50 Ways To Find Your Next Client

If you're a freelancer or service-based business, stop waiting around for potential clients to come and find you. It's time to get proactive!

Here are 50 ways you can find your next (or first) client:

1. Tell (remind)  friends and family what you’re doing, who you help and that you have availability.
2. Add open to work on your LinkedIn profile and make sure your profile is optimised.
3. Reach out to past clients and let them know you have upcoming availability if they have any projects coming up.
4. Join Facebook groups where your ideal audience are and search questions where you can add value.
5. Search LinkedIn jobs for ‘freelance + your expertise’ and set an alert.
6. Attend exhibitions where your audience will be attending, take some business cards and make sure you connect and follow up with as many potential clients as possible.
7. Search local business events. Show up, be authentic, give value, connect on social media and make sure to follow up.
8. Send hand-written notes to past clients thanking them for working together.
9. Ask past clients for a testimonial, write up a case study that makes the client the hero, share on social and ask them to share too.
10. Create a lead magnet (e.g. cheatsheet or template) for your ideal audience to sign-up for on your website, and share the link across social media.
11. Go live on social media.
12. Offer to feature on podcasts that your audience listen to and share the episode across social, email etc.
13. Host a masterclass or webinar for your target audience.
14. Run ads to your best performing content.
15. Comment on your competitors posts, not in a spammy way, but with the goal to increase your visibility.
16. Search freelancer websites and set up job alerts.
17. Reach out to freelance recruiters and build a connection with them - let them know you’re available and stay top of mind.
18. Reach out to 10 ideal clients every day on LinkedIn. Yes it might sound like a lot, but this will pay off in the long-run I promise.
19. Join memberships or masterminds where your ideal audience are also part of and build relationships with them.
20. Approach other service providers who may be seen as competitors - let them know you’d like to collaborate. If they have excess leads they’re more likely to recommend you.
21. Build relationships with freelancers serving your audience with different but complimentary services - e.g. web designers if you’re a SEO expert.
22. Create (and keep up to date) your Google My Business listing, make sure to ask past clients to review you on there.
23. Blogging - for both SEO and audience building purposes.
24. Join freelance communities where you can collaborate and share leads.
25. Look at where your potential clients are already investing in their business - e.g. local magazines.
26. Start a weekly newsletter for your ideal clients to provide value and share insights from your experience and expertise.
27. Go into businesses and speak to them to let them know you’re available and what you can do for them.
28. Get articles published in online magazines or websites that your potential clients read.
29. Write a detailed case study of one of your clients and share it with industry publications.
30. Create a brand new offer, service or package and share it with your past clients, email list and audience.
31. Take time to research some ideal clients and share how you can help them improve something specific in your area of expertise.
32. Speak to agencies and let them know you have capacity to support their clients.
33. Start your own podcast.
34. Host a 5 day online challenge for your ideal audience.
35. Run a paid workshop (in-person or online).
36. Offer to host a free training for a programme or membership that your ideal audience are part of.
37. Reach out to previous colleagues and employers to catch up and let them know what you’re doing.
38. Create a Dream 100 list of perfect clients and start to make connections with the decision-makers inside their businesses.
39. Take part in a virtual summit.
40. Speak on stage at an event where your ideal audience is.
41. Write a book.
42. Start a YouTube channel.
43. Offer free strategy calls where there is no-pitch, but all value.
44. DM everyone who comments or likes your social media posts.
45. Chase up lost leads or anyone who has contacted you in the past but never signed up to work with you.
46. Ask past clients if they can introduce you to someone who might need your services.
47. Write guest blogs for websites that rank well on Google and get lots of traffic.
48. Join local business groups on Facebook, become visible and help share their businesses with your audience.
49. Sponsor an event or similar where your ideal audience will be attending.
50. Become a star pupil for your coach or mentor so they share your story with their audience.

If client work gets slow, take the opportunity to start to work your way through this list and keep those leads rolling in. Don't worry about getting too busy - that's when you can implement waitlist strategy, group offers, and increase your fees.