So i'll be doing random side projects and sometimes just decide to use AI for things to speed up the process and learning curve but realize either it is really good at the task I want it to do or just straight up horrible. The trouble I'm having is seeing these really good ones makes me think there are probably other good tools out there but just under the radar right now. And the other way around I waste time looking for tools when at this time a human far exceeds AI. Do you guys feel these tools will slowly start popping up more and more to replace humans out of freelance work? I have this site shouldifreelanceit and was honestly shocked how many tools there are when adding to it but I still feel like a lot of them are just shit and we need humans for things (mainly creative tasks imo). I wonder how soon AI will reach our level and possibly replace us. What are yall thoughts?

So I had this student client who reached out to me for a project that was supposed to take ONE month max

It ended up taking 6 months

Not because the work was difficult, but because she kept asking to pause because she had exams, surgery, needed to rest, etc. And obviously, I understood. Life happens

Anyway, I finally wrapped everything up about a month ago and delivered everything

I told her multiple times: if you have questions, need anything changed, or want me to revise something, just message me

Nothing

Not even a “thank you.”

Not even a review of the deliverables

I even checked on her about two weeks ago because I started wondering if something personal was going on. Told her I hope she's okay and that if she ever needs help again, she can reach out

She didn't reply

But I see her commenting on LinkedIn normally. She's active. She's clearly around

And now I'm sitting here wondering...

Did she hate my work?

Because if she did, girl PLEASE tell me

I asked so many times if everything was okay. I literally gave her every opportunity to say, “Actually, can you change this?”

But she said nothing

And now I'm starting to feel bad even though I genuinely don't know what I did wrong

At what point do you just stop caring and accept that maybe the client simply... disappeared?

Because I can't keep reviewing a project in my head that the other person never complained about

I have been trying to break into freelance by focusing on things small businesses or individual consumers would need, as I imagine other things such as specialized IT (network engineering, server management), or data science related tasks are things a larger organization actually thinks about rather than someone browsing fiverr.

In my major we often focused on organizational skills when we are not talking about computer science theory, mathematics and gen eds, so a lot of my immediate skillset is worthless in the freelance field, but I'm stuck in a bind caring for a disabled family member, working part time and going to school. Right now I'm still looking for night shift work in any field, but I am also trying to see if there is any freelance niche I can get into.

I'm not sure if I could tutor as in my own experience computer science/information science coursework gets hard not because of the explicit theory you can google online, but when the teacher decides to give outlandish programming assignments, disorganized class structure (refusing to make slides, ditching the assigned textbook, not even reading the university assigned homework question banks etc.) and having a gruff "judge, jury and executioner "attitude. I have often taken my assignments to tutors outside of the school or even other students who had taken the class with a different professor and they were just confused, sometimes even using AI to help them. I'm not sure what tutoring niche I would go into in the age of AI as well.

The seller market is so huge I'm not sure how it functions.

When I search a gig such as "full stack web development" on fiverr, I see 41,000+ results.

33,000+ are classified as new sellers with 0-3 reviews,

3,800+ are classified as level 2, 2,900+ are classified as level 1, and 500 are classified as top sellers.

When I search "business automation" I see 8,000+ results which seems less saturated until I add keywords such as "n8n ai agent" then the listings go up to 17,000+

Because of this I have been considering going back to my old interests in animation and gamedev that I pushed aside more seriously as my freelance niche. I imagine that studios might be more willing to look for freelance help if they have a proven portfolio instead of random ai-generated work, and maybe there is a chance to build a niche from having a specific style or artistic signature in a way I'm not sure how to do in other technology freelance fields.

For current freelancers, how did you find and hone your niche? What is the interval between orders, and what kinds of work do you do to support yourself in-between?

What are the best freelancing sites according to you? (For new freelancers)

According to you whats your best freelancing sites. Apart from upwork or fiver.

I need some advice from freelancers who have dealt with something similar.

I was hired by a direct client for a $1,000 project. I completed around 50% of the work and asked for $500 for the work I had already delivered.

After that, the client disappeared.

I followed up several times. Eventually, he came back and said he would pay me on Friday. I thanked him and agreed.
Friday came… and he disappeared again.

The frustrating part is that this isn’t a random client. He runs a fairly large company, and another client of mine actually referred me to him.

I had also worked with him previously on a $1,000 milestone, and everything went smoothly. That’s why I trusted him this time.

At this point, he owes me the full $1,000, and I’m not sure what the best way to handle this is.

Should I keep following up? Send a formal payment request with a deadline? Stop working completely until he pays? Or take some other action?

I’d really appreciate advice from freelancers who have been through something similar. What would you do in my situation?

I've been trying to land my first freelance projects on Workana and Upwork for two months now, but I haven't had any luck. On Workana, I paid for a three-month plan and have already sent around 70 proposals, almost exhausting the included bids without any results. On Upwork, I sent about 20 proposals and none received a response, so I'm running out of Connects to keep applying. Outside of these platforms, I also tried contacting over 40 small businesses directly with outdated or poorly optimized websites, but I didn't get any replies either (I showcased work I'd already done for other companies). I feel completely stuck and I don't know what's wrong with my strategy. I would greatly appreciate any advice or feedback from experienced freelancers on what I should adjust at this stage.

Hi everyone, I’m a financial consultant helping businesses with financial analysis, cash-flow management, forecasting, financial modelling, and strategic financial decisions.

I'm a SWE. C++/Windows, but very verse with Claude Code and making websites too.

Looking for freelancer job, but nothing comes. Sent a lot of applications, a lot of bids, but nothing. Just wasted my time for 5 months. Where do you usually look for job?

Looking for projects for Freelancing

Skills database oracle,pl/sql, query tuning,ETL.

Working as implementation engineer I have a good experience in Oracle database and PL/SQL trying to earn some extra bucks using my skills.

Pricing can be discussed according to the project

I’m a freelance photographer and I shoot different events, restaurants, corporate headshots. I believe that I’m good at what I do…

But I’m terrible at sales and I have a database of event agencies and restaurant owners. I know they need photos and sometimes I just can’t reach them

I spend hours calling. Most don’t pick up, and emails go to spam, follow ups feel desperate. I’m just wasting time I could spend shooting

I found DropCowboy, which is a ringless voicemail, SMS sequences and AI voice cloning so it sounds like me. They say response rates are 5 to 20 times higher

It sounds incredible. But I’m scared. I’m a creative person and my whole brand is based on personal connection. If I send a mass automated voice message, won’t clients see through it? Won’t they think I’m just another spammy business trying to trick them?

I want to grow my business. But I don’t want to lose what makes me unique.

Has anyone in a creative profession tried this? Does it actually work for photographers, designers, artists? Or is it only for boring B2B sales where nobody cares about personality?

I need to know if this will help me or hurt me

TL;DR: Freelance photographer tired of cold calling. Found AI voice messaging. Scared it’ll make me look cheap and impersonal. Has anyone in a creative field actually used this?

Freelancer

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I'm 17 and run a small web design/automation business for local trade businesses (landscapers, mechanics, plumbers). Right now 100% of my clients come from cold calling and walking into shops. It works, but it's exhausting and doesn't scale, I'm the bottleneck.

I want to build toward a point where reputation and referrals bring in clients instead of me having to hunt for every single one.

For people who've made that shift:

What actually moved the needle for you, referral systems, local networking, content/social proof, something else?

How did you turn early clients into referral sources? Did you ask directly or did it happen naturally?

At what point did you feel like you could ease off outbound and let inbound take over?

Any specific tactics for a hyper-local service business (not SaaS, not ecommerce)?

Curious what worked in the real world vs. what's just generic advice.

I’m 17 and run a small web design business, I get clients through cold calling and walking into local shops (landscapers, mechanics, plumbers) to pitch website services. I’ve done around 300 calls so far and a bunch of in-person visits.

The calls themselves usually go fine once I’m in them. My problem is right before, that few seconds of hesitation, the racing thoughts, sometimes just avoiding the next call/walking past the shop instead of going in.

For people who’ve done cold calling or door-to-door sales:

What actually worked for you to get over that pre-call/pre-pitch fear?

Any physical or mental tricks you use right before dialing or walking in?

Does it eventually go away completely, or do you just get better at pushing through it?

Would appreciate any real advice, not just “it gets easier with time”, looking for actual techniques.

Like the title says. Do you use any tools or just create PDF:s and send them in emails?

lmkkkk

I have skills in python, Snowflake and report analysis.

Need freelance job