How to get clients as a freelancer: 9 ways

Where do freelancers find clients?

Clients come from two directions. Inbound clients find you: through a marketplace, a referral, your website or a post they saw. Outbound clients are ones you go and find: by bidding on posted projects, messaging past contacts or sending a well-researched email.

New freelancers usually need outbound work first, because nobody knows them yet. Over time the balance tends to shift towards inbound, as reviews, referrals and repeat clients build up. You don't need all nine channels below. Pick two or three that suit your work and do them consistently.

Before any of them work, make one thing clear: who you help and what you deliver. "I design packaging for small food and drink brands" is easier to hire, and easier to refer, than "I'm a graphic designer". If you're just starting out, our freelancing tips for beginners cover niche, portfolio and pricing.

1. Freelance marketplaces: Freelancer.com, Upwork and Fiverr

Marketplaces are the quickest way to reach clients who are ready to hire now. They handle payments and disputes, and they take a fee for it. Each works a little differently (details correct at the time of writing, October 2026):

• Freelancer.com: clients post projects for free and freelancers bid with a price, a delivery time and a proposal. There are also contests, where you submit finished entries and the client picks a winner. How many bids you get depends on your membership, and the freelancer fee is 10% or $5 (whichever is greater) on fixed-price projects and 10% on hourly ones.
• Upwork: you send proposals to job posts, and each proposal costs Connects, Upwork's bidding credits (sold at $0.15 each, with the number needed varying by job). You can also list fixed-scope services in its Project Catalog. The freelancer service fee varies from 0% to 15% and is shown before you submit.
• Fiverr: instead of bidding, you list services as Gigs with up to three packages at different prices, and clients order them directly. Sellers keep 80% of each order.

On any marketplace the same things matter: a focused profile, a proposal written for each client, a price inside the client's budget and fast replies. For Freelancer.com, read how to get projects on Freelancer and how to bid on Freelancer. Not sure where to start? Compare Freelancer vs Upwork, and check the Freelancer fees before you set your prices.

2. Your network and past employers

The people who already know your work are the easiest clients to win, and they're often where a first paid project comes from. List former managers, colleagues, classmates and anyone you've helped before, and tell them what you now offer.

Keep each message personal and specific, something like: "I've gone freelance, helping small shops with their websites. If you or anyone you know needs that, I'd love to hear from you." Don't send one group email to everyone.

Former employers deserve a separate mention. A company you left on good terms already trusts your work and knows its own gaps. Many are happy to bring a former employee back for overflow work or a one-off project. Check your old employment contract first in case it restricts this.

3. Referrals from happy clients

A referral arrives with trust already built in, so it's often the easiest kind of inquiry to turn into work. But most happy clients won't think to refer you unless you ask.

• Ask at the right moment: just after a successful delivery, when the client says thanks.
• Be specific. "If you know another shop owner whose site feels slow" is easier to act on than "if you know anyone".
• Make it easy: give them a one-line description of what you do and a link they can forward.
• Say thank you for every referral, whether or not it turns into work.
• Refer work back. Passing jobs you can't take to people you trust tends to bring work back to you.

4. How to find clients on LinkedIn

LinkedIn works best as a place where people who half-know you can see what you do. A few things help:

• Rewrite your headline around the client and the outcome, not your job title: "I help software companies turn webinars into blog posts" rather than "Freelance writer".
• Set up a Service Page. At the time of writing, you do this from your profile by choosing Open to, then Providing services, adding what you offer and publishing. LinkedIn says Service Pages are free, and they help people searching for a service find you.
• Post about your work once or twice a week: a before-and-after, a mistake you often see, a short case study. Useful beats clever.
• Comment thoughtfully on posts by the people you'd like to work with. It's slower than posting, but it builds familiarity.
• Message people one at a time with a reason to talk, not a pitch. The cold outreach rules below apply here too.

5. Cold outreach, done respectfully

Cold outreach means contacting a business that hasn't asked to hear from you. Done badly, it's spam. Done well, it's a short, personal note to someone you've researched. It suits skills where you can spot a problem from the outside: a slow website, weak copy, a neglected blog, poor product photos.

• One person, one message. Research the business and write to a named person. Never mass-mail a bought list.
• Lead with something specific about them, not with your CV.
• Offer something small and useful: a quick idea, a short audit or an example.
• Keep it short, ideally under 120 words, with one low-pressure question.
• Follow up once at most, and stop the moment someone says no.
• Check the rules on unsolicited email where you and the recipient are based; many countries, including the UK, have them. Always make it easy to say no.

Here's an example for a web developer. Replace every bracket with real details:

Subject: Quick idea for [shop name]'s mobile checkout

Hi [first name],

I was browsing [shop name] on my phone this week and noticed the product pages take a while to load, and the "Add to basket" button sits below the first screen.

I'm a freelance Shopify developer and I mostly help small shops with speed and checkout fixes.

If it's useful, I'm happy to send you three specific changes I'd make, free and with no obligation. Would that help?

Either way, I really like [something specific you noticed about their business].

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Link to your portfolio]

Notice what it doesn't do: it doesn't open with "Dear sir", it doesn't list ten skills and it doesn't push for a call. The same shape works for writers (a weak homepage headline), designers (a dated logo) or marketers (a blog that stopped two years ago).

6. Online communities

Clients spend time in communities too: industry forums, Slack and Discord groups, subreddits, local business groups and professional associations. What works there is the slow approach: be genuinely helpful, answer questions in your area and let people come to you.

• Pick two or three communities where your ideal clients, not just other freelancers, spend time.
• Read the rules. Many ban self-promotion outside set threads, and some have a jobs channel where clients post work.
• Give useful answers with no pitch, and put what you do in your profile so curious people can find it.
• Join a freelancer community as well. Peers often pass on overflow work and jobs outside their skills.

7. Content and a portfolio site

A simple portfolio site gives every other channel somewhere to point. It doesn't need to be fancy: one page that says who you help, three to five examples (the problem, what you did and the result), how you work, a starting price or typical range, and a clear way to get in touch. Use your own domain and an email address on it; it looks more established than a free webmail address.

Content is the slow-burn version: articles, short videos or case studies that answer the questions your clients search for. A bookkeeper writing "what to send your bookkeeper at the end of each month" or a developer explaining a common plugin problem can attract exactly the people who need them. It usually takes months rather than days to pay off, so treat it as a long-term habit alongside faster channels, not a replacement for them.

8. Partnerships with agencies and other freelancers

Agencies often need extra hands: when they're busy, when a client wants a skill they don't have in-house, or for a one-off project. Working as a subcontractor can give you steady, well-briefed work without finding each end client yourself.

• Look for agencies that serve the clients you want but lack your exact skill: a marketing agency without a developer, a web studio without a copywriter.
• Send a short note with relevant samples, your rates and how quickly you can usually start.
• Be reliable on the first job. Agencies come back to freelancers who hit deadlines and need little managing.
• Respect their client relationships. Approaching an agency's clients directly is the quickest way to lose the partnership.

The same works sideways with other freelancers: a designer and a developer, or a writer and an SEO specialist, passing work to each other. Agree up front how referrals and shared projects will work.

9. Repeat clients

The easiest client to find is the one you already have. A client who was happy with your work skips the whole search, comparison and trust stage next time.

• Finish strongly: deliver on time, explain what you did and make the handover easy.
• Suggest the next step: maintenance, the next feature, a monthly retainer or the second phase you noticed during the work.
• Stay in touch without being pushy: a short check-in a few weeks after delivery, or a useful note when you see something relevant to their business.
• Keep a simple client list with what you did and when, so you know who to check in with.

How to turn inquiries into paying clients

A message from a potential client is only halfway there. Here's how to turn more of them into work:

1. Reply fast. Clients often contact several freelancers at once, and the first useful reply has an advantage. Aim to answer within a few hours during your working day, even if it's only to say when you'll send details.
2. Ask a few good questions. What's the goal, what's the deadline, is there a budget range, and who else needs to sign off? Two or three sharp questions show you've done this before.
3. Write the scope down. Summarise what you'll deliver, what isn't included, the timeline and how many rounds of changes are included.
4. Give one clear price. A fixed price, or a rate with an estimate, and what it includes. If the budget is tight, offer a smaller scope rather than a lower rate.
5. Make the next step obvious: "If that works for you, I can start on Monday once the first milestone is funded."
6. Follow up once if you don't hear back in two or three days, then move on.

If you're replying to projects on Freelancer.com, our Freelancer proposal template follows the same structure, and the free proposal generator can give you a first draft to edit.

A simple weekly routine for getting clients

Consistency matters more than intensity. A few hours every week beats a frantic burst whenever work dries up. Here's a routine you can adapt:

• Every working day (20 to 30 minutes): reply to inquiries and check your marketplaces for new projects that fit. Bid only on good matches.
• Monday: plan the week. Note who you're waiting to hear from and which leads need a follow-up.
• Tuesday: send three to five personal messages to past colleagues, past clients or businesses you've researched.
• Wednesday: publish one useful thing: a LinkedIn post, a short case study or a new portfolio item.
• Thursday: spend half an hour in one or two communities, answering questions.
• Friday: check in with one past client, send any follow-ups and note where this week's inquiries came from.

Keep a simple spreadsheet of every lead: where it came from, what you sent and what happened. After a couple of months you'll see which channels actually bring you work, and you can spend more time on those. Even when you're fully booked, keep a lighter version of the routine going, so you're not starting from zero when a big project ends.

Finding clients on Freelancer.com with MoreGigs

If Freelancer.com is one of your channels, the daily checking and bidding is the part that eats time. MoreGigs handles it for you. It runs on its own servers around the clock, checks new projects every couple of minutes, skips likely scams, tiny budgets and crowded, stale or off-skill listings, and writes a fresh proposal for each good match from your real profile, priced inside the client's budget. It reads your Freelancer plan and paces bids so they last the month: on Freelancer's Plus plan, that's 100 bids a month, about one new bid every 7.3 hours.

It only works with Freelancer.com, so the other channels on this page still matter. There's a 24-hour free trial with no card needed. See how Freelancer auto bidding works, or check your profile for free.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my first client as a freelancer?

Start with people who already know your work: former colleagues, managers and friends who run businesses. At the same time, set up a focused profile on a marketplace such as Freelancer.com, Upwork or Fiverr and send short proposals, written for each client, on small projects that fit your skills exactly.

Where can I find freelance clients online?

Freelance marketplaces such as Freelancer.com, Upwork and Fiverr, LinkedIn, online communities where your clients spend time, and your own portfolio site. Most freelancers combine one or two marketplaces with their own network and referrals.

How do I get freelance clients with no experience?

Build three to five portfolio samples that look like the work you want, labelled honestly as samples. Then tell your network what you offer, bid on small, well-matched marketplace projects and use your first few jobs to earn reviews.

Is it OK to cold email potential clients?

Yes, if it's personal and respectful: one researched message to a named person, with something specific and useful to offer, and at most one follow-up. Check the rules on unsolicited email where you and the recipient are based, and stop as soon as someone says no.

How do I find clients on LinkedIn?

Write a headline about who you help, set up a free Service Page (Open to, then Providing services), post useful examples of your work regularly and message people one at a time with a real reason to talk.

Should I use Freelancer.com, Upwork or Fiverr?

It depends on how you like to work. Freelancer.com and Upwork are built around bidding on posted projects, while Fiverr is built around packaged services that clients order. Try one or two, track where your work comes from and keep what pays off.

How long does it take to get freelance clients?

It varies widely with your skill, niche, prices and how consistently you look. Marketplaces and your existing network tend to be the quickest; content and community work usually take months to pay off. A steady weekly routine matters more than any single channel.

How do I keep freelance clients coming back?

Deliver on time, communicate clearly, make the handover easy and suggest a sensible next step at the end of each project. A short check-in a few weeks later keeps you in mind for the next job.