Whether you’re an on-the-side freelance designer hustling from 5pm to 9am to bring in some extra revenue or you’ve been freelancing full-time for a while, all freelance designers share the same truth:

We need design clients.

But sometimes it feels like you spend more time trying to figure out how to get design clients than actually working on interesting design projects, am I right?

It’s a love-hate relationship almost all freelance designers have with their business.

On the one hand, you have to get your work done and you really enjoy the satisfaction of being creative with your work.

But on the other hand, you can continue to enjoy that work unless you do the other kind of work that sometimes feels like drudgery: getting new clients.

Yes, some of the most skilled freelancers are able to stay booked out for months ahead of time but most of us are plagued by the terrible “feast or famine” cycle where one month you have plenty of work (and revenue) but the next month you’re not sure where it all went.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering where you’re going to find your next client, I hope today’s article will help. I’d like to share with you how I would go about finding 10 new design clients in 30 days or less if I had to start over from scratch next month.

These are techniques and tactics I have used for years as a freelancer and have also watched thousands of freelancers share in my FB community. 

These simple tactics work. It’s as simple as that.

If you need more clients (and pretty quickly) then keep reading.

Know your strengths

Before taking any significant action, it’s important to know what you’re good at and where you lack when it comes to client sales.

If you’re a great salesperson, then you may choose to send cold email on a regular basis in order to find new clients.

If you find you’re less talented at outreach, maybe joining a platform like Upwork or Fiverr could be a good starting place (although, I’d recommend quickly adding to it with non-platform clients).

If you’re great over the phone, pick it up and start calling. If you’re better with online ads, then invest some money into that client-finding method.

No two designers are alike. And therefore, no two designers will find freelance jobs in the same way. It’s up to you to know your own strengths and weaknesses. 

Lean into what you do well and your results will increase exponentially.

Start with “food on the table” clients

Sometimes, when we’re searching for freelance clients, it can be easy to get too picky too quickly.

While you should make an effort to partner with the best clients you can, getting too selective about your clients when you have none lined up for next month can be detrimental to your design business.

So start first with what I call “food on the table” clients. These are the clients that help you sleep at night knowing that you can at least put food on the table next month.

They may not be the most luxurious, lucrative, or exciting projects you work on, but they keep you fed and well so you can keep building.

At some point, you won’t need to take work from these kinds of clients, but when you’re still struggling to get clients month after month, they’re essential.

These kinds of clients are typically found by tapping your own personal network, posting on your personal social media accounts, and reaching out to people you know.

This kind of work is exhausting and not sustainable over the long-term, but they accomplish their goal of not only putting food on the table, but also giving you some breathing room to start getting more high quality clients.

Move to slightly better clients

After you have a small foundation that keeps you fed and your rent paid next month, it’s time to move on to slightly better clients.

Some of these clients may become long-term partners with you, but many of them have small, one-off projects they need help with.

These clients are great for building your experience and growing your portfolio so you’re prepared to pitch to high profile clients later on.

If it’s a good fit for you, many of these clients may come from freelancing sites where you can connect and collaborate (but you’ll have to pay the platform a small fee).

These clients help you get out from under the weight of running your own business and make you feel like you can really make this freelance design thing work.

While many freelancers stay at this stage for their entire careers, I recommend moving one step further up the ladder to long-term, high-quality clients.

Aim for long-term quality clients

Finally, your ultimate goal should be to aim for long-term quality clients that can support your business long into the future.

These kinds of clients are much more difficult to find, but represent the ideal scenario for any freelance designer.

These clients are found usually through referrals given by clients you’ve found previously on your journey. As you over-deliver for clients in the first two categories, they’ll invariably have friends and colleagues with more needs, bigger budgets, and more exciting projects. 

If you live in a big city somewhere, there may be enough of these quality clients in your area to support your growing business. But for many freelancers, remote design jobs will form the backbone of this stage.

How to actually GET clients

Now that you understand the framework I recommend you work inside of, let’s get down to the brass tacks of actually getting new design clients.

Here are a few ideas for each stage that you can take action on in the next 30 days to get your next design clients:

“Food on the Table” clients

  • Post on your personal Facebook, Linkedin, or Instagram accounts that you’re taking on design clients and ask your friends to reach out with any leads you might have.
  • Do limited pro bono work in order to get your name into your community as someone who can do quality design work.
  • Search online job boards, classifieds sections of Craigslist or your local newspaper’s website in search of any job that might be a fit.
  • Take absolutely any odd job that comes your way. You don’t have to work with these clients forever—their purpose is to fuel future endeavors to get better clients.

Mid-Level Clients

  • Use a tool like Reply to send dozens or hundreds of emails to potential new clients. Your conversion rate will be low, so you’ll need to send a lot of email.
  • Invest in social media promotion or even small advertising spend to reach mid-level clients that can offer quality projects.
  • Put these quality projects in your portfolio to build a marketing tool you can use in the next phase.

Long-Term, Quality Clients

  • Invest in SEO, Google Local Listings, and other ways to get clients to come to you instead of searching them out.
  • For local clients, do PR campaigns, offering to give seminars, be interviewed on television and radio, or teach a free class.
  • For online clients, add value to groups where your clients spend time—especially on Linkedin.
  • Ask your current or previous clients if they know anyone that would benefit from your services.
  • Convert current one-off projects into long-term clients (start here).

What to do once you’ve got clients

Of course, getting clients is only half the battle. Once you’ve got them, you need to focus on keeping them for the long-haul or you’ll just find yourself right back in the same sad position next month.

Over-deliver on your projects. Hire subcontractors to meet deadlines if you need to. Give your current clients the absolute best experience possible and new work will come back to you in the form of referrals, repeat business, and retainers.

Slowly, but surely, you’ll find yourself beating the feast/famine cycle.

Piggy Bank

This article was contributed by Preston Lee, the founder of Millo, where he and his team help designers find better clients, level up their Graphic Design Portfolio, raise their rates, and grow their business. Chat with Preston and thousands of fellow freelancers in their free Millo Mastermind Group on Facebook.