What Every Freelancer Needs to Know About Finding New Clients
As a freelancer, you might feel like some days your options for work, projects and clients are unlimited, and others, you’re not sure if there’s ANYONE out there aligned with your purpose and mission.
There’s a lot to consider when taking on a new project or client as a freelancer. Is this potential client trustworthy? Is the work something you’re interested in? Do you have the experience and best tools to execute the project?
And you’ve likely seen your fair share of truly awful job postings, which can make you all the more wary when dipping your toes into new opportunities.
Whether you’re trying to figure out how to find clients that fit with your own professional goals or aren’t sure whether a job posting is truly a worthwhile opportunity, keep reading for some tips on knowing the best projects to pursue in the freelance space.
Where do I find new clients as a freelancer?
There are five primary sources that seem the most resoundingly trustworthy for freelancers to find clients, though they each carry advantages and disadvantages.
Referrals
Referrals are wonderful, aren’t they?
But in reality, they can be either total dreams or complete nightmares.
As much of an honor as it is to be recommended by a client to one of their friends or acquaintances, it’s still important to do your research and make sure it’s the right fit before jumping into a contract.
Use these questions when you’re considering whether to pursue a referral:
Is there a formal job posting?
Are they clear about what they want their freelancer to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis?
Are you a fit with what they are looking for in terms of skills, knowledge and experience?
The other challenge with referrals is that they are mostly out of your control. While you can ask your current clients to recommend you to their friends or colleagues, it generally isn’t a surefire method to find amazing new clients in a timely manner.
Freelancing platforms like Upwork, Guru and Fiverr
While they can be expensive, these freelance platforms do offer some benefits.
They actually can be good places to find clients that you wouldn’t otherwise have come into contact with, whether they’re located elsewhere or you’ve just never heard of them.
Their fees are typically affordable (or even free) to submit proposals, but where they can be expensive is the percentage the platform takes on the payment you receive.
However, even if they do take a percentage, it’s recommended that you keep this in mind when you set your rates.
Even though this percentage can really add up, it can be worth it to have the peace of mind that you will get paid. When working with a business owner who's basically a stranger, there can be some risk involved in terms of whether they will actually pay the invoice after you've done the work.
These platforms’ policies vary in terms of when they pay out to freelancers, so be sure to read the full details so you know what you’re getting into.
Also, keep an eye out for the job postings that have been sponsored by the business owner. Most platforms have a way to promote job postings, and on the hiring side, I’ve seen the quality of candidates increase exponentially when promoting a posting.
This makes me think that freelancers generally trust these postings as more legitimate… so take your time to apply to those if it seems like a good match..
LinkedIn has a great reputation for being the social media platform all about professional networking and connections.
But it’s just not designed for remote work. When businesses post remote job postings, they are still forced to select a geographic area.
If you want to look for remote freelance work on the site, be sure to include the term “remote,” “freelance,” and “virtual” in your searches.
So, should freelancers even have a LinkedIn profile? Absolutely! It’s still a super powerful way to network and occasionally find new clients.
If you haven’t gotten started on the platform, read this for 3 simple steps to get your profile up and running in under an hour.
And if you’re looking for some easy suggestions to improve your current profile and stand out to potential clients, read this.
LinkedIn ProFinder
When I heard about LinkedIn ProFinder, I had such high hopes. And unfortunately, I’ve been seriously disappointed.
It’s a new tool on the platform meant to specifically connect freelancers with new clients and projects.
Overall, I find it lackluster. Freelancers get a handful of free proposals as a way to try out ProFinder but are required to have a Premium Business account with a monthly fee of $59.99 after that.
My biggest complaint about this is that there is no guarantee that you will get a project through it.
Above all, the greatest disappointment about ProFinder is that it’s still focused on finding local freelancers, not remote/virtual, so its value is limited to both online businesses and freelancers.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it’s free for online business owners to post projects but they are only allowed to receive five proposals. This is a real miss because the quality of candidates will likely be inconsistent.
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups dedicated to your business interests (online, creative, etc.) can be a great way to connect with potential clients.
The main thing to watch out for here is vague postings. I know you’ve seen these postings because about 80 percent of the hiring happening through Facebook groups sound something like this real-life example:
“Looking for a VA preferably based in Australia but open to chatting with anyone. Must have exceptional English skills.”
If you can’t easily tell in the job posting what they want you to do or who they want to work with, it’s not worth your time pursuing. That business owner likely doesn’t know what they want or need, which is a good indication they aren’t ready to hire.
Look for the job postings in Facebook groups that contain a link to the full job posting on their website or the post itself is quite substantial.
Stay away from freelancer job postings that expect one person to do everything
One other thing to watch for in job postings regardless of how or where you find them is that they don’t expect one freelancer to perform a slew of unrelated responsibilities.
Too many responsibilities is a good indicator that the person hiring doesn’t realize they need to fill multiple positions and will put too much pressure on one person to get a random assortment of unrelated tasks done.
Here’s an example of a real job posting that I saw in a Facebook group:
Manage Contact List/Tags on Kajabi
Update Sales Calls/Leads Spreadsheets
Research speaking/networking opportunities
Schedule Podcast interviews
Research podcast guests
Create content calendar (email, social, podcasts)
Research keyword optimization for blog posts
Repurpose email content for blog posts
SEO
Create PDF guide freebies
Schedule Emails (kajabi)
Social media trends/hashtags research
Facebook ads research
No matter how incredible and talented you are, it’s going to be challenging to meet this business owner’s expectations. It’s hard to have deep knowledge in allllll of these areas.
Even if you consider yourself a jill or jack of all trades, you still have your specialities, your Zone of Genius, the things you are so good at that people pay you to do them so they don’t have to.
If your specialty doesn’t align with what they are looking for, that’s a good indicator that isn’t going to be a good fit for you.
Continue seeking out and applying to freelance projects that make sense to YOU
While it might seem like there can be a lot of trash to wade through when it comes to freelance job postings, I promise, there are enough gems out there to fill your workload and client roster with purposeful and enjoyable work.
It takes some patience and wisdom to recognize what to look for (and what to avoid), but with time and these tips, you’ll be able to find opportunities that align with your goals as a freelancer.
Want more resources and leads to find the best clients?
Join my freelancer email list for free tips, job opportunities and more!
