One of the hardest parts of freelancer life is winning your first client. With no previous work, no testimonials and no existing client base, it can be extremely difficult to get started. To help you win your first client, we asked 100 different freelancers how they did it.

There are several steps to winning your first client

Here are the key steps to finding, pitching and working with your first freelance client:

• Find your opportunity

• Write a pitch for the work

• Win the work 🤗

• Complete your work on time

• Report on performance

• Collect a testimonial or other social proof like client results

Find your opportunity

The most common ideas suggested by the 100 freelancers were:

• Using platforms like Upwork and Fiverr to find work

• Sharing your journey on Twitter or LinkedIn

• Leaving the company you work for but continuing to freelance for them

• Leveraging your network by letting them know you are now freelance

• Offer freelance services to people hiring for full time roles

• Work for free for testimonials

We've added all the ideas to a Senja Wall of Love so you can review it and collect and gather inspiration. Click here to see all the ideas.

How to pitch for freelance work

Coming soon: a guide to pitching your freelance lead including templates you can use from leading freelancers.

Collect a testimonial from your client

Most potential clients will ask for social proof like testimonials from happy clients before they hire you to work to work on their project. This is why it's important for freelancers to collect testimonials.

Some freelancers are uncomfortable asking for testimonials so we've created a testimonial request template you can use. We also created a guide to where and how leading freelancers collect the perfect testimonial from their clients.

More advice for freelancers

• Win your first client [that's this guide]

• Testimonial request template

• How other freelancers collect testimonials

• How to go from $100/blog post to $1000/blog post