This article originally appeared as a members-only email to Freelance Like A Pro subscribers. Subscribers get exclusive access to my best resources for running a more profitable and stress-free business — including the simple, 30-second conversation I use to make freelance clients come to me like clockwork. To join us, sign up now.
Today I want to share a little-known strategy for getting clients, which brought me my biggest client to date…
…and made me a grand total of 163,360 bucks from that one client alone.
It all starts with a friend of mine who runs a conversion rate optimization agency.
Over the years, I did a handful of small (unpaid) projects for him. Mostly stuff that would take me 30-60 minutes max. Like coming up with some new headlines he could test with his clients.
I wanted to give my friend a first-hand experience for what it was like to work with me. Both the quality of my work and also how I communicate and manage projects.
That way, if my friend ever needed to hire a copywriter, he would come straight to me.
Which is exactly what happened in June of 2016…
And it turned into the biggest opportunity of my life as a freelancer.
You see, my friend wanted to test a brand-new version of the product page for one of his ecommerce clients — including all-new copy. And my friend asked if I would collaborate with him on the project and write the copy as a subcontractor.
I said “absolutely!”
And long story short, our new version of the page wound up beating the original by a landslide.
After the client saw how much better the new page was, they reached out to my friend to ask who wrote the copy. Because they had a number of other copy projects they wanted help with, too.
My friend referred them to me. And that began my three-and-a-half-year working relationship with this client. Which generated a grand total of $163,360 in revenue for me during that time.
Not a bad income to generate from a single client.
And it all traces back to a few hours of unpaid work I did for a friend of mine…
But it was also part of a deeper “partnership marketing” strategy to finding clients that I learned from business legend Jay Abraham.
You see, Jay Abraham teaches that one of the fastest ways to attract quality clients is by partnering with other — non-competitive — businesses who already work with your ideal clients. And who also fit into one of three categories…
They sell a product or service to your ideal clients that comes (1) before, (2) during, or (3) after the services you offer.
So in my case, my friend offered conversion rate optimization services.
And during a conversion rate optimization project, the client will often need copy, too.
You can use this approach with any freelance services you offer, though. For example, if you’re a back-end developer…
- Roadmapping and software architecture come before you actually write back-end code.
- Front-end development often happens alongside — or during — the time you write the back-end code.
- User testing, quality control, and ongoing maintenance happen after you write the back-end code.
Which means if you can build relationships with businesses who provide these complimentary services…
You can become their go-to resource whenever they or their clients need someone else to jump in and help them with the back-end development related to their project.
And once you do that, their clients will quickly become your clients, too.
But imagine if you could also “clone” every new client you sign into two more…
Then you could clone those two clients into four…four into eight…and on and on from there…
So that — before you know it — you’d have more high-paying jobs on your calendar than you can handle.
Well for almost half a decade now, I’ve used a simple, 30-second conversation to get two referrals from every single client I sign. Which effectively allows me to do just that — “clone” each of my clients into two more.
And now I want to show you how you can do the same for your business…
Introducing 30-Second Referrals
This free PDF reveals the secret behind the simple, 30-second conversation I use to get two referrals from all my clients — including a script with the exact words to say on page 13.
But there is a small catch…
30-Second Referrals is only available to members The Freelance Like A Pro VIP email list.
So enter your best real email below to join us and claim your free copy of 30-Second Referrals now. (And you’ll get my members-only emails to help you run a more profitable and stress-free freelance business, too.)
Enter your first name & best real email (no aliases)
100% Secure. No Spam.
Brian Speronello says
Hey Jacob, thanks for the comment and the kind words! Glad to hear the post was able to help you get more clients and make more money.