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Freelancers! How do you currently acquire your customers?

Is it mostly inbound through your website? Social media? Contacts? Sites like Upwork?

What does the proposal process look like?

What tools do you use to manage your customers?

I'm trying to do some freelancing on the side and have been receiving conflicting information.

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    The vast majority of my clients come directly from building relationships or personal referrals. It's definitely more time intensive than a site like Upwork, but I think it is more long-term valuable.

    There are basically three strategies in my opinion, which I wrote about here.

    1. Finding new clients directly (relationship-building)
    2. Subcontracting
    3. Jobs websites like Upwork, Flexjobs, or SolidGigs.
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      Very interesting. What's that relationship building journey like? How do you exchange information and prove your value?

      Put another way, how do you lead potential clients through your plan or services.

      Email? Meetings?

      (I'm trying to find out painpoints in the way we currently network as consultants / freelancers)

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        Same way that I'd make a new friend, honestly. The goal in the beginning is just to have a conversation where I can learn about the other person and what moves the needle in their business – I try to spend as much time as possible focused on them and what their world is like.

        If and when they invite me to talk about my business, I do so and am then better prepared to talk about it in terms that relate and make sense to them.

        Most people will never be a client, so I'm more focused on building a network of advocates to create referrals than create clients on the spot. Naturally though, some of them do!

        1. 1

          Very interesting insights!

          How do you manage your clients? I'm assuming some sort of a CRM? And when you deliver your product or service, what tools are you using?

          To be specific, what's a modern tech stack for freelancers / consultants to use?

          (Thanks for the very detailed answers btw. Super insightful).

  2. 1

    Hey @hassan & all other freelancers that are reading this comment, you can try Glyph (www.glyphleads.com) which sends personalized freelance opportunities curated from all over the internet straight into your inboxes 🔥

  3. 1

    I Acquired Customer from some of leads generation tool ,
    I Used them to acquire the first customers

    SolidGigs is one of example

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