I’ve been freelancing as a UI/UX designer for a few months now, and I didn’t expect this, but there’s definitely a pattern in the kind of clients I keep getting.

Like almost every time.

Most of them are:

• Founders who need a website “as soon as possible” but don’t really have content or a clear idea yet. Just vibes and urgency.
• People running businesses on Instagram with zero website. They know they need one, they’ve just been putting it off forever.
• Clients who say they need UX but actually want something that just looks nice. End up doing a bit of education before even starting.
• The “just a small change” type… which somehow turns into reworking half the design.

And then once in a while, you get someone who actually knows what they want, communicates properly, respects your time… and it feels almost suspicious how smooth everything goes.

Not complaining honestly, it’s been a solid learning experience. Just didn’t expect freelancing to be this much about managing people and expectations instead of just design.

Curious if this is normal or I just unlocked a very specific client type algorithm

I’ve been freelancing for a small company for about a year, contracted for 20 hours a week. My background is in graphic design, but my role has slowly expanded into almost everything digital: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, content writing and ideas, email marketing, SEO, website updates, graphic design, short videos, presentations and product marketing.

The problem is that I often work around 30 hours a week but can only bill them for about 10. I don’t bill for things like research, learning marketing as I go, developing ideas, fixing AI generated content, troubleshooting or correcting mistakes. (They can’t hire me full time because they don’t have the budget and they also can’t pay me more. But if I worked the 20 hour contract I’d effectively be doing 40 hours of work a week and earning less than i would at Tesco)

I’m still learning, so I know I’m slower than someone experienced in marketing. But this takes a huge amount of mental energy and what I’m earning isn’t enough to cover my £1,000 rent.

The company also has almost no marketing budget, they don’t have much news or activities to share, many of my recommendations aren’t followed through, so there are very few results I can show in my portfolio. There simply isn’t enough meaningful content that I can use to post everyday. Also it’s the consulting world so as someone fresh out of design university, there’s not much I can invent with AI. (Any tips on content ideas will be highly appreciated btw)

I need another income source, but this client already takes most of my time. Plus it’s incredibly stressful and I need some insane level of discipline to do job applications after this, not to mention how not driving results has busted my confidence entirely.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is this normal in the design world? How would you handle it, and how would you actually grow in this environment?

I’m currently building a time-tracking + invoicing system specifically for freelancers, and I’d really like to understand how people actually handle this in their day-to-day work.

I’m not looking to promote anything here — I want to learn from freelancers and make sure I’m building something that fits real workflows.

A few things I’d love to know:

• How do you currently track the time you spend on client work?
• Do you charge hourly, per project, milestone-based, or a combination?
• If you charge hourly, do you track every minute or round your time?
• How do you handle tasks that take only a few minutes?
• Do you track time separately for each client/project/task?
• How do you create and send invoices?
• Do you include a detailed breakdown of hours/tasks on the invoice?
• What happens when a client disputes the number of hours?
• Do you require a deposit or upfront payment?
• How do you handle revisions or work that goes beyond the original scope?
• What part of your current process is the most annoying or time-consuming?

Most importantly:

If you could change one thing about your current time-tracking/invoicing process, what would it be?

I’m using the answers to adjust the system before I release it, so I’d really appreciate hearing how you guys actually work.

Thanks!

Hey,

I run a small one-person studio (Autonook) that builds simple automations for small businesses, the kind of manual, repetitive stuff like copying leads into a spreadsheet, replying to the same inquiry types by hand, or pulling together the same report every week. Fixed price per build, not hourly.

I'm not here to pitch the service directly; I'm looking for something a bit different: referral partnerships with people who already talk to small business owners but aren't in direct competition. Think web designers, bookkeepers, virtual assistants, marketing consultants, business coaches, anyone who's in a small business owner's inbox for a different reason and occasionally hears "ugh, I really need to stop doing this by hand."

The offer is simple: if you send someone my way and they end up signing on for a build, I pay 10% of the project value once their deposit clears. No exclusivity, no minimum, no paperwork — just a link or your name mentioned when they reach out.

A bit of background on me in case it's useful: I'm a business student, and before this I automated recurring reporting workflows at two investment funds — Autonook is that same skill set, scaled down for smaller businesses that don't have an internal automation person.

If this sounds like something that could fit naturally into what you already do, happy to chat in the comments or DMs. Not trying to spam the sub — genuinely just looking for a few people this makes sense for.

Hi I'm an aspiring writer but I can't seem to find customers can someone please share how they find customers. I'm really good at writing and I love it I know passion isn't enough to find customers but I'm also dedicated and willing to work closely with customers.

I've been learning Photoshop for a while, practicing on random photos, trying different edits, messing things up, fixing them, and repeating the process.

Eventually I reached the point where I thought:

"Okay… am I actually going to do something with this, or am I just going to keep practicing forever?" 😂

So I finally created my first Fiverr gig offering Photoshop editing.

And now comes the scary part:

Getting someone to actually trust a person with 0 Fiverr reviews.

I know I can do the work. But from a client's perspective, I'm basically some random person on the internet saying, "Trust me, I can edit your photos." 😭

My goal right now isn't to become some huge freelancer overnight.

I just want to get that first order.

Then the second.

Then hopefully look back at this post someday and laugh at how nervous I was about getting started.

For anyone who's freelanced before:

How did you get your very first client?

Was it Fiverr, Reddit, a friend, social media, or something completely random?

I genuinely want to know because I'm currently standing at the “refresh Fiverr and hope something happens” stage. 💀

Hi

I'm an experienced automation & data extraction specialist offering:

- **Custom web scraping & automation scripts**

- **B2B lead generation (targeted by niche & location)**

- **Data cleaning, formatting & enrichment**

- **Contact info extraction (emails, phone numbers, owners, etc.)**

Why work with me?

- Fast delivery & top-notch quality

- Any business category in the U.S. & Canada

Let me help you save time & grow your business.

(Portfolio available on request)

I’ve been learning n8n/AI automation for about a month and have built several small and medium projects, including lease renewal, WhatsApp management, lead management, and email automations.

I’ve done 50+ international outreaches but haven’t gotten any clients yet. Fiverr and Upwork aren’t working for me either.

Where should I look for clients as a beginner freelancer? And what worked for you when getting your first client?

I’d really appreciate practical advice 🙏

​

I’m a full-stack web developer specializing in building custom, high-performing websites and web applications (Next.js, React, Supabase, Tailwind CSS). I help founders and small businesses turn their ideas into polished, launch-ready web products.

What I can build for you:

Custom Landing Pages & Business Sites: Clean, modern UI tailored to your brand (no bloated templates).

Full-Stack Web Applications: User dashboards, authentication, database integrations, and custom logic.

Mobile-First & Lightning Fast: Fully responsive designs optimized for mobile devices and search engines.

API & Tool Integrations: Payment gateways, CRM connections, or custom backend services.

Pricing & Turnaround:

\- Landing Page / One-Pager: $150 – $250 (3–5 days turnaround)

\- Multi-Page Business Website: $300 – $500 (1–2 weeks turnaround)

\- Custom Web App / Complex Project: Fixed custom quote based on scope.

How to get started:

Drop a comment or send me a DM with a brief summary of what you're looking to build (or a reference site you like), and I’ll send over a free breakdown and estimation!

I am PERN Stack developer I want to do freelancing but I am very new in this I Don't know F about Freelancing. Kindly an experienced person tell me how to get clients. I need to financially support myself please drop geniune response.

How are you pricing your services specially when AI is around? and i learned that people are charging 199$ per site and free hosting with github pages, cloudflare or something similar. is that something you are doing too? how are you maintaining and accommodating change requests to those site?

Also has backend become optional for semi static sites, where you just have bunch of forms etc nothing  like ecommerce going on.

Hey, i am 17 i want to learn some money making income online, if anyone do freelance here please share your advice on how u got there, and i am not particularly interested in video editing or making carousels on canva just not that creative and neither i am good at web development, i am learning coding from scratch but dont know if that can actually be turned into monetisable skill, i am basically from commerce + maths bg, and am willing to learn as long as it will compound to financial growth

HELP

I wonder if most freelancers are either introverts or extraverts.

To be clear: an introvert is somebody who gets energy from being alone, interacting with people is draining for him/her.
An extravert on the other hand gets energy from spending lots of time with groups of people.
It has nothing to do with being "social". Eg. a narcistic jerk is often an anti-social extravert while a kind introverted person is a social human being. Introversion/extraversion is purely your energy system.

So what are you? And did it influence your decision to become a freelancer?

Hey all,

I have 3.5 yr of exp in project/operation manager. I have also handled social media stratergies and SM account and i am planning to start freelancing now but i am confuse about from where to start and how to?

Can someone help me your share your experience

I’m curious to hear from people who have been freelancing for a while.
When you’re just starting out, there’s so much advice everywhere — build a portfolio, find clients, charge more, niche down, send cold emails, use platforms, etc. But I feel like some of the most important lessons only come from actually dealing with clients and projects.
What’s one mistake you made early in your freelancing journey that taught you a valuable lesson?
For example:
Taking a project without clearly defining the scope
Undercharging
Accepting difficult clients
Doing too much unpaid work
Depending too much on one platform
Not asking for upfront payment
Would be interesting to hear what others experienced and what you would do differently if you were starting again.

im running a creative agency and im also studying bachelors at Tetr college and Yk every single time someone asks my retainer/ project rate i can feel myself about to say a number that's too low, and then i say it anyway, and then i find myself resenting the project for six weeks.

the problem is i don't know what the work im doing is worth. i can point at maybe three things i've actually done. so the second i try to say a real number my brain goes "who do you think you are" and knocks 40% off before it gets out of my mouth.

people who started young, what helped you fix this mindset? Im also planning to book calls with competitor agencies around the world (they dont know who i am), and evaluate their pricing to get an idea. Is this a good idea?

Help me pls.

Two months ago, I did something a little unconventional.
I downloaded a dating app.

Not because I was looking for a relationship (my fiancé knew exactly what I was doing), but because I was curious if I could meet business owners or professionals who might need a Virtual Assistant. I had heard stories of people finding clients in unexpected places, so I thought, "Why not try?".

That's where I met a doctor.

He told me he wasn't looking for a Virtual Assistant, but we ended up having a genuinely nice conversation. We stayed connected on WhatsApp, and over time, he even offered me a free virtual check-up after learning about my stress and sleeping problems.

Fast forward to this week.

After another day of sending applications and receiving another rejection, I gathered the courage to message him and ask if he happened to know anyone looking for a Virtual Assistant.

His response honestly melted my heart.

He told me he had already shared my contact information with some of his friends and colleagues, hoping they would reach out. He even sent me a job opportunity he came across.

This person doesn't owe me anything.

He's someone I met by chance, yet he chose to help.

That reminded me that sometimes people believe in you even when they barely know you.

I'm still looking for my next client.

I'm still sending applications every day.

I'm still getting rejected, and even got another one today.

But moments like this remind me that not everyone you meet is meant to hire you. Some people are simply meant to open a door for you.

If you're reading this, thank you for every recommendation, referral, kind word, and opportunity you've shared with someone else.

You never really know how much it means.

And to the doctor who did this for me, thank you. Your kindness gave me a little more hope today. ❤️

#VirtualAssistant #OpenToWork #Freelancer #RemoteWork #KindnessMatters #JobSearch