As someone who has their own business or is thinking about starting one, you’re definitely familiar with the term “scale” and have likely seen a number of posts about how to scale your business. The topic of scaling your business is one you should pay close attention to for the success of your freelance business.
Basically, the term “scaling” is the same as “growing.” So, when you talk about scaling your business, you’re just talking about growing your business and increasing your profit as quickly as possible. Sounds awesome, right?
But, it might also be kind of intimidating at first. After all, as a freelance business owner, scaling your business means you’re landing clients, providing your services, billing them, and moving on to the next client.
So, how would you “scale” that unless you somehow find 48 hours in a 24 hour day?
Luckily, scaling your freelance business isn’t as difficult as bending space and time. You just have to shift your mindset and thinking around your business.
Scale Your Freelance Business with Existing Clients
The quickest way to limit your freelance business is to forget about your clients after you’ve completed one project with them.
Actually, the easiest way to grow your freelance business is to focus on landing more work with your current clients, or clients you’ve worked with in the past.
It makes perfect sense: projects get underway much faster with clients who are familiar with you compared to clients who haven’t worked with you before. Instead of trying to convince companies how great your work is, why not try to work more with those who already know all about your stellar work?
Pitch More Work to Clients You’re Currently With
It’s important to time your pitch to current clients right so you can get more of them to agree to new projects. Most of the time they already have multiple projects on their plates, and the one you’re already working on is just one out of the bunch.
For optimal results, it’s best to suggest a meeting about new ideas right before you finish up a project. You may have a couple of tiny loose ends to tie, or else pitch a new project idea immediately after you complete the current project.
Schedule a 15-minute call or so with your client so that you can share the ideas you have with them. Keep in mind, even the pitch should highlight the benefit to the client. For instance, if you’re a graphic designer, explain how your ideas could help enhance the user experience on their website and how that could lead to more conversions.
Since you know the business already (you did just complete a project for them, after all!) you probably thought of some new project ideas anyways. But, be sure not to overwhelm your client. That’s why we suggest you pitch no more than 3 of your highest-impact project ideas.
Be prepared to explain the project, how long it will take, what you’ll charge, and, most importantly, how it will benefit your client.
They may not be ready to get started on the new project right away. That’s OK! If that’s the case, set a reminder to reach back out to them in a month or so to re-pitch your best ideas. Do everything you can to keep your partnerships with good clients going!
Pitch New Projects to Past Clients
First, let’s define “past clients.” These are clients that you’ve partnered with in the past one to three years. Any longer than that and the client may not remember you, so you’d basically be starting a fresh relationship.
So, when reaching out to past clients, explain that you’d love to have a “strategy call.” Mention that this is a service you provide for free to clients you’ve partnered with before to help them stay on track with their goals and ensure that they’re focusing on projects that are essential to their success.
Before the Strategy Call
Do as much research as you can about your client so that you’re up to date on their business. Pay attention to any changes that have been made since you last worked with them. Then, note any ideas you have for projects you could work on.
During the Strategy Call
Use the first half of the strategy call to ask questions that will help you understand the direction they want to go. Think:
- How have your business goals changed since we last worked together?
- What are your current challenges with your business?
- What would you most like to change about your business?
The goal is to get an idea of their greatest pain points and their greatest goals moving forward. The projects that you pitch to them should help them reach their goals, be a solution to their current pain points, or both!
Be prepared to walk through some of your ideas on the call. They don’t have to be perfect, though. The ideas will be based on the discussion you had in the first half of the call so you’ll have just learned that information. You may need time to process and
Next Steps
Think of the strategy session as a brainstorm between you and your client. If your client wants to move forward with one of your ideas, you can let them know that you’d love to talk through the possible scope with them. Let them know you’ll send over a price and description in the next day or so (and then follow up with that email!).
Ask Current and Past Clients for Referrals
You can, and should!, have a process after each project wraps to ask for referrals. It can be as simple as, “Thank you for working with me on [insert project].” I am currently taking on additional clients and would greatly appreciate you referring me to any businesses in your network that may benefit from [insert your service].”
You can also ask for referrals when you set up your free strategy calls. Remind your client that you only schedule a limited number of these calls.
Then, you can tell them that if they’d like to refer one of their colleagues/business owners they know (and get those people a free call with you) you’d be happy to accommodate that as a way of saying “thanks” to them.
That way they can give a gift to a colleague, and that colleague gets a valuable call with you! Not to mention, you get a potential client.
So, which of these strategies are you going to start using immediately to scale your freelance business? Tell us in the comments below!
Last Updated on July 1, 2023.
