Land your first freelance client.
Land your first freelance client.
Turn your time into money 💵
Freelancers need clients. Clients need freelancers.
You just need to find each other.
Here’s exactly how to find your perfect clients…
Product Hunt
Product Hunt is a great place to find new ambitious startups, and they are usually at the very start of their journey; they probably don’t even have a marketing department yet 😉
Go to Product Hunt daily, look for recently launched businesses, and pitch your services to them.
Find the right startup at the right time, and you’ll have a massive client on your hands in a few years.
As a Technical SEO, I would send them a quick email highlighting a few problems with their website. Keep it clean, brief and clear.
You can do this every day (whilst drinking your tea/coffee).
If they aren’t interested leave a GOOD lasting impression. (They could become a client in the future so don’t burn your bridges)
Be tactile.
Don’t start pitching marketing services to a marketing company; they already know how to do that.
Lastly, get connected on LinkedIn/Twitter (not MySpace 🥲) with the decision makers for future opportunities.
Open Source Projects
Open source projects need to be SEEEEEEEEEN.
These tools are free for individuals, they usually charge businesses for team accounts.
The teams behind these tools are developers.
They aren’t:
Marketers
Designers
Writers
They need you.
Find a contact through LinkedIn/Twitter/Website and reach out to offer your services.
Remember, you and your fee can grow with them, be open to negotiations at the early stages of the project. (Don’t do it for exposure though)
Offline
Yes, I get it.
Signing up your local pizza place as a client is not as glamorous as you’d hoped but remember… they are still a paying client 💰
Whack some nice clothes on and pop out for a browse in your local area.
You will be rejected, use each interaction as a chance to improve your next one, streamline your process.
Don’t waste their time. Don’t waste your time.
Two things:
Get your initial pitch down to 1 minute then reduce it by 50%.
Qualify the person you’re talking to, don’t pitch the receptionist.
Don’t let a non-decision maker reject you, if they ask what’s it about, ask if they are the decision maker 😉
Whatever you do, don’t start by telling them what you do.
“I’m a graphic designer” 🤦♂️
Start by telling them what you can do for them.
“I can grab your audience’s attention and help you sell more.”