well and becomes a steady client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, many companies use job boards to source inexpensive labor. Fortunately, these companies are easy enough to avoid - once you learn their lingo. To help you out, I\u2019ll share a few examples right now. From my experience, the below are almost always a tell-tale sign of an undesirable client: <\/p>\n\n\n\n