Freelancing your services can be an empowering decision for your money and your career. You can become a freelancer to earn extra income on the side of your job, develop your skills and experience to further your career, or dive headfirst into full-time self-employment.
Finding clients as a freelancer doesn’t come with the clarity and simplicity of applying for regular jobs, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a world of opportunity out there waiting for you. Having been a freelance copywriter in various capacities for over 10 years, here are some hot hacks I’ve learned along the way to help you find and attract freelance clients.
Before we go looking for clients, it pays to know who we’re looking for. Spend some time getting clear on who you want to work with and who your skills are best aligned with. If you’re a designer, what kind of designer? If you’re a writer, what kind of writing are you best at? Think about the commercial application of your skills to understand the type of client that can benefit from what you have to offer.
How specific you are with this will depend on your experience, capability, and confidence. Maybe you have extensive experience working with food and beverage brands. Perhaps you write really well for e-commerce companies. Maybe you’re a whizz with email marketing for service-based businesses. Or maybe you’ve got specialist experience in a field like healthcare, and you want to combine that with your love of writing. Digging into the specifics of what you offer helps you identify who can best benefit from your work.
Now you know who you’re trying to attract, you can start putting yourself in places they can find you. Social media is such a great way to put yourself out there and connect with people who might want to work with you. Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn all offer their own unique pathways to connect with your ideal clients using content and keywords to help them find you. Don’t be afraid to connect and communicate with people in your desired industry, too.
Getting your ideal clients to find you is half the battle. The other half is making sure that when they do, they’re impressed by what they find. Make sure you’ve got somewhere people can find what you do, how to contact you, and why they should work with you. That can be as simple as a website or a social media page, with clear contact details and examples of your work or portfolio. Start with the basics — you can build out other aspects of your online presence over time.
When you go freelance, reach out to ex-coworkers, friends, and family members who might have contacts that can help you. You never know who might be able to throw your name out for an opportunity.
It also pays to be vocal about what you do when you speak to people. My first ever direct client ended up being the real estate agent leasing me an apartment. I told him I was a freelance copywriter and he hired me to write their new website. Tell people about your freelance services — even if it doesn’t result in immediate work, they might remember you for something in the future.
When you’re starting out as a freelancer, finding work from nothing can take time. A great way to get things moving is to freelance for bigger agencies or support more established freelancers with overflow work.
Research agencies in your industry (for example, design studios or branding agencies if you’re a graphic designer) and share your portfolio. Agencies often take on freelancers on a project basis, which can help you build your experience and help with cash flow in your freelance business.
Global sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com connect freelancers to paid opportunities and allow you to be proactive in applying for jobs that suit you. It’s another great way to build up your freelance work while you build up authority and find clients directly.
Emma Edwards is a finance copywriter and blogger, on a mission to humanize the financial services industry by creating meaningful content that’s accessible and empowering. You’ll find her penning money tips at her blog, The Broke Generation, sharing financial insights on Instagram, or injecting life into content for her business clients.
