r/freelancing

I’m a beginner freelancer/video editor and I often hear people say that posting your work attracts clients.

My problem is that the algorithm rarely pushes editing/design content to non-editors, so my TikTok and Instagram posts usually get under 100 views.

For freelancers who started from 0 followers:

How did you grow your audience and attract your first clients?

What type of contents did you posts on your 0 followers days that made it grow?

Hello everyone. I saw so many freelancer having hard time starting or keeping up after a while.
At first, I just thought the issue was the mentality, and sure enough this is the hardest wall to overcome.

Then, I realized that even with the right mindset, most people will still quit. And the biggest reason is a lack of structure: time/cost management. You can find so many content online talking about how to get rich with a $ budget but let's be real, jsut paying for electricity and Wifi is an investment since you consume both time and money for that.

With all of that, I decided that I would propose completely free content and help for freelancer to earn money consistantly and making sure they understand it is neither an easy road nor a fast one. But this road is a real job and should be treated like one, with dedication, discipline and improvement.

And even after all that, I had to face the same wall: most people just quit for whatever reason.

So I need honest opinions:

-If you have free help, no hidden fees, would you feel it is not enough?
-You get constant help and have the opportunity to give feedbacks to help others that are sharing the same struggles, would you stay silent?
-The main strategy revolving around all of this is to help each other because the place freelancers need to earn money also allows for other freelancer to get paid for sharing your work, thus resulting in a win-win situation, would you not put in some efforts?

Let's build a team!

I’ve been working on projects related to websites, branding, social media, and content creation.

Currently exploring ways to collaborate with people who are good at outreach, networking, or bringing in business opportunities for creative services.

Interested in hearing:

What strategies work best for getting clients?

Anyone here doing partnerships/collaborations in this space?

How do freelancers/agencies usually structure this?

Would love to connect and learn from people already doing this successfully.

Let's build a team!!

US-based tutoring platform hiring 100 tutors. Open worldwide.

Subjects: Music, Languages, and Academics.

You'll run 1:1 online sessions with students matched to you, most tutors get 10–15 students per month. Flexible schedule, you set your hours.

Pay: $500–600/week, paid monthly via Wise. No platform fees.

Requirements: Fluent English, laptop, stable internet.

To apply: Comment "Interested" and I'll share the signup details.

I started doing freelance full stack web development this January while still being a student. Honestly I had no idea what I was doing in terms of freelancing itself. I knew how to build websites, but I had no network, no clients, no connections, nothing.

So I just started cold messaging businesses on social media and pretty much anywhere I could find people who might need a better website. Most people ignored me obviously, but eventually a few replied, then one project became another, and somehow over the past few months I managed to land 5+ pretty high paying clients including businesses outside my country.

Now I’m at this stage where I finally have proper projects to showcase, real client work, testimonials, some money saved up from the projects, and way more confidence than when I started. But almost every client still comes from me manually reaching out to people myself

So now I’m wondering what the next step usually looks like for someone in this position. Once you finally have proof that you can actually deliver results, what’s the smarter way to grow from there? Would genuinely love to hear from people who crossed this stage already.

Freelancers, this is potentially a hot topic. Do you use ai in your work for clients? Regardless if yes/no: what's been the outcome? Have expectations shifted?

No AI - pure professional skill & differentiation

Some AI - some processes have AI, but I keep some places AI-free

Lots of AI - I've found ways to improve output in some way.

Please share!

Personally I'm at Some AI. Despite building my first AI agents before GPT released there are still some things I want to do myself. I feel that's a differentiator for me. Clients agree.

I was thinking of hiring someone to make the art for the cover, but I don't know if you only need the cover page and not the back cover for an ebook. Should I include the back cover and the spine in case I try to make a physical book out of it? How much would it cost?

I used fiverr and indeed btw
How much should I charge as a beginner??

Hi I am a 4th year architecture student in India looking for ways to make some money to cover college expenses. I've tried LinkedIn and gotten numerous graphic design gigs as well but most are scams. Where can I genuinely get clients? I'm trying to freelance as a graphic designer. Currently I have an architecture portfolio

Every tool promises to “streamline your workflow,” but somehow I still end up spending Friday nights piecing together invoices from random timers, notes, and client messages.

The weird part is the software already has all the information.

It knows:
what project I worked on
how many hours I logged
what the client rate is
whether the work is done

But instead of finishing the process, it hands everything back to me like, “good luck.”

That’s why I’ve started caring less about features and more about workflow continuity.

The best tools are the ones where tracking time naturally turns into billing, updates, and client visibility without opening six tabs or rebuilding the same invoice every week.

Freelancers don’t really need more dashboards.

We need less admin work pretending to be productivity.

i'm a solo contractor, about half my clients pay in EUR and GBP. need something that tracks income across currencies properly and doesn't make tax season a nightmare. what do you use?

Back in 2024, I lost almost everything I used for work.
My camera.
My laptop.
My phone.

I just thought freelancing was over for me.

Then in 2025, I managed to buy another laptop after months of random work and decided to fully commit to the remote world again.

Honestly, the space felt crowded as hell.

Everyone was learning a skill.
Everyone was selling a service.
Everyone was chasing “high-ticket clients.”

I got some contracts here and there…

but something still felt off.

It started feeling like survival with prettier branding.

And I'm all questioning something,

What if the skill itself isn’t the end goal?

What if the real move is turning the skill into a solution people actually need?

So instead of chasing random gigs nonstop,
I started building differently.

More intentionally.
More slowly.

Trying to understand:

• problems
• positioning
• leverage
• systems
• how solo businesses actually work

I started sharing the journey publicly on LinkedIn.

This year, I tested a small mentorship around the shift from freelancing → building something more stable.

Only took in 3 people.

One of them told me:
“Your guidance was a lifesaver.”

That stuck with me.

Because I know how confusing freelancing feels right now for a lot of people.

Especially with AI, crowded platforms, unstable contracts, and constant uncertainty.

So I’m curious:

Has anyone else here started feeling like freelancing alone isn’t enough anymore?

Not quitting it completely…

but realizing it probably shouldn’t be the final plan?

been wanting to freelance for ages but never actually started. I do have coding skills so that's not the problem, the problem is I don't know how to turn that into actual money

only free like 2-3 hours a day. thought about making templates or small scripts and selling them, or just doing gigs on fiverr. not sure what makes more sense when you're starting from zero with no clients and no portfolio

how did you guys get your first few paying clients or sales? what would you do differently if you were starting today?

any advice appreciated, been going in circles trying to figure this out on my own

I'm a Meta Ads freelancer based in India and looking for clients based in US UK Australia Canada Dubai and Switzerland. Apart from running ads, how else can I get in touch with them?

I specialize in lead generation for wedding industry clients and can also get you leads from a particular nationality in your country. Any referrals or guidance would work.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some honest feedback from agency owners and senior freelancers.

I am currently relaunching my marketing agency with a focus on high-ticket corporate contracts ($90k+ USD). My background is in sales and high-level networking; pre-pandemic, I worked with major brands and global artists. I have the leads, the capital for ad spend, and the drive to close deals—even if it means hitting the pavement myself.

My goal is to build an elite technical team (Designers, Developers, Growth Marketers) where the agency acts as the sales and investment engine, allowing the talent to focus 100% on execution.

The model I offer:

1. Rate Autonomy: I don’t lowball. The freelancer sets their own rate based on the brief, and that’s exactly what is billed to the client for their services.
2. 50% Upfront: I pay 50% before the professional even starts. I respect cash flow.
3. Full Autonomy: You set your deadlines, and I respect them. I don't do micro-management.

The Problem: I am very direct. I ask for a portfolio to filter quality immediately. If the level is what I need, I send over a draft contract to formalize the partnership. This is where the "ghosting" happens. High-level profiles often stop responding once the legal documents are on the table.

The Contract includes:

• 300% Mutual Penalty Clause: This is a radical loyalty pact. If the agency acts in bad faith or fails to pay, I owe the freelancer 3x the project value. If the freelancer bypasses the agency or commits a major breach of trust, the same penalty applies to them.
• IP & Confidentiality: Standard protection of client data and intellectual property transfer upon final payment.

I have solid, verifiable references and a track record on my social media, yet I feel I’m "scaring off" the exact 1% of talent I need to scale back to pre-pandemic levels.

My questions for the experts:

1. Is a 300% mutual penalty clause too aggressive for this level of business, even if it protects both sides?
2. Is being too direct in the first contact a red flag for senior talent?
3. How should I structure the onboarding process to build trust before showing the legal framework?

I’m here to learn and fix my process. I want to build a machine where everyone gets paid what they’re worth, but I’m clearly missing something in my approach.

I appreciate your insights.

About two years into freelancing now. Somewhere around 30 clients total over that time.

The actual delivery side has become manageable. Scoping, delivering, revising, communicating — that part eventually clicked.

The part that still feels messy is the relationship/context layer.

Every client has a long trail of conversations behind them:

things they casually mentioned wanting in the future

ideas I said I’d look into

feedback from old calls

half-finished threads that never became formal tasks

the general tone of the relationship at any given moment

When I only had a few active clients, I could keep most of this in my head. Once the number grew, that stopped working.

Now a client will message me referencing something from a conversation three weeks ago, and sometimes I immediately remember it… and sometimes I’m mentally reconstructing the context while replying.

Not the deliverables themselves. More the softer continuity that makes clients feel remembered and understood.

I’ve tried notes/CRMs/docs, but keeping them fully current starts becoming its own maintenance job.

Curious how other freelancers here handle this once client volume increases.

Do you have an actual system for staying current on relationship context, or is some amount of reconstruction just unavoidable?

I’m 17, still in high school in Australia, and trying to start freelancing because I’ll need remote work next year.

Right now I’m starting from zero — no freelancing experience and no real online skills yet — and I’m honestly overwhelmed by all the conflicting advice online.

If you’ve started from scratch (or if you were to), I’d really appreciate a step-by-step breakdown of how you did it.

I’m looking for guidance on:

• what skill you would start with (and why)
• what you would do in the first few weeks
• what sites/platforms you would use
• how you built your first portfolio with no experience
• how you got your first client (specific method if possible)
• what mistakes to avoid early on

For context, I’m decent academically (maths, science), so I’ve considered tutoring (though I’m still in high school and technically unqualified), but I’m also open to learning scalable skills like maybe video editing, web work, or AI/automation — I just don’t have experience yet and don’t know where to begin.

I’m not looking for “get rich quick” advice — just a realistic path from people who’ve actually done it.

Currently I am working as IT Recruiter in Hyderabad, I want to work as Freelance Recruiter on Weekend basis to earn some money. I am good at Cloud, Database, Networking, Security, AI Security, Full Stack Development. If you have any references Kindly let me know.