3 Reasons Freelancers Don’t Get Clients & Give Up Forever

I always felt that success in life had a lot to do with luck.

When I was just starting out as a freelancer, I remember joining a Facebook group where people offered and requested freelancer services.

Upon joining, I didn’t even want to post anything because, as a shy person, I didn’t want my Facebook contacts to see what I do.

So, I created a new account and started posting. After twenty or thirty times of posting, I didn’t get a single client.

It was only when I decided to leave a comment that someone contacted me by phone, and we reached an agreement.

When I had the project ready, they completely ghosted me.

It would have been easy for me to give up at this point, but I had invested so much time learning web design that I wasn’t going to let it end there.

In this post, I’ll show you how I realized what I had done wrong and how to fix it.

Using Inconsistent Methods

Not every day you win the lottery, and not every day someone wins the lottery.

What I was doing post after post in that Facebook group was trying to magically land a client. I can say it did work, but it was one of the worst experiences I’ve had.

Client posts requesting freelancers would receive over 200 comments from people offering their services. Meanwhile, freelancer posts offering services would barely get 2 comments.

It was like trying to fish in a pond with two hundred other people, but there was no better fisherman; the one who luckily caught a fish won the lottery.

I couldn’t differentiate myself from the rest; I couldn’t do anything different to attract more clients than others. I had to change my approach.

You need to find a method where you can consistently acquire clients so that you’re not constantly trying to win the lottery. This method should be something where the results are within your control.

Be Professional

You have to appear as someone who can help your target audience.

If you’re going to reach out to people who have a business, you need to look professional. This doesn’t mean wearing a suit and tie; it means following a series of steps so that when they see you, you stand out from the rest.

In that Facebook group, there was no way to achieve that; there was no way to differentiate yourself from the other fishermen trying to catch a client. As a freelancer, clients hire you as a person, and if you don’t look unique, there’s no way for them to see why you’re different.

Do you have a professional profile picture? Do you have followers? Good spelling and grammar? All of this and more adds to your credibility.

Not Having a Portfolio

Before approaching someone and offering something, you have to prove that you’re capable of doing what you say you can do.

If you think about it, that’s what most universities offer. You go through several years of education to demonstrate to an employer that you’re qualified for a certain job.

Many people now don’t have the time or patience to attend university. That’s why bootcamps are so popular now because they provide certain certifications that you can use to prove what you can do.

To be a freelancer, you don’t need a diploma or anything similar; you just need to be able to demonstrate that you’re capable.

Try to create a portfolio and upload it to the internet with your own domain. You can use a platform like systeme.io (affiliate link) to create your portfolio and connect it to your domain without the need to pay for hosting.

If you want to learn how to create a portfolio, take my guide on how to create a good portfolio to present a professional image and land your first client. Here’s a link to The Perfect Portfolio Formula.