Most new freelancers spend months building portfolios, while someone else lands their first client in 72 hours by being in the right place at the right time.
The conventional wisdom that you need extensive experience to land clients is wrong. Your first 10 clients will come from exploiting information asymmetry, strategic positioning, and understanding one truth: businesses hire freelancers to solve immediate problems, not to admire resumes.
Your lack of experience is a negotiable leverage point. Experience is just packaged proof of capability, and proof can be manufactured through strategic positioning. I got my first client, who paid me $600 using just a Google doc portfolio containing projects done for fictional clients—nothing fancy.
So, if you’re looking to get your first ten freelance clients without experience, here are seven methods to get clients for your freelance business.
Method 1: The Reverse Job Application
Find companies actively hiring full-time employees for the skill you offer. They’ve already signaled they have budget, need, and pain, and they’re sorting through 200 applications while dealing with ghosting candidates.
Instead of sending a resume and being part of the 200 applications that would barely get noticed, you can send them this:
“I noticed you’re hiring a [role]. I’m a freelancer who can deliver [specific outcome] while you continue your search. No long-term commitment or onboarding overhead, just results. Here’s a 3-day project I can complete this week that would [solve the specific problem mentioned in the job posting].”
It’s always important not to pitch your services but rather pitch a solution to their visible problem. They’re hiring because something hurts, so offer immediate pain relief.
Method 2: The Reddit Expert Strategy
Reddit has 73.1 million daily active users hunting for solutions.
Choose three subreddits where your target clients congregate—not freelancer subreddits, but client subreddits. For instance, if you’re a web developer, you can find clients on subreddits like r/smallbusiness, r/ecommerce, and r/shopify, while writers should try r/SaaS, r/startups, and r/marketing.
Rather than outrightly promoting yourself, you can engage with users, answer questions, and genuinely help people before pitching your services. When someone asks about landing page conversion, give them 300 words with specific tactics instead of “DM me for help.”
After 15-20 helpful comments, you can then send targeted DMs like this: “Noticed you’re struggling with email sequences. I put together a 3-email template based on your product description in that thread. No charge, but if you find it useful, I do this type of work.”
Method 3: The Micro-Influencer Backdoor
Identify 20 micro-influencers in your industry (5,000-50,000 followers) and focus on ones actively engaging with their audience—answering comments, hosting workshops, and sharing resources.
Offer to help them create better content for their audience. A social media manager could analyze their last 30 posts and create a data report showing which formats perform best. A designer could create an infographic template they can customize, or a developer could build a small tool their audience would find useful.
You invest 5-8 hours creating something useful, and they share it with thousands of potential clients while mentioning you as the creator.
Method 4: The Strategic LinkedIn Comment Method
LinkedIn’s algorithm loves comments more than posts, so use this to your advantage.
Find 10 thought leaders in your target industry who post regularly and set up notifications. When they publish, be in the first 3-5 comments with substantive insight that extends their point.
A brand strategist spent 30 days commenting thoughtfully on posts from e-commerce founders without pitching once.
By day 23, someone DM’d asking for help, which resulted in a $2,500 brand positioning package. She landed two more clients from that same network within six weeks.
Method 5: The Local Business Arbitrage
Walk into 20 local businesses this week—physically visit restaurants, retail shops, and service providers. Check their website, Google Business Profile, and social media.
Document three specific improvements they could make and write them up professionally. Return two days later with a folder containing your analysis and concrete suggestions—not a pitch for long-term services, but a gift of immediate value with a simple offer: “If you’d like help implementing any of these, my rate is [amount]. If not, no worries.”
Local business owners aren’t scrolling Upwork because they’re overwhelmed by operations, so you’re not competing with 50 other freelancers.
Method 6: The Warm Network Excavation
Make a spreadsheet and list every person you’ve worked with, studied with, or interacted with professionally in the last five years—former colleagues, classmates, professors, managers, gym buddies who mentioned their business, and cousins who complained about work problems.
For each person, ask: What problem might they have that I could solve?
Then send this: “Been thinking about [specific challenge you remember them mentioning]. I recently started freelancing in [your skill] and actually dealt with something similar, so I put together a few ideas that might help. No obligation, just thought you might find it useful.”
Attach a 1-page PDF with 3-5 tactical suggestions—free value with no pitch.
This converts at roughly 20%, so if you have 50 people on your list, you’ll get 10 conversations, and three or four will become projects.
Method 7: The Productized Service Launch
Stop selling generic “freelance writing” or “graphic design services” and instead package your work into a specific, repeatable offering with a defined scope and price.
Examples:
- LinkedIn Profile Optimization: $300, 48-hour delivery, includes rewritten headline, about section, and experience descriptions
- Email Welcome Sequence: $600, five emails, one revision round, 7-day turnaround
- Landing Page Copywriting: $800, up to 1,200 words, three sections, two revision rounds
Productized services eliminate decision fatigue because clients know exactly what they’re getting and what it costs. You’re offering a clear transaction.
Launch with a simple one-page site using Carrd or Notion, then post it on Twitter, LinkedIn, relevant Facebook groups, and IndieHackers. Price it low enough to get your first few clients quickly ($300-$800 range), then raise prices after client five.
Method 8: The Upwork Fast-Track
Upwork gets dismissed as oversaturated, but it can help you get freelance clients if you’re strategic about it.
Start by optimizing your profile with a specific niche headline like “Email Marketing Specialist for SaaS Companies” instead of the generic “Freelance Writer.” Your overview should focus on client outcomes, not your credentials, and include 2-3 concrete results you can deliver.
For proposals, skip the template introductions and immediately address their specific problem in the first sentence. Reference something from their job posting that shows you actually read it, then propose one concrete solution you’d implement. Keep proposals under 150 words, end with a single question that moves the conversation forward, and apply to 10-15 jobs daily during your first two weeks.
The Proposal That Actually Converts
Your proposal structure:
- Restate their problem in your own words (proves you understand)
- Describe the specific outcome they’ll have when you’re done (not your process, but the result)
- List exactly what you’ll deliver (tangible items, not vague promises)
- Include one case study or example (even from a personal project)
- State your price and timeline clearly
- End with one simple next step: “Reply with ‘yes,’ and I’ll send the invoice.”
No fluffy cover letter, no “about me” section that reads like a resume, and no 10-page PDF with stock photos and mission statements.
The Referral Multiplier
After delivering exceptional work for each of your first 10 clients, ask for two things:
- A detailed testimonial (not just “great work!” but specific outcomes)
- An introduction to one person who might need similar help
Don’t ask for a LinkedIn post or video testimonial—keep the ask simple and actionable.
If half of your first 10 clients provide one referral, you’ll have five new warm leads without additional outreach, and this is how you transition from hustling for every client to having a sustainable pipeline.
What Kills Most Freelancers
Not lack of skill or insufficient marketing, but inconsistency. They send 20 pitches one week, land a client, focus entirely on delivery, and forget to keep filling the pipeline. The project ends, they have zero prospects, and they panic and send desperate pitches that convert poorly.
Dedicate 2-3 hours daily to acquisition activities until you have 10 completed projects—even when you’re busy with client work, and especially when you’re busy with client work.
READ MORE: How to Start Freelancing In 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide for Complete Beginners
The 10-Client Timeline Framework
Here’s a timeline framework for executing a focused 60-day campaign to acquire 10 clients.
Days 1-10: Infrastructure setup. Basic website or landing page. LinkedIn profile optimization. Portfolio documentation (even if it’s personal projects). Choose 2-3 acquisition methods from this list.
Days 11-35: Execution phase. Daily outreach. If you picked Reddit, you’re commenting daily. If you choose a local business, you’re visiting 3-5 businesses weekly. If you selected LinkedIn commenting, you’re engaging on 5-10 posts daily.
Days 36-50: Follow-up and refinement. You’ll have some interest by now. Focus on converting conversations to proposals. Adjust your positioning based on what’s working.
Days 51-60: Delivery mode. By now, you should have 2-4 active projects. Focus on exceptional execution. These early clients are your future referral sources.
The math works because you’re not trying to build a client roster that sustains you for a year. You need 10 projects. That’s it. Ten small wins that prove you can deliver, earn money, and gather testimonials.
Your Next Move
You don’t need a business plan. You need 10 clients.
Pick two methods from this article. Not five. Two.
Spend the next 60 days executing them with consistent volume. Track every pitch, comment, conversation, and proposal. Adjust based on what converts.
Ten clients. Eight weeks. That’s the only goal that matters right now.
