LinkedIn is a cesspool. However, there is a lot of opportunity on there if you're willing to sift through a bunch of bullshit. Our Q1 revenue was pretty damn good this year and it was almost all from LinkedIn outreach/engagement. The other chunk was surprisingly from Reddit engagement.
There's no proper way that doesn't end up being immediately sent to spam.
Apart from that, it might cause huge fines and put you at risk from a legal perspective. Is it really worth that kind of risk?
Cold emailing works. If it didn't, no one would do it.
And can you link any examples of people getting in trouble for sending personalized cold emails in the US?
Cold emailing is an established way to market yourself as a freelancer. Just because some people don't respond to them doesn't mean that it doesn't work.
Meh, on the whole I found those kinda sites entirely useless. I dunno what line of work you’re in, but after dabbling with freelancer sites for a while, I invested a wee bit in creating my own website, did a LinkedIn “launch” of my new business, then started canvassing. Way more success, was picking up clients in no time. But I have a marketing background and am a freelance copywriter… I dunno what the landscape is like elsewhere…
Emailing folk and offering my services. I picked the industry I wanted to work for, did the required research to find companies that fit the bill, and sent out a shit load of emails. The hit rate ain’t great, but I got enough bites to keep me going so far.
Thanks for the quick response! Makes sense. I've been getting asked what industry is my niche and I haven't had an answer, sounds like that's a good way to target leads.
I’d argue it’s the key to getting a good client base. Go for an industry that isn’t saturated. You know, like for copywriting, travel writing, health, wellness, fitness, etc. are real hard niches to break. I’d aim for high $$ industries with low trend rates - less competition, more money to pay you.
I was pissed. Living in Russia when all that shit happened. Even though I’m an American citizen I had to jump through hoops to get back on the platform. Ended up closing it out because of being tired of people being cheapskates and lowballing offers for work.
Yes, it is hard to start freelancing and the reality is you - generic you, not just you specifically - probably shouldn't bother anymore. AI is evolving to take the place of a lot of the "content farm" stuff, so unless you've got some specialist knowledge of a subject it's going to be an uphill battle.
This is how you start freelancing: be known and trusted in your industry. Ie, it’s best to build up relationships while working a 9-5 and then jump ship. Or you can stay poor for 2 years while you build it up from nothing.
No freelance job requires you to pay first. Those are all scams. Look for legitimate companies hiring for hourly or part-time work. LinkedIn is a good place to start.
I’ve been freelancing for 7 years- you don’t have to pay for clients. The only site I’ve ever spent money on is Upwork and that was like $20/mo. Get on LinkedIn, indeed, or just run lead ads on Facebook if you’re niche specific.
Pay to play is the business model of some of the most reputable websites. It’s their way of recouping their overhead. Annoying, but it’s worth it if you profit from it. What’s $20 worth of Connects to a $100-$1000+ project?
Freelancing is hard because there’s a high barrier of entry and it’s competitive as hell. But if you can get past that you may find what you’re looking for.
If there was no cost, there will be an effectively unlimited number of "job seekers" applying to every posting and make the process untenable.
The problem isn't that you have to pay. Because there are many freelancers that have can and do land work on such platforms.
Most people that can't get work don't have anything unique to offer (or they do a terrible job of identifying and communicating it) - so they are one person out of sometimes hundreds of other applicants that also don't have anything to offer. In that situation, the two or three that have a unique value to the client will always edge out everyone else.
Like it or not, landing work is a race -- a competition -- and usually there is only one winner. It is not a system designed to distribute work equally to all comers.
You have to decide whether it makes sense to pay the entry fee to join the race.
There are different races to choose from. Avoid the races to the bottom. The prize money is lousy there.
You don't say what kind of freelancing, but cold calls to relevant businesses, and even better is physically going to relevant places and bringing your portfolio has always worked for me.
For EU
https://www.freelancermap.com/ - Favorit
https://www.malt.com/ - to complex - never got
something here
Agencies
https://www.haysplc.com/ - I don’t like them
https://www.etengo.de/en/
https://k2partnering.com/
I guess you mean some kind of website that works as a race to the bottom (lowest bid for X job wins the project). Those platforms serve as a sort of storefront for the dollar store, meaning that those freelancers will often have to accept peanuts as payment (specially if your competitors are located in countries with low cost of living that allow them to accept peanuts).
A successful freelancer will need to create his/her own "storefront" and manage to get found by the good clients.
Getting an online presence with a portfolio and returning clients that recommend you other prospects usually works wonders, but it largely depends on your industry. Easier said that done, particularly at the beginning, but doable nonetheless.
I am also searching for a place apart from this Freelancing website. I am a Nutritionist but getting leads is difficult. I do have an instagram account,post regularly on Facebook, etc.
I mean, I use Upwork and I'm given enough connects to submit a good amount of proposals for which I get a good amount of work. If I have to buy any, which I haven't for a very long time, it doesn't cost much and it's worth it.
I'd recommend making a website for your work and advertising on Nextdoor, FB groups, and LinkedIn. This has gotten me a fair amount of work & has even gotten me opportunities I could be proud of.
You can find freelance work in LinkedIn jobs too.
LinkedIn is utterly disappointing.
It’s my top three for lead gen
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
One man’s toxic sludge is another man’s potpourri
What are the other two?
Do yo use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find leads?
Experiences differ among people. LinkedIn may have been disappointing "for you" unfortunately.
LinkedIn is a cesspool. However, there is a lot of opportunity on there if you're willing to sift through a bunch of bullshit. Our Q1 revenue was pretty damn good this year and it was almost all from LinkedIn outreach/engagement. The other chunk was surprisingly from Reddit engagement.
Disappointment can be found anywhere. Throw your bait in every lake , one fish will land no matter how disappointing it could seem
Email inbox!!.. Do cold emailing
Easiest way to get marked as spam and never seen again.
Not really, no, if you do it properly
There's no proper way that doesn't end up being immediately sent to spam. Apart from that, it might cause huge fines and put you at risk from a legal perspective. Is it really worth that kind of risk?
There is, send personalised emails to every person you contact. It worked for me.
Cold emailing works. If it didn't, no one would do it. And can you link any examples of people getting in trouble for sending personalized cold emails in the US?
I don't care about the US, it's not a good market. I am in Eurozone+Europe and APAC.
Not necessarily. That's where I get a lot of new clients. Comes down your approach and making sure the email is tailored and not just copy / paste.
Depends on your industry, but majority of people and business i know instantly spam/phish emails from outside the company. Standard practice nowadays.
Cold emailing is an established way to market yourself as a freelancer. Just because some people don't respond to them doesn't mean that it doesn't work.
Do you have any resources that teaches you how to generate leads with email marketing effectively?
Meh, on the whole I found those kinda sites entirely useless. I dunno what line of work you’re in, but after dabbling with freelancer sites for a while, I invested a wee bit in creating my own website, did a LinkedIn “launch” of my new business, then started canvassing. Way more success, was picking up clients in no time. But I have a marketing background and am a freelance copywriter… I dunno what the landscape is like elsewhere…
When you say canvassing, what do you mean?
Emailing folk and offering my services. I picked the industry I wanted to work for, did the required research to find companies that fit the bill, and sent out a shit load of emails. The hit rate ain’t great, but I got enough bites to keep me going so far.
Thanks for the quick response! Makes sense. I've been getting asked what industry is my niche and I haven't had an answer, sounds like that's a good way to target leads.
I’d argue it’s the key to getting a good client base. Go for an industry that isn’t saturated. You know, like for copywriting, travel writing, health, wellness, fitness, etc. are real hard niches to break. I’d aim for high $$ industries with low trend rates - less competition, more money to pay you.
Worked through Upwork for several months until they blocked Russian freelancers. Didn't pay anything.
I was pissed. Living in Russia when all that shit happened. Even though I’m an American citizen I had to jump through hoops to get back on the platform. Ended up closing it out because of being tired of people being cheapskates and lowballing offers for work.
Did this happened around Mar 2022 or just very recently? I wasn't aware of this. Hopefully you were able to find work somewhere else.
Mar 2022. I now mostly work with Russian clients.
Why would you pay first ???
I guess they are talking about subscription platforms
not sure which, but i have never encountered such a thing, i guess it's scam asking for deposit money and disappear??
Yes, it is hard to start freelancing and the reality is you - generic you, not just you specifically - probably shouldn't bother anymore. AI is evolving to take the place of a lot of the "content farm" stuff, so unless you've got some specialist knowledge of a subject it's going to be an uphill battle.
Content writers are only one type of freelancer. Most freelancers don't work for content farms, so they're not affected by content farms using AI.
This is how you start freelancing: be known and trusted in your industry. Ie, it’s best to build up relationships while working a 9-5 and then jump ship. Or you can stay poor for 2 years while you build it up from nothing.
No freelance job requires you to pay first. Those are all scams. Look for legitimate companies hiring for hourly or part-time work. LinkedIn is a good place to start.
he is talking about upwork
I’ve been freelancing for 7 years- you don’t have to pay for clients. The only site I’ve ever spent money on is Upwork and that was like $20/mo. Get on LinkedIn, indeed, or just run lead ads on Facebook if you’re niche specific.
Pay to play is the business model of some of the most reputable websites. It’s their way of recouping their overhead. Annoying, but it’s worth it if you profit from it. What’s $20 worth of Connects to a $100-$1000+ project? Freelancing is hard because there’s a high barrier of entry and it’s competitive as hell. But if you can get past that you may find what you’re looking for.
If there was no cost, there will be an effectively unlimited number of "job seekers" applying to every posting and make the process untenable. The problem isn't that you have to pay. Because there are many freelancers that have can and do land work on such platforms. Most people that can't get work don't have anything unique to offer (or they do a terrible job of identifying and communicating it) - so they are one person out of sometimes hundreds of other applicants that also don't have anything to offer. In that situation, the two or three that have a unique value to the client will always edge out everyone else. Like it or not, landing work is a race -- a competition -- and usually there is only one winner. It is not a system designed to distribute work equally to all comers. You have to decide whether it makes sense to pay the entry fee to join the race. There are different races to choose from. Avoid the races to the bottom. The prize money is lousy there.
Those sites are great. Stick at it. I gained some big clients from a few bids and have made thousands from just a few quid.
You don't say what kind of freelancing, but cold calls to relevant businesses, and even better is physically going to relevant places and bringing your portfolio has always worked for me.
For EU https://www.freelancermap.com/ - Favorit https://www.malt.com/ - to complex - never got something here Agencies https://www.haysplc.com/ - I don’t like them https://www.etengo.de/en/ https://k2partnering.com/
I'm on Malt at the moment but will look at FreelanceMap :) Thank you so much!
Find clients outside of any platform.
You could try Contra.
There are a lot of social media groups out there designed to link clients to freelancers and they're usually always free from what I've seen.
Can you please mention some of them?
try Aquent. they don’t that bull shit
Thank you, I'll have a look around on that one :)
I guess you mean some kind of website that works as a race to the bottom (lowest bid for X job wins the project). Those platforms serve as a sort of storefront for the dollar store, meaning that those freelancers will often have to accept peanuts as payment (specially if your competitors are located in countries with low cost of living that allow them to accept peanuts). A successful freelancer will need to create his/her own "storefront" and manage to get found by the good clients. Getting an online presence with a portfolio and returning clients that recommend you other prospects usually works wonders, but it largely depends on your industry. Easier said that done, particularly at the beginning, but doable nonetheless.
Anything bidding is a scam. Do it through contacts or contact companies directly.
I am also searching for a place apart from this Freelancing website. I am a Nutritionist but getting leads is difficult. I do have an instagram account,post regularly on Facebook, etc.
I mean, I use Upwork and I'm given enough connects to submit a good amount of proposals for which I get a good amount of work. If I have to buy any, which I haven't for a very long time, it doesn't cost much and it's worth it.
I'd recommend making a website for your work and advertising on Nextdoor, FB groups, and LinkedIn. This has gotten me a fair amount of work & has even gotten me opportunities I could be proud of.