How do freelancers find their first client?

Usually through people who already know them. Tell former colleagues, past employers, friends with businesses and anyone you have worked for exactly what you now offer and who it is for, and ask directly whether they or someone they know could use it. Warm leads convert far faster than cold ones because trust is already there. Freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr are also a legitimate way to land a first few paid jobs and reviews.

Where can I find clients online?

Where your clients already gather: industry and community groups (Facebook groups, forums, Slack and Discord, LinkedIn), freelance marketplaces such as Upwork and Fiverr for a first foothold, and your own simple website or profile that proof can point to. Be genuinely useful in one or two of these places consistently rather than spreading thin, and let people see you know your subject before you pitch.

How do I get clients without experience?

Build a little proof fast. Do one or two small jobs (even at a low introductory rate or for someone in your network) to create examples and testimonials, then show that work on a simple page or profile. Marketplaces are useful here because a few good reviews substitute for a track record. Once you have proof, specific cold outreach and referrals start to work, and you can raise your rate.

What should a cold outreach message say?

Keep it short, specific and about them. Name one real thing you noticed about their business, say how you help businesses like theirs with it, and make a small low-pressure ask (a quick call or message). Avoid generic pitches that list your services and ask if they are interested, since those make the reader do all the work and get ignored. Send a handful a week to businesses you could genuinely help.

How do I turn an interested lead into a paying client?

Be fast and be clear. Reply while their interest is warm, and send a written quote that states exactly what they get, what it costs and what happens next, so saying yes is effortless. Slowness and vagueness are what lose warm leads. Then make the paid relationship smooth with a professional quotation up front and a clean invoice at the end, which also earns the referrals that bring your next clients.

How do I keep a steady stream of clients?

Make finding clients a small weekly habit rather than something you only do when work runs out. Spend a set amount of time each week on referrals, outreach and collecting proof, even when fully booked. This prevents the feast-and-famine cycle and gives you a full pipeline, which lets you hold your rate and turn down bad-fit work because you are not desperate.

Freelancing12 November 2026·8 min read·Written by Remit Team

How to Find Clients

Finding clients is the part of self-employment nobody prepares you for. You can be brilliant at the work and still sit with an empty calendar, because the skill of getting the work is different from the skill of doing it. The good news is that it is a process, not a talent: a handful of reliable places to look, a way of reaching out that does not feel like spam, and the habit of doing it before you are desperate. This guide covers where to actually find clients, how to approach them, how to turn an interested lead into a paying one, and how to keep the pipeline full so you are never scrambling. It is general business information, not financial advice.

A freelancer reaching out to potential clients from a phone and laptop on a desk

Start with the people who already know you

Your first and easiest clients are almost never strangers. They are people who already know you exist: former colleagues and employers, people you studied with, friends who run their own businesses, and anyone you have done good work for before. These leads convert far faster than cold ones because the hardest part, trust, is already there. The mistake most people make is assuming everyone knows what they now offer. They do not. A simple, specific message, not a vague "let me know if you need anything", is what turns a contact into a client.

Tell them plainly what you do and who it is for: "I am now doing X for businesses like Y, and I have room for a couple more clients." Then ask directly whether they, or anyone they know, could use it. Referrals are the highest-quality source of work there is, because a warm introduction arrives pre-trusted, so make it easy for people to refer you by being clear about exactly what you want.

Go where your clients already gather

Beyond your own circle, the fastest route is to be present where your ideal clients already spend time, rather than waiting to be found. Which places pay off depends on your work, but the usual ones, roughly in order of effort-to-reward, are: asking happy clients for referrals, local businesses in your area (a surprising number still struggle to find reliable help), industry or community groups online (Facebook groups, forums, Slack and Discord communities, LinkedIn), and freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr for a first foothold.

Marketplaces get a bad reputation for low rates, and the race-to-the-bottom end is real, but they are a legitimate way to land your first few paid jobs and reviews when you have no track record, and you can move off them once you do. For local and international remote work both, the pattern is the same: show up consistently in one or two places, be genuinely useful before you pitch anything, and let people see that you know your subject. If you are in Botswana or elsewhere in Southern Africa, this is also where the remote door opens: the same online communities and marketplaces let you work for clients anywhere, paid into your own account, without leaving home.

Cold outreach that does not feel like spam

Cold outreach works, but only when it is specific and about them, not about you. A generic "I offer web design, are you interested?" gets ignored because it asks the reader to do all the work. A good cold message names something real about their business, points out one concrete thing you could improve or help with, and makes a small, low-pressure ask. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.

A template to adapt: "Hi [name], I came across [their business] and noticed [one specific, true observation, e.g. your booking page is hard to use on mobile]. I help [businesses like theirs] with [the thing], and I had a quick idea that might help. Would it be worth a short message or call to share it? No pressure either way." Send a handful of these a week to businesses you could genuinely help, and expect most to go unanswered. Outreach is a numbers game played with real care, not volume for its own sake, which the spam filters and busy inboxes punish.

Build proof that finds clients for you

Over time, the aim is to stop chasing and let the work come to you, and that runs on proof. Three things do most of the heavy lifting: examples of your work (a simple portfolio, even a few screenshots or past jobs), testimonials from clients you have pleased (ask for them, every time, while the goodwill is fresh), and a single page online that says who you are, what you do and how to reach you. None of this needs to be elaborate. A clear one-page site, a tidy LinkedIn profile, or even a well-kept social account is enough to make a stranger trust you enough to get in touch.

Collect proof deliberately. After every finished job, ask the client for a short testimonial and permission to show the work. A pipeline that fills itself, where past clients refer you and new ones find your proof and reach out, is the goal, and it is built one satisfied client at a time.

Turn a lead into a paying client

Finding an interested lead is only half the job; losing them in the gap between "interested" and "paying" is how a lot of work slips away. The two things that lose leads are being slow and being vague. Reply quickly while their interest is warm, and make saying yes effortless: a clear, written quote that states exactly what they get, what it costs, and what happens next removes the friction and the doubt. Our guide on how to write a quote covers doing that well, and the post on how much to charge helps you price it with confidence.

Then make the paid relationship smooth from the first day, because your early clients are also your future referrals. Send a professional quotation up front and a clean invoice when the work is done, both free with Remit, so a new client's first impression of working with you is that you are organised and easy to pay. Getting that right is itself a client-finding tool: people recommend suppliers who make their life simple.

Keep the pipeline full (the habit that matters most)

The single biggest mistake in finding clients is only looking when you have no work. By the time the current project ends, you have nothing lined up, so you take whatever comes at whatever price, then get too busy to look again, and the feast-and-famine cycle repeats. The fix is to make finding clients a small, constant habit rather than an emergency: a set amount of time every week spent on referrals, outreach and proof, even when you are fully booked.

A full pipeline also changes your negotiating position. When you have other prospects, you can say no to bad-fit or underpaid work and hold your rate, because you are not desperate. That calm is worth as much as any single technique on this page.

The short version

Start with the people who already know you and ask directly for work and referrals. Be present where your clients gather and be useful before you pitch. Send short, specific cold messages to businesses you could genuinely help. Build proof (examples, testimonials, one clear page) so clients start finding you. Reply fast and quote clearly to turn leads into paid work, and keep looking even when you are busy so the pipeline never empties.

None of it requires a big marketing budget, just consistency and a clear idea of who you help. This is general business information and not financial advice, so adapt it to your field and your market.