A lot of people are asking me where do I get my clients. In all honesty, I am a very loyal Upwork user ever since I started freelancing. However, a lot has changed on this platform and getting new clients from Upwork can rip your earnings off big time. It is no longer wise to use. I tried OnlineJobs.ph too but the rates there are too low. Aside from Upwork, I’m getting direct clients from my website and Facebook. Yes, you read that right. Facebook. I get clients not only from my Facebook page but also from different Facebook groups.
Facebook is very powerful and has a very big impact if used properly. In fact, the direct clients I get are the high paying ones. I seldom use Upwork recently. I always decline clients in Upwork unless it’s a big project. So today, I’d like to share these steps to help you get your direct clients from Facebook.
Know your skills
The very first thing you need to do is to know where you excel the most. What are your skills? What do you want to become? I often read and hear from aspiring freelancers that they can only “TYPE” so they are looking for data entry work. This is not a good start. Even if you don’t have any freelancing experience yet, you can still find something that you enjoy doing that can give value to businesses.
Identify your niche
When I say niche, it means that you have to be very specific. You can’t be a just a writer but you can be a novel writer, short story writer, product review writer, medical writer, etc. You can’t be just a graphic designer but you can be a logo designer, infographics designer, t-shirt designer, packaging designer, and so on. You can’t be just a Virtual Assistant but you can be a real estate VA, health and fitness VA, ecommerce VA, etc. You can’t be just an SEO specialist but you can be an email outreach professional, keyword researcher, SEO site auditor, and more.
You get the idea? Be specific. You may say, “But I can do a lot of things!” Yeah, I hear you. I’m like that too. However, you need to FOCUS. This is one of the best lessons I learned in my 8 years of being a freelancer. Once you have your niche, you minimizes the competition.
Be familiar with the tools
You already know your niche? Great! Now, you have to be familiar with the main tools, plugins, platforms, and applications that are being used in your chosen field. For instance, you decided to become an ecommerce VA, learn how to manage products in ebay, Amazon, or even Shopify. If you want to become social media manager, learn how to use Hootsuite, Buffer, Tweetdeck, etc. If I haven’t mentioned sample tools in your niche, go ahead and Google it.
Join Facebook groups
Now that you are very familiar with the tools, search for Facebook groups that are related to your niche or the tools that you know how to use really well. Join those groups, be active and collaborate with other people. Most of the times, people are turning to Facebook groups first to seek help because they feel that customer support of whatever product they’re using will take too much time to solve their problems. So if there are questions and you know the answer, be kind to help them. You don’t have to do this all the time but interaction is a great step for being “known” by the people in the group. The next thing that may happen is that some people in the group will message you directly and will get your services . You may also get a lot of recommendations from there.