Here’s how I got my first 10 freelance clients — from people I already know
By: Lucy Fuggle
Tags: Careers, Entrepreneurship, Freelancing, Writing, Marketing

#1. [May 2018] My previous boss hired me

As soon as I went freelance, one of my previous managers hired me for several small marketing projects. He’d worked closely with me before, liked my work, and reached out to see if I had availability. Yep, I definitely do.

#2. [June 2018] My friend recommended me to her friend

After I decided to quit my job, a close friend recommended me to her friend who happened to be hiring for a content marketing role. I’d love to! That gave me 3 months of work at 20%, paying €2000/month.

#3. [June 2018] Someone found my blog on Google

I was hired for a writing project after a project manager found my travel writing online. She reached out to ask about a specific topic they wanted covered — and shortly afterward, I was paid several thousand € to go on a two-day hike and write about it. Why didn’t I do this before?

#4. [June 2018] I did a small piece of work for a company I’d applied for a full-time role with

When I was thinking of leaving my office job, I applied for quite a few full-time roles. One of these resulted in some small writing projects after I turned down a full-time offer. The pay wouldn’t let me do front crawl in a sea of banknotes, but it was decent (€500/article).

#5. [June 2018] Someone I’d worked with at my last company hired me

I then got my first big project: a new brand and website for a business someone I knew was launching. It took me just over a month to finish everything up, but I was able to juggle two other clients around it while waiting for feedback and design iterations.

#6. [August 2018] I was recommended for consulting work at a sister company of my last employer

Three months after I went freelance, I started working with a company I’d help out for the next year. I was tasked with ironing out their business operations and then helping them to scale. I had a few site visits, but most of this was done remotely.

#7. [September 2018] A business contact wanted a project like client #5's

Next came a website and branding project for another new company, just like my fifth client. In the following year, I did quite a lot of recurring work for them.

#8. [January 2019] A family friend hired me to re-do their website

Quite conveniently, I’ve known someone since I was a kid who has a business in my niche (travel tech). After I went self-employed, we decided it was a fine time to do some work together, especially as he needed some marketing first-aid. I created a new website for his company and have done recurring work with him since, including new website pages and advice on scaling his business.

#9. [January 2019] I was recommended in a Facebook group by client #1

I haven’t really marketed myself on social media since going freelance, for better or worse. Despite that, I have had some previous clients talking about my work and recommending me in their networks. This has only turned into one paying client, who I did some content writing for followed by brand and website audits.

#10. [February 2019] A friend I’d previously worked with hired me

One of my main clients right now is a company that one of my friends is working at. They needed support with content writing and thought I could help them. Since early this year, this client has provided about 30–40% of my workload.