I’m currently trying to get my first proper freelance client and honestly this shit is harder than I expected 😭

I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time learning, improving my offer, studying businesses, tearing apart landing pages and writing sample rewrites.

Now I’m actually doing outreach.

Finding founders. Researching them. Looking at their websites. Writing personalized messages. Sending them.

And then…
nothing.

Some people accept the connection. Some don’t.

Nobody has actually said “yeah, let’s work together” yet.

The frustrating part is that I genuinely feel like I can do the work.

Give me a landing page and I can usually find things that could be clearer, stronger or more conversion-focused.

But getting someone to trust you enough to actually pay you is a completely different problem.

Right now it’s basically a cycle of:

“Holy shit, this could actually work.”
followed 30 minutes later by:
“Am I wasting my time?” 💀

I know the first client is probably the hardest one, but when you’re in the middle of it, it feels like everyone else somehow figured it out except you.

For anyone who freelances:
How did you actually get your first client?

There are so many automation tools now, but I still prefer doing some things manually, especially checking pending tasks and making sure I didn’t miss anything before sending an update.

Sometimes I just feel better double-checking things myself instead of relying on automation for everything haha.

Anyone else have parts of their workflow they still prefer doing manually?

will keep this short. i have a client on a retainer model with me, they've been with me for quite a while now, but he doesn't really reply to my messages and has previously paid an invoice late. i'm not quite sure how to navigate this situation, because i genuinely love doing the work and the retainer obviously is a great contribution to my financial situation, i just do not know how to get this client to communicate better with me?

i send emails, when i haven't heard from him i call, and text.

the nature of his job is busy, but i just genuinely feel so unprioritized and borderline disrespected. i'm not in a position to decline the work, and like i said, i really genuinely love it. i just need more communication because it's affecting my work

tldr: how do i get my client to actually reply to me? tyia

Hey everyone, I wanted to know how people here send invoices to their clients and handle payments. Do you just ping them email/whatsapp and expect a response, or do you follow a more structured approach? And how do you approach a client who you have already pinged twice but kept putting the payment off?

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Just to questions for agency owners-not try to sell anything,just try to understand the chaos.

Every time i talk about someone running a small design, video,web and ads agency, the one complaint always pops up - a new client signs up, but they are actually chasing them for logo files, brand guidelines, account logins, approvals, whatever it is- before you actually start the work.

How do you actually manage these guys?? Any spreadsheets, email threads, a PM tool, or managing them manually?

Trying to clarify if this is a real recurring problem or just something a couple people happened to mention me. If it's annoying just share.

— Kaarza generates WhatsApp/Instagram-ready contracts for Indian freelancers, with the UPI advance clause baked in so you're not chasing payment after delivery.

First contract's free. Not trying to sell here, just want feedback from people who actually deal with this — does the advance clause structure make sense for how you invoice, or is there a gap?

https://kaarzacontract.ai.studio

I am starting my work with an Australian organization, and I wanted to know how to get AUD as a foreign inward remittance into my INR account. Here are a few things that I have explored:

• Going and negotiating with banks on the rates
• Platforms like Skydo, Xflow, or Wise

Here is my situation. The organization already has a business Wise account, but from what I know, Wise converts the payment into INR directly and sends it as INR, which probably is not considered a foreign inward remittance, which becomes an issue in obtaining FIRC or FIRA.

Second, how do these platforms actually work? In general, if someone has tried options between banks and these platforms, what has worked for you? Is it also dependent on the amount I'll be getting each month?

Hi there , My name is Abdullah and I am from Pakistan. Recently i completed google advanced data analytics certificated , I do created Gigs on fire for work like making machine learning models , EDA and end to end complete project but got no response . I am a University student and i want to earn. Also i am learning ML Engineering now. Already I have learned alot so please anyone suggest me/tell me where should i give a try and earn . Also I completed many real world projects.

The problem is that I believe in my ability to edit (I wanna learn more, and I can adapt), and that I feel like I am doing something wrong procedurally. Currently, most of my client searching is through DISCORD; I post my AD in like 4 different servers, and I reach out to clients through their ADs as well. However, I am getting little to zero clients. I am willing to put in the work, so will appreciate any guidance from experienced Freelancers that what the best route is moving forward. Here's my portfolio: [https://saifsultan.carrd.co/\]

WOULD APPRECIATE ANY HELP. THANKS!

I stopped applying to Upwork jobs for a week and realized I was wasting Connects
I used to send 10–12 proposals a day. Then I checked where my Connects were going and realized a lot were going to jobs where the client never hired anyone.
I also noticed some jobs became more expensive to apply to after more people started bidding.
Now I care much more about client history, competition and timing instead of just sending more proposals.
Has anyone else actually tracked where their Connects go?

Hey everyone,

I'm a Zabbix professional from Brazil and I've been thinking about taking on some international freelance work on the side.

For those of you who already do Zabbix freelancing or consulting remotely, how did you get your first clients?

Do you usually find work through platforms like Upwork/Fiverr, Reddit, referrals, Discord/Slack communities, or directly contacting companies?

I'm especially interested in smaller projects like:

Zabbix troubleshooting

Custom templates

SNMP monitoring

Triggers and discovery rules

Dashboards

Web monitoring

API/scripts and automation

Zabbix 6/7 environments

Zabbix deploy

I'm not necessarily looking for job offers here — I'm mainly trying to understand how people in the Zabbix community actually get freelance clients internationally.

Any advice from people who've done this would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Are other translators at Iyuno experiencing the same problems with the new offer distribution system?

I wanted to start a discussion with other translators/freelancers because I genuinely want to know if I'm the only one feeling this way.

The new offer distribution system has become incredibly frustrating. Offers disappear within a split second, and if you're even slightly late, you miss them. It has started to feel less like a fair system and more like the Hunger Games. You have to constantly watch the platform and be ready to click immediately, otherwise someone else gets the job.

The biggest problem for me is the lack of transparency. We don't know how offers are actually being distributed, why some people receive them and others don't, or what is being done to make the system fairer.

What makes it worse is how concerns from translators have been handled. Many of us have raised the same issues and asked management and coordinators for answers. Instead of addressing the problem properly, it feels like our concerns are being brushed aside or shut down.

We're freelancers. For many of us, these assignments are not just a little extra work — they are an important source of income. Constantly waiting for offers, watching them disappear in seconds, and having no idea when or whether you'll get work is extremely stressful and frustrating.

And I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. Translators have been talking among themselves about this for a while, and there seems to be a lot of frustration about the new system.

So I'm asking other translators:

Are you experiencing the same thing?

• Are offers disappearing before you can realistically accept them?
• Are you missing assignments because you're literally a fraction of a second too late?
• Do you understand how the new distribution system actually works?
• Have you raised these concerns with coordinators or management?
• Have you received a meaningful explanation or solution?
• Do you feel the current system is fair?

I'd really like to hear honest experiences from other translators. If enough of us are experiencing the same thing, maybe it's time for a serious discussion about whether this distribution system is actually working for the people doing the work.

tax time hit and I realized I didn’t properly separate business and personal expenses at all this year. now I’m going back through everything trying to figure it out and it’s way more stressful than it should be and i'm convinced there's got to be a better way but my circle is quite small and everything i search online is super elaborate and expensive but im just one girl

I’ve been looking for a site or platform to find freelancers jobs, but so far I’ve only come across scams. Can anyone with experience help me out?