A lot of people on Twitter have been asking me about this and so instead of writing individual replies, I decided to make a blog post and share it with everyone. Read on to know how I managed to land my first client and got paid 50% more than the original contract amount
The process:
I'll keep these steps simple and chances are you probably already know this.
- Find your niche
- Find people who need your services
- Make a convincing enough pitch
- Schedule and conduct meeting to go over the details of what you'll be doing and to set expectations
- Absolutely floor your client with the quality of your service.
Having laid out the blueprint, let me now go over each step in detail.
Find your niche
Finding potential clients is the most difficult one and often people who are interested in the prospects of freelancing end up quitting here because it is so much different than what they had initially expected. That being said, here is what I do to find potential clients.
First and foremost, I decide on a niche within which I want to offer my service. Now, this can be of two types. One where you identify the industry within which you want to work. For example, you can be the 'website builder for lawyers' and that could be your identity. You can do this in just about any industry you choose. Some typical examples would include restaurants, salons, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents/companies, etc.
The other way to niche and this is what I do is to niche down in the service you'll offer. For example, I pitch myself as the 'only landing page designer/developer you'll need'. This typically broadens the domain of your work. For example, I've had to work with designing logos, editing pictures, etc for a client who wanted a site build for her VC fund. Another client wanted me to find multiple images per blog post in addition to making the blog post page itself. As I said, this does involve a lot more work but can also lead to long-term work and better client retention going forward.
Narrow down to find your niche
Find people who need your services
Having niched down, you would want to have a list of people/businesses you'd pitch your service to. To do this, I've found Instagram to be a great tool. What I do is using a mock location app, I set my location to any city I want to. Then let's say I'm looking for salons that don't have a great website. So what I'd do is with my location set to a city of my choosing, I'd do a search of 'salons near me' on google maps. This shows a list of salons near me with all the contact info (so I don't need to go looking for how to contact the business owner). Then I'd go through each salon's website and find a 'not so great' website or website that I know I can improve significantly. Once I have a long enough list of such businesses, I'd make a google sheet with their contact info and the 'blip'. Blip essentially means the ideas I have to make their existing/non-existing site turn into a high converting, total eye-candy website. Once I have a long enough list (50 or so), I start pitching my service identifying existing problems in their website and how I can help them. (If you don't have 50 salons in one city, try changing location to multiple cities and make a list out of all of them).
Make a list of people to pitch your service to
Make a convincing enough pitch:
I typically spend a week identifying businesses and making the list and one or two days per week (not on weekends), I do the pitching.
The pitch usually goes like this:
Hey XYZ 👋
I was going through your website and noticed (the problem). As a user of your service, I was taken aback by it (the problem and I'm glad to tell you that "I can help to do so and so (also include by not fixing the problem, how they're missing out on so much business
*In case you're interested, I'll be more than happy to schedule a quick zoom call to go through some of the ideas I have.
You can check my portfolio at (portfolio link or submit your project links if you don't have a portfolio, but having a portfolio always helps) and feel free to ping me if you have any doubts
Have a good one
Sumit Saurabh
Full Stack Engineer ( with a portfolio link or someplace they can contact you)*
This is what my pitch looks like. Don't steal it but definitely take cues from it and make it your own.
I've noticed that I get one reply back for every 20-25 pitches I make. So, if you don't get a reply back on your first pitch, don't feel discouraged. It definitely takes some getting used to and I think once you have the basics right, it ends up becoming a numbers game.
Explain your value proposition in the pitch
Set a meeting:
Beyond this, set a meeting (online or offline, I've had only online meetings for now) and go over what you plan to do for them, and don't discuss rates with them. Ask them to come up with a quote and If their quote works for you, tell them you'll get back to them with a contract. Then go to google and find a contract draft and make changes as you see fit. There are also people who will do this for you. Or you can also make use of some software.
I write my own draft and am afraid I can't share that. But it is an easy google search away.
Having done the draft, send it to them. Once they sign it pat yourself on the back, you just got your first client.
Now it's time to get to work.
Blow your client's mind away:
Remember, at this juncture, your only goal is to blow your client's mind away. The golden rule here is 'underpromise and overdeliver'. Just to give you an example, the negotiated timeframe for my client's first set of pages was 12 days.
I did it in 16 hours.
So when I say underpromise and overdeliver, I mean every word of it.
Beyond this, it is the usual, keep them in the loop. Keep them informed of the progress or no progress you're making and be polite.
That is basically it. Now, do note that I'm not a freelancer with 10 years of experience in the field. So take all my advice with a pinch of salt and make situational changes wherever you see fit. I'm just sharing what worked for me and what I've seen work for a couple of other people. But trust me if you're reading this, you have what it takes to succeed. I wish you all the very best.
In case I added any value, I've tons more interesting threads coming up on Twitter so consider following me here
Thanks for your time
Sumit Saurabh