How To Get Clients as a Freelancer: 10 Strategies

Landing freelance clients requires shifting from passive job hunting to actively managing your own client acquisition pipeline. Although many freelancers rely entirely on third-party job boards, building sustainable long-term relationships and inbound channels gives you direct control over your income and workflow.

The independent workforce is expanding rapidly. According to the 2025 MBO Partners State of Independence Study, 72.9 million Americans work independently, with 5.6 million earning more than $100,000 annually—nearly double the figure from five years prior. Securing that kind of predictable revenue depends on establishing a strategy to attract quality clients.

Discover how to get clients as a freelancer, learn how to build a foundation for your freelance business, and find answers to common client acquisition questions.

How to get clients as a freelancer

• Tell your existing network you’re available
• Ask for referrals from happy clients
• Attend networking events and industry communities
• Use LinkedIn strategically
• Send personalized cold outreach
• Partner with agencies and complementary freelancers
• Apply selectively to freelance marketplaces
• Join the Shopify Partner Program
• Build an email list to stay top of mind
• Cultivate an online presence that attracts clients

Sustainable client pipelines rely on owned channels, strategic networking, and clear positioning. Use the following strategies to attract and retain potential clients:

Tell your existing network you’re available

When you transition into a freelance career or start looking for new business, begin with your immediate circle. Reach out to former colleagues, friends, industry contacts, and personal connections to let them know you are taking on new projects.

Write a targeted message that details your exact services, target industry, and the specific problems you solve so those in your network know precisely when and how to refer you. Here’s an example:

Hi [Name], I’ve officially started freelancing full time, offering ecommerce conversion optimization and technical copywriting for direct-to-consumer brands. If you know anyone looking to improve their store’s checkout flow or refresh their product pages, I’d welcome an introduction.

Former employers and clients already know your work ethic, speed, and standard of quality. Reconnecting with them eliminates the friction of proving your capabilities from scratch. Reach out to past managers and pitch specific, high-impact deliverables that reduce their internal team’s workload:

• Suggest a scoped retainer to manage quarterly content updates.

• Offer to take on overflow technical tasks during peak sales cycles.

• Propose an audit of existing workflows to identify cost savings.

Ask for referrals from happy clients

Satisfied clients are an effective source of new clients. When a client praises your work upon project delivery, capitalize on that positive response immediately by requesting a referral.

On an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, Dan Demsky, cofounder of the apparel brand Unbound Merino and former head of the production agency Biz Media, says he built his agency’s early momentum by obsessing over output quality. Starting with small local gigs, Dan and his team poured everything into client satisfaction, which triggered an organic referral engine that scaled their client base to mid-sized enterprises and major corporations.

To turn project handoffs into referral opportunities, here’s a sample email you could send:

I’m glad the new landing page is performing well for your launch. I’m currently opening two spots for new client projects next month. Do you know of any other founders or marketing managers who need help redesigning their online store?

Attend networking events and industry communities

Expanding your reach requires stepping outside your immediate circle to establish genuine connections. Participate actively in niche communities, specialized Facebook groups, relevant Slack or Discord channels, and local meetups where your target audience congregates.

In-person industry trade shows and conferences offer high-impact opportunities to meet people face to face. Dorian Morris, founder of the beauty brand Undefined Beauty, sources long-term creative partners by attending networking events in person. On Shopify Masters, she says meeting collaborators on the ground lets you evaluate shared creative vision and mutual work styles before signing a contract.

On Shopify Masters, Danielle Close, founder of natural skin care brand My Skin Feels, says she built her multi-disciplinary career by nurturing professional relationships over decades. She advises independent professionals to invest heavily in personal networking from day one. In fact, her startup’s PR agency partnership grew out of an authentic professional connection maintained for more than 15 years. 

To sharpen your pitch, step directly into your target market. Danielle spent time working on physical retail shop floors to learn customer objections and communication styles in real time—practical insights she applied when pitching high-ticket brand accounts.

Use LinkedIn strategically

Use your LinkedIn profile to pitch yourself and your services. Optimize your profile header and summary around client outcomes rather than generic job titles. For example, you might replace “Freelance Copywriter” with “Direct-Response Copywriter Helping B2B Brands Increase Demo Conversions.”

To attract inbound interest on LinkedIn:

• Publish detailed case studies. Outline the client’s starting metric, your intervention, and the measured business result.

• Break down common industry mistakes. Demonstrate tactical domain expertise by deconstructing real-world examples.

• Engage with decision-makers. Leave substantive comments on posts by founders, CMOs, and creative directors in your industry.

Send personalized cold outreach

Targeted cold emailing remains an effective way to get clients quickly when inbound channels are still warming up. Avoid generic mass templates; prioritize relevancy and business acumen over volume.

On Shopify Masters, Jamil Bhuya and Jaz Fenton, founders of the creative agency Otherhalf, discuss how they scaled their design business by bypassing standard sales pitches and speaking directly to founder psychology. Because they had operated product brands themselves, they approached potential clients with founder-to-founder empathy. 

Rather than selling isolated design files, they framed their pitches around operational metrics that business owners care about, such as burn rates, customer acquisition costs, and paths to profitability.

When building your cold pitch list:

1. Identify 20 to 30 businesses that fit your ideal client profile.

2. Review their current setup to locate a specific, fixable friction point (e.g., slow mobile page speeds, broken layout grids, unclear product messaging).

3. Send a brief message explaining the issue, showing a concrete example of how you would resolve it, and inviting a brief conversation.

Partner with agencies and complementary freelancers

Partnering with other freelancers and boutique agencies provides immediate access to qualified project leads without cold pitching. Connect with professionals who serve your target market with non-competing offerings. For example: 

• Web developers can partner with UX designers

• A freelance marketer can pair up with a brand copywriter

• SEO strategists can team up with technical content writers

Jamil of Otherhalf emphasizes building partner networks over blind pitching. When you pitch an organization cold, internal defenses are high. Partnering with established service providers gives you warm introductions, letting you bypass gatekeepers and win business through trusted endorsements.

Apply selectively to freelance marketplaces

Although building owned channels remains the ultimate priority, digital platforms can help secure first clients or bridge short-term cash flow gaps. Use platforms like Upwork or Contra selectively to validate pricing and collect case studies.

Brand leaders frequently turn to vetted digital marketplaces to find specialized contributors. On Shopify Masters, Julie Carty, founder of product brand LatchLight, says she sourced engineering, 3D CAD design, and legal specialists via these platforms to execute development phases quickly. 

Treat digital platforms as a discovery channel to demonstrate reliability, gather glowing testimonials, and build long-term relationships that expand your broader reputation.

Join the Shopify Partner Program

For technical and creative freelancers—including web designers, full-stack developers, and ecommerce consultants—the Shopify Partner Program offers a built-in client acquisition engine.

When you join the Partner Program, you gain access to:

• Shopify Partner Directory. Show your portfolio, client reviews, and domain specializations to thousands of active merchants searching for expert help.

• Recurring revenue streams. Earn revenue for every new merchant you refer to Shopify or migrate to the platform.

• Development environments. Build, test, and stage client stores on unlimited free sandbox environments before handing ownership over to the client.

Build an email list to stay top of mind

Relying exclusively on social algorithms could expose your business to sudden drops in reach. An owned email list lets you maintain direct access to past clients, current leads, and industry peers.

Send a bi-weekly or monthly dispatch featuring relevant content like:

• Tactical analyses of high-performing marketing campaigns or store designs

• Short case studies detailing recent client wins

• Announcements about upcoming project availability

Consistently delivering actionable insights keeps your services top of mind, so leads contact you the moment their budget opens up.

Cultivate an online presence that attracts clients

Instead of treating your website as a static photo gallery, use Shopify to build an interactive portfolio site that doubles as a storefront. Present in-depth case studies, integrate lead capture forms, schedule discovery calls, and accept credit card or digital wallet payments for project deposits.

You can also move past the traditional hourly trap where income is tied to time spent and use Shopify apps to productize your offering:

• Sell fixed-scope packages. Offer fixed-price website audits, brand style guides, or conversion assessments.

• Manage client retainers. Set up recurring subscription billing for ongoing maintenance, content writing, or growth marketing.

• Monetize digital assets. Sell downloadable templates, standard operating procedures, and video courses to diversify your revenue streams.