Four Daily Actions to Fill Your Freelance Pipeline

Without question, the scariest part of freelance life for me is the thought of running out of work, which means running out of money, which means running back to a 9 to 5.

I’ve been self-employed for several years, first as a private practice dietitian, and now as a writer. When I started my business, the thought of running out of clients kept me up at night. Today, I have a simple system that works to keep my pipeline full, and I sleep like a baby.

Any freelancer can use a similar system to ease their pipeline angst, so without further ado, here it is:

Step 1: Attract Clients with Authority-Building Content on Social Media

If you’re anything like me, you’re already hating this idea. I don’t love social media and intend to spend as little time there as possible. But it’s a good tool for attracting clients, and I’ve even come to enjoy it a little over time, so I continue to use it because it works.

The key to attracting clients with your social posts is that your posts must highlight your authority in your field. You must show that you are a knowledgeable leader in your space.

A post that says, “I’m so grateful to have been asked to work on X project with Y company” is nice, but it only shows that you happened to get a freelance job, not that you’re an authority in your space. Similarly, a post about a new training or certification is good, but not authority-building.

Authority-building posts position you as a leader among your peers. It teaches, inspires, and signals that you’re at the top of your game, all at the same time.

Here’s a recent authority-building post from LinkedIn:

Step 1: One authority-building post per day on social media.

Step 2: Send Three Cold Letters of Inquiry Daily

Every day, find and pitch three new companies in your niche. There are numerous ways to find companies, depending on the type of work you prefer:

• Search online for “X Companies in Y City” and use the results you get. When you’ve contacted all the companies in a specific city, move on to the next one.
• Search LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows searches by profession, company, and location.
• Search niche directories. For example, if you write for mental health therapists only, you might search a national or state directory of board-certified therapists.
• Once you’ve found three people to pitch, you can send a LinkedIn message, or you can use hunter.io to try to find your contact’s email address.

Start with a template so you don’t have to recreate the wheel, and then customize that template for each unique business. Use the free version of Mix Max to create email templates and to see whether prospects have opened emails. If you’re a writer, include a link to relevant samples so your reader can see your work.

Step 2: Send three cold letters of inquiry per day.

Step 3: Ask for recommendations and referrals

Assuming you’ve done a good job, the people you’ve worked for want to help you succeed. But your success is not likely at the forefront of their minds. (That space is taken up by thoughts of their own success.)

Midway through a job, send a message to your client telling them how much you’re enjoying the work, and that you know the job is coming to an end in X weeks or months. Say you’re wondering if they have any similar contacts in their industry who might be able to use your services.

One caveat is that sometimes people don’t want to “share” their best freelancers with competitors, so reassure your contact that you’ll always make their work a priority should they need you in the future.

Every day, ask yourself if there’s someone you need to ask for a recommendation or a referral. If there is, send that request!

Step 3: Ask for recommendations and referrals

Step 4: Follow-Up!

No response isn’t the same as “no, thanks.” No response might mean they never even saw your email, or it might mean they saw your email and thought, “Hey! That looks great. I need to get in touch with that freelancer.” And then you slipped out of sight, out of mind.

People are busy, and if you want to work for them, you may have to follow-up several times. I don’t want to harass my potential clients, but I do want to remind them that I exist.

My follow-up schedule for social media looks like this:

• Reply to anyone who commented on yesterday’s social media post to continue the conversation
• Message anyone who “liked” or “loved” yesterday’s social media post. Thank them for their support, ask them about their work, and again, continue the conversation.

For letters of inquiry, this is my follow-up schedule:

• If my email is unopened in one week, I send the same email with a different subject line (there is no need to write a new email if the first email is unopened.)
• If my email is unopened in another two weeks, send the same email with a different subject line.
• If still unopened in another two weeks, I mark the prospect as unresponsive and set a reminder to reach back out in three months.
• If my email is opened but the prospect does not reply, I send a different email using the same schedule.

For recommendations and referrals, I follow up only once, about two weeks after the initial request, if the initial email is unopened. If I don’t receive a referral or recommendation but the client thanks me profusely at the close of the project, I ask again at that point.

When you begin to follow up this way, you may feel like you’re being too aggressive. But you want to work, and these people will benefit from your services. As a freelancer, you have no marketing department to rely on. You are the only person who can go out and get jobs so you have to create work for yourself.

Step 4: Follow up on social media and letters of inquiry.

It’s tempting to stop marketing your business when you’re flush with work, but marketing your business has to be an ongoing priority. Otherwise, when the volume of work dies down, your pipeline is empty, and you have to start from scratch all over again. I know from experience that’s a very uncomfortable place to be.

I coach a small group of writers to start and scale their freelance writing businesses. When I talk with writers who tell me they can’t seem to get clients, the number one thing I hear is that they are not consistent about outreach and follow-up.

I’ve been using these daily actions to fill my pipeline as a freelance writer for several years now, and so far, so good. There are times when I have slightly less work than I’d like, and there are times when I have a waiting list. Overall, my business is doing well, and I’m able to earn a great living as a freelance writer.

If you’re struggling to fill your pipeline, give it a try for 90 days. I’m guessing it’ll work for you too.

Get proven strategies to grow your freelance writing income, right here.