How to Start Freelancing Work: A No-BS Guide

Most Freelancing Advice Is Wrong

Every guide tells you to "build your portfolio," "join Upwork," and "network on LinkedIn." That's not wrong - it's just incomplete. It leaves out the part where you actually get someone to pay you.

I've built and exited multiple companies. I've hired freelancers, been pitched by freelancers, and helped thousands of agency owners and consultants build client pipelines from scratch. What I've seen over and over is that people spend weeks perfecting their website when they should be spending that time in conversations with potential clients.

And the market rewards people who move fast right now. There are currently over 76 million freelancers in the United States alone, contributing more than a trillion dollars to the economy annually. The competition is real - but so is the opportunity. Businesses are actively looking for independent specialists. They just can't find the right ones because most freelancers never learn how to put themselves in front of the right buyers.

This guide skips the fluff. We're going straight to the decisions and actions that actually move the needle - from picking your service all the way through to building a referral engine that keeps your pipeline full without cold outreach forever.

Step 1: Pick One Thing You Can Sell Right Now

The biggest mistake new freelancers make is trying to offer everything. "I do web design, SEO, social media, copywriting, and video editing." That's not a freelance business - that's a confused message that makes clients nervous.

Pick one service. It should meet three criteria:

• You can do it well enough to get results for someone. You don't need to be the best in the world. You need to be good enough that a client is better off paying you than doing it themselves.
• Businesses will pay for it. B2B services - copywriting, paid ads, lead generation, web development, bookkeeping, video production - are easier to sell because business spending is a cost center with ROI attached. Consumer services are harder.
• It's specific. "Facebook ads for e-commerce brands under $5M in revenue" beats "social media marketing" every time. Specificity creates trust.

Don't overthink this. Pick your strongest skill, attach it to a specific type of client, and move on. You can always expand later.

The Highest-Paying Freelance Services Right Now

Not all freelance services are created equal. If you're deciding what to offer and you have options, here's where the real money is concentrated.

The highest-paying freelance categories right now include direct response copywriting, paid ad management, SEO consulting, software development, lead generation, and sales. These aren't arbitrary rankings - they're the services where a freelancer's output has a direct, measurable impact on a client's revenue, which means clients are willing to pay significantly more for them.

Let's break down the best options by type:

High-Paying B2B Freelance Services

• Cold email copywriting and outbound systems: Businesses pay thousands per month for someone who can build and run outbound sequences that book meetings. This is where I'd start if I were starting over. The ROI is immediate and measurable.
• Paid ads management (Google, Meta, LinkedIn): Ad managers who can show a clear ROAS become nearly impossible to fire. LinkedIn ads for B2B SaaS companies and Google search ads for local service businesses are particularly strong right now.
• SEO and content: Long-tail SEO is still one of the most consistent lead generation channels for businesses. If you can write and you understand search intent, this is a solid path with compounding value for clients.
• Web development and design: Web developer demand continues to grow, and specialists who focus on a specific platform or industry - like Shopify for DTC brands, or Webflow for SaaS - can command premium rates.
• AI implementation and automation: This is the fastest-growing category. Businesses need help integrating AI tools into their workflows and they don't know where to start. If you have any technical background, this niche has unusually low competition relative to demand right now.
• Bookkeeping and financial operations: Unglamorous but lucrative. Small businesses are chronically underserved on the finance side, and a good bookkeeper who proactively communicates is worth far more than their hourly rate.
• Lead generation and list building: This sits at the intersection of data and outreach strategy. If you understand how to build targeted prospect lists, find verified contact info, and design outbound sequences, you can charge retainers in the $2,000 to $5,000/month range without needing a huge portfolio.

Freelance Services to Approach Carefully

Not every service ages well. Generic content writing, basic data entry, and transcription have been heavily commoditized - either by AI tools or offshore competition. If you're in one of these areas, the path forward is to go more specialized: instead of "content writer," become "SaaS case study writer" or "B2B email sequence copywriter." The more you can attach your work to business outcomes, the more you can charge.

Step 2: Define Your Target Client Before You Do Anything Else

This is where most new freelancers skip ahead and regret it. If you don't know exactly who you're selling to, you can't write a pitch, you can't build a list, and you can't close a deal.

Answer these questions:

• What industry is my ideal client in?
• What size company? (Solo founder? 10-person team? 50-person company?)
• What's their job title - who actually makes the buying decision?
• What problem do they wake up thinking about that my service solves?

Write this down as one sentence: "I help [specific type of client] with [specific problem] so they can [specific outcome]."

Example: "I help SaaS companies under 50 employees write cold email sequences that book demos with enterprise buyers."

That sentence becomes your pitch, your LinkedIn headline, and your email opener. Everything flows from it.

The more specific you go, the better your results. "I run Google ads for HVAC companies in the Southeast" will outperform "I do digital marketing" every time - not because the skills are different, but because a prospect immediately knows you understand their world. That trust shortcut is worth real money.

Step 3: Build a Prospect List (Not a Portfolio)

Here's the counterintuitive truth: you don't need a portfolio to land your first client. You need a list of people to contact and a compelling reason for them to say yes.

Portfolios matter after you have some wins. Before that, they're a procrastination tool.

Build a list of 50-100 prospects that match your target client description. For B2B freelancers, this means finding companies and the decision-makers inside them. There are a few solid ways to do this:

• LinkedIn: Search by job title, company size, and industry. Manual, but works well for high-ticket niches. Use Boolean search strings to get precise with your targeting.
• Apollo.io: Great for filtering by industry, company size, and seniority. Free tier exists and covers a lot of ground for early list-building.
• ScraperCity's B2B lead database: Unlimited leads filtered by title, industry, location, and company size - useful when you need volume without paying per-contact fees. This is what I'd reach for when I need to build a list fast and don't want to pay $0.05 per contact just to test a new niche.
• Google Maps: If you're targeting local businesses - contractors, dental offices, restaurants, home services - a Maps scraper pulls business names, addresses, phone numbers, and review data in bulk. Incredibly underused by freelancers who work with local clients.

Don't spend more than a day on this. 50 good-fit names is enough to get started. Get the list, find verified contact emails, and move to step four.

If you're doing email outreach and need to verify that your list is clean before you send, running it through an email validation tool saves you from killing your sender reputation on bad addresses. Bounce rates above 5% can permanently damage your domain's deliverability - and fixing that is a nightmare.

How to Find Emails for Your Prospects

Once you have a list of names and companies, you need verified contact emails. There are a few ways to do this:

• LinkedIn + email finders: Tools like Findymail or RocketReach can surface emails directly from LinkedIn profiles.
• Email finder tools: If you have a name and a company domain, an email finder can look up the most likely email format and verify it.
• Lusha: Lusha is useful for finding both emails and direct-dial phone numbers - handy if you're running a combined email and cold call strategy.

For mobile numbers and direct dials - especially if you're doing outbound calling alongside email - a mobile finder tool lets you append phone numbers to your prospect list without building everything manually.

Step 4: Send Cold Outreach - Not Applications

Job boards and platforms like Upwork are crowded. You're competing against hundreds of other freelancers on price. The better play - especially when you're starting out - is cold outreach directly to the clients you actually want.

Cold email works. I've built entire companies on the back of it. I literally wrote the book on it - The Cold Email Manifesto - and helped over 14,000 businesses generate sales meetings this way.

The formula for a freelancer cold email is simple:

• Line 1 - Relevance: Something specific about them. Not a generic compliment. Something real: "Saw you recently launched a new service line" or "I noticed you're running ads to a landing page that's missing a clear CTA."
• Line 2 - What you do and for who: One sentence. Keep it tight.
• Line 3 - Social proof or result: "I helped a similar agency book 12 demos in 30 days" or "I built a campaign for a SaaS company that cut their CPL by 40%." No portfolio? Use a result from a personal project, a side gig, or a volunteer engagement.
• Line 4 - One low-friction CTA: "Worth a 15-minute call?" That's it. Don't ask them to fill out a form or "check out your website."

Send it from a warmed-up domain. Tools like Smartlead or Instantly handle the sending infrastructure and follow-up sequences automatically, which matters more than people realize - most deals close on follow-up 3 or 4, not the first email.

Aim for 20-30 personalized emails per day when starting out. Track replies, not open rates. Replies mean your message is landing.

Cold Email vs. Freelance Platforms: A Real Comparison

A lot of people starting out think they have to choose one path. They don't - but they should understand the tradeoffs.

Platforms make sense for building your first testimonials or when you're in a category where clients naturally shop there. But if you want to move faster and have more pricing power, cold outreach is the play. You control the list. You control the message. You control the follow-up cadence.

LinkedIn Outreach as a Complement

Cold email isn't the only outbound channel. LinkedIn direct messages work particularly well for high-ticket B2B freelance services - paid ads management, consulting, dev work, and anything targeting VP-level or above. The mistake most people make with LinkedIn outreach is being too vague. Same rules apply: specific, brief, low-friction ask.

If you want to automate LinkedIn outreach at scale, tools like Expandi or Drippi let you build sequences that feel personalized without doing it one-by-one manually.

Step 5: Run the Discovery Call Right

When someone replies and agrees to a call, don't treat it like an interview. You're not auditioning - you're doing a diagnosis.

The discovery call is where you figure out if this person has a real problem you can solve, and if the economics make sense. Most new freelancers go into these calls trying to impress. The best ones go in asking questions.

I put together a Discovery Call Framework you can download - it covers the exact questions to ask, how to handle objections, and how to transition into pricing. Use it. It'll make your first few calls dramatically less awkward.

Key principles for the call:

• Let them talk 70% of the time.
• Ask "what's the cost of NOT solving this?" - this anchors your price against their pain.
• Don't name a price until you understand their situation fully.
• Always end with a next step: proposal, follow-up call, or decision date.

Red Flags to Watch for on Discovery Calls

Not every prospect is worth closing. Part of being a good freelancer is knowing when to walk away. Here are the signals that tell you a client will be more trouble than they're worth:

• They want to negotiate before they even know what you offer. If the first thing out of their mouth is "what's your cheapest option," that's a cost-center mentality. The best clients lead with the problem, not the budget.
• They've fired multiple freelancers before. Ask directly: "Have you worked with other freelancers on this? What happened?" If the answer is "they just didn't get it" - that's a pattern, not bad luck.
• They can't describe success. If they can't tell you what a good outcome looks like, you can't deliver it. Worse, they'll move the goalposts after you deliver.
• They need it done yesterday. Urgency is fine. Chaos isn't. If they're in crisis mode and expecting you to fix it overnight for a low rate, pass.
• They're vague about budget. Budget conversations are uncomfortable for everyone. But a client who refuses to give even a ballpark number after you've explained your work is either not serious or planning to low-ball you after you've invested time in a proposal.

Step 6: Set Rates That Don't Undersell You

Freelancers systematically underprice themselves. They think about hours. Clients think about outcomes.

If your copywriting helps a client close $50,000 in new contracts, charging $500 for the project is leaving money on the table. Price based on the value delivered, not the hours worked.

Some rough starting benchmarks for common B2B freelance services:

• Copywriting / cold email: $500-$2,500 per project or sequence
• Paid ads management: $1,000-$3,000/month retainer
• Web development: $2,000-$10,000 per project depending on scope
• Lead generation / outbound management: $1,500-$5,000/month
• Video editing: $500-$2,000 per project
• AI implementation / automation: $2,000-$8,000 per project
• SEO / content strategy: $1,000-$4,000/month retainer
• Business consulting / fractional CMO or COO: $3,000-$10,000/month

When you're just starting, you might be at the lower end of those ranges. That's fine - but don't go below a rate that respects your time. Cheap clients are almost always more demanding and less satisfied than clients who pay well.

As soon as you've closed your first client, raise your rates on the next one. Do this consistently.

Hourly vs. Project vs. Retainer: Which Model Wins?

This is a question I get constantly and the answer depends on where you are in your business.

Hourly makes sense early on when you're scoping out how long things actually take. It protects you from underquoting. The downside: it penalizes you for getting faster. As you get better, you do the same work in less time, which means you earn less per project - backwards incentives.

Project-based pricing is where most freelancers should land within their first few months. You quote a fixed price per deliverable. The client knows what they're paying. You know what you're delivering. Clean and simple.

Retainers are the goal. A monthly retainer means predictable revenue. You know what's coming in next month. Your client gets ongoing attention and access. The key to landing retainers is framing the work as ongoing management - not a one-time project. Ad management, SEO, outbound operations, and content production all lend themselves naturally to retainer pricing.

Step 7: Protect Yourself With a Contract

This is the part new freelancers skip and later regret. Even for small projects, use a contract. It sets expectations, defines scope, establishes payment terms, and gives you legal standing if something goes sideways.

You don't need a lawyer for most standard freelance engagements. I have an Agency Contract Template you can grab for free - it covers the basics that protect both you and the client: deliverables, revision limits, payment schedules, IP ownership, and kill fees.

Send the contract before you start any work. No exceptions.

The Payment Terms That Actually Get You Paid

The contract matters, but so do the specific payment terms inside it. Here's what works in practice:

• 50% upfront, 50% on delivery for project-based work. This is the standard and clients who balk at it are a red flag.
• Net 15 or Net 30 for retainers, billed at the start of the month. Don't do Net 60 - that's essentially giving your client an interest-free loan.
• Late payment fees in writing. Put it in the contract. Something simple: 1.5% per month on overdue invoices. Most clients never trigger it, but it signals you're serious.
• Kill fee clause. If a client cancels a project mid-way, you keep a percentage of the remaining project fee. Typically 25-50% of whatever was left unbilled. Non-negotiable for large projects.

For invoicing, keep it simple. Tools like Close CRM or a basic invoicing platform handle this without requiring you to build custom systems. The goal is to get paid on time, not to build elaborate finance infrastructure.

Step 8: Close With a Strong Proposal

After the discovery call, if the prospect is a fit, send a proposal within 24 hours. Speed matters here - people lose enthusiasm fast.

A good freelance proposal isn't a 10-page PDF. It's a focused document that:

• Restates their problem in their language (shows you listened)
• Outlines what you'll do and what they'll get
• Names a price clearly with payment terms
• Has a clear "yes" action - sign here, pay deposit, whatever comes next

If you want help structuring this, my Proposal AI Templates give you a framework you can customize fast. The goal is to make it easy for a client to say yes without second-guessing anything.

Common Proposal Mistakes That Kill Deals

I've seen hundreds of proposals from freelancers and agencies. The ones that don't close almost always make the same mistakes:

• Too much about you, not enough about them. The first half of most proposals reads like a resume. Clients don't care about your background - they care about their problem. Lead with their problem, not your credentials.
• Vague deliverables. "I will improve your website" means nothing. "I will redesign your homepage, about page, and contact page in Webflow, with two rounds of revisions, delivered within 14 days" is a clear, closeable offer.
• No price on the first page. Don't bury pricing. A confused prospect is a non-buyer. Put the investment clearly near the top or clearly labelled in its own section.
• Multiple options when one is right. Some proposals offer three tiers: good, better, best. This can work, but for most new freelancers it creates decision paralysis. Unless you genuinely have two meaningfully different service levels, stick to one clear recommendation.
• No expiry date. Add one. "This proposal is valid for 7 days." It's not a trick - it's a legitimate way to close loops and keep your pipeline moving.

Step 9: Build Your Online Presence the Right Way

You don't need a fancy website to land your first client. But you do need some minimal online presence that doesn't actively hurt you. Here's the hierarchy:

LinkedIn: Your Priority

If you're doing B2B freelancing, your LinkedIn profile is your storefront. Before you do anything else, make sure your profile has:

• A clear headline that states who you help and what you do. Not your job title - your value proposition.
• A summary section that reads like a pitch, not a resume.
• Work history that shows outcomes, not responsibilities. Don't say "managed social media accounts" - say "grew organic reach 340% in 90 days for a SaaS client in fintech."
• A profile photo that looks professional without being stuffy.

You don't need 500 connections to start getting leads from LinkedIn. You need a clear message and the willingness to reach out directly.

A Simple Website (Optional but Useful)

Once you have your first client or two, a basic website adds credibility - especially for higher-ticket services. You don't need anything complex. A single-page site with your positioning statement, a brief case study or two, and a contact form is enough. Tools like Squarespace let you build something clean and professional in an afternoon without needing a developer.

Content Marketing: Long-Term Play

If you have time and patience, publishing content around your niche builds inbound over time. This could be LinkedIn posts, a YouTube channel, a newsletter, or short-form video. The ROI is slow but compounding. I've built a lot of my inbound over the years through YouTube and consistent content about outbound sales and agency growth.

Tools like Taplio help you build a consistent LinkedIn content calendar without starting from scratch every day, which removes the main friction that stops people from posting consistently.

Step 10: Deliver, Then Ask for Referrals

Your first client is the hardest to get. Your second one should come from your first.

When you do good work, ask directly: "Do you know anyone else who could use help with [your service]? I'm taking on a couple more clients this quarter." Most freelancers never ask. The ones who do get a steady stream of warm introductions that cost nothing.

Referrals also tend to close faster and pay better than cold-sourced clients, because trust transfers. One happy client who talks about you is worth more than a hundred cold emails.

How to Turn One Project Into a Retainer

A project client is a retainer waiting to happen - if you're proactive about it. Here's how to make the transition:

About two weeks before a project wraps, start the conversation about what comes next. Don't wait until the final deliverable to bring it up. Frame it in terms of protecting the results you just built together: "Now that the email sequences are live, the next step is monitoring and optimizing based on reply rates over the next 90 days. I can handle that on a monthly retainer so you don't lose momentum." That's not a sales pitch - it's a logical extension of the work.

If the client loved working with you, saying yes to a retainer is the path of least resistance. If they say no, you've at least opened the door for future work and a referral conversation.

Managing Your Freelance Business Like an Actual Business

Once you have two or three clients, you need some basic operational infrastructure. Most freelancers ignore this until something breaks. Build it early.

Tracking Your Pipeline

Know where every potential client is in your pipeline at all times. Even a basic spreadsheet works. But as you scale, a lightweight CRM helps you follow up without things falling through the cracks. Close CRM is built for exactly this kind of outreach-heavy sales workflow - it has built-in email sequences and tracks every touchpoint automatically.

Managing Your Time Across Multiple Clients

The dirty secret of freelancing is that time management is harder when you're your own boss. There's no manager setting your schedule. You have to do it yourself - and most people are terrible at it when they start.

A few things that actually work in practice:

• Time-block your client work and your outreach separately. Don't mix them in the same hours. Client work hours are for delivery. Outreach hours are for prospecting, emailing, and following up. Blur this line and both suffer.
• Set hard weekly deadlines, not daily ones. If a client's deliverable is due Friday, you have more flexibility in how you structure Monday through Thursday. Daily to-do lists are better for execution. Weekly goals are better for freelancers.
• Use a project management tool from day one. Even if you only have one client. Monday.com or a simple Trello board tracks what's in progress, what needs review, and what's done. It keeps your client relationships clean and prevents the "wait, what did we agree on" conversations.

Handling Taxes as a Freelancer

This section isn't glamorous, but ignoring it is expensive. Freelancers pay self-employment tax on top of income tax, and you're responsible for estimating and paying taxes quarterly - not just once a year. Set aside 25-30% of every payment in a separate account before you spend any of it. This is non-negotiable. The IRS does not care that you forgot.

If you're going to hire help at some point, even part-time, get payroll right from the start. Tools like Gusto handle payroll taxes, direct deposits, and compliance so you don't have to become an HR department.

Building a Freelance Pipeline That Runs Without You Chasing Every Deal

The goal isn't to be a freelancer forever. The goal is to build a business where clients come to you, where you have enough volume that you can be selective, and where your revenue is predictable enough to plan around.

That transition happens through systems - specifically, an outbound system that runs in the background even when you're heads-down on client work. Here's how to build it:

Batch Your Outreach

Instead of sending a few emails whenever you feel like it, block two to three hours per week for prospecting. During that block, you build your list, find emails, and queue up your outreach sequences. Then let the tools handle the follow-ups automatically. Tools like Smartlead or Instantly keep your sequences running so you get replies on Monday from emails you set up on Friday.

Create a Referral System

Most freelancers ask for referrals reactively - only after a client says something positive. Flip this. Build it into your process. After every project delivery, send a short email: "Really enjoyed working on this together. If you know of anyone else who could use [your service], I'm taking on two new clients next month and would love the intro." Short, direct, not pushy.

If you want to go further, offer a referral fee. Something like $200 to $500 for a referred client who signs - paid after their first invoice clears. This turns happy clients into active promoters.

Stay Visible in Your Niche

The best long-term pipeline strategy is being known for something specific in a community your clients inhabit. This could mean posting consistently in LinkedIn communities your clients follow, publishing a niche newsletter, or showing up on podcasts that your ideal clients listen to.

Content builds trust at scale. It's the difference between chasing clients and having clients come to you. It takes 6-12 months to kick in, which is why most freelancers skip it. Do it anyway. The ones who do consistently outperform the ones who don't.

Scaling From Freelancer to Agency (If That's Your Goal)

Not everyone wants to build an agency. Some people want to stay solo and make $10,000 to $20,000 a month doing work they enjoy. That's a completely legitimate goal and there's nothing wrong with it.

But if you want to scale past what one person can deliver, the path from freelancer to agency looks like this:

1. Niche down to the point where you're oversubscribed. You can't productize something that's different every time. Get to the point where you're doing the same core service repeatedly, then document the process.
2. Hire a delivery person before you need one. The biggest mistake when transitioning to agency is waiting until you're overwhelmed to hire. By then, you're already dropping balls. Bring in a VA, a junior specialist, or a contractor when you're at 80% capacity, not 110%.
3. Keep running outreach even when you're busy. This is where most people stall. They land enough clients to keep themselves busy, then stop outreach. Six months later, two clients churn and they're scrambling. Pipeline is a habit, not a campaign.
4. Raise your rates as you add team capacity. When you're no longer the only person doing delivery, your overhead goes up. Your rates need to reflect that. Don't try to compete on price as an agency - that's a losing game. Compete on specialization and outcomes.

The Freelancing Trap to Avoid

As you get clients, you'll be tempted to keep adding services or going broader to "not miss opportunities." Resist this. The freelancers who build real businesses - and eventually agencies - are the ones who stay specific long enough to become known for something.

Once you've got consistent revenue from one service and one type of client, then you can think about expanding. Not before.

Common Questions About Starting Freelancing

Do I need to quit my job first?

No. Almost nobody should quit before they have income lined up. Start freelancing on the side. Build to a level where your freelance income reliably covers your expenses for two or three months running, then make the leap. Freelancing under financial pressure is harder and leads to taking on bad clients just to pay bills.

Do I need a portfolio to get started?

Not really. You need something to show that you can do the work, but that doesn't require paying clients. Create spec work - write a cold email sequence for a company you admire, redesign a homepage for a brand you like, build a mock ad campaign for a product you use. Put those in a simple Google Drive folder and share the link. That's your "portfolio" until you have real client work to replace it.

What if nobody replies to my cold emails?

First, check your deliverability. If your emails are landing in spam, even a perfect message won't get read. Use tools like Smartlead or Instantly to warm up your domain before sending. Second, look at your messaging. If you're getting zero replies after 50+ sends, the problem is almost always the offer or the targeting - not just the copy. Go back to basics: are you reaching the right person? Is your offer specific enough? Is your CTA low-friction?

How do I handle clients who want to negotiate?

Hold your rate. If you discount easily, you signal that your prices aren't real - which trains clients to always push back. If you want to give something, give scope: "I can bring the price down if we remove [X deliverable] from the package." This protects your per-hour economics while showing flexibility.

What's the fastest way to land the first client?

Warm outreach to people you already know. Go through your phone, your LinkedIn connections, your email history. Who do you know who runs a business or knows someone who does? Send them a short, direct note about what you're offering and ask for an intro or a conversation. Not a pitch - a conversation. Your first client almost certainly already knows you exist. You just haven't told them what you do yet.

The Real Reason Most Freelancers Fail

It's not skill. Most people who want to freelance have enough skill to deliver value for at least some category of client. The real reason most freelancers fail is consistency. They send 10 cold emails, hear nothing, and conclude that cold email doesn't work. They have one bad discovery call and decide they're not good at sales. They land one client, get comfortable, stop outreaching, and then panic six months later when that client churns.

The freelancers I've watched build real businesses - some of whom have gone on to run full agencies - all had one thing in common: they treated outreach as a non-negotiable daily or weekly habit, not something they did when they needed money. They kept building the list. They kept sending the emails. They kept running the calls. Even when business was good.

If you want to accelerate past the solo freelancer stage into a real outbound system with a client pipeline that runs without you chasing every deal manually, that's exactly what I help people build inside Galadon Gold.

But first - pick your service, build your list, send the emails, run the calls. The fundamentals work. Most people just don't do them consistently enough to find out.

Your First 30 Days: A Concrete Action Plan

Enough strategy. Here's exactly what to do over the next 30 days if you're starting from zero.

Days 1-3: Foundation

• Pick your one service and one target client type. Write your positioning sentence.
• Update your LinkedIn headline and summary to reflect your new positioning.
• Grab the Discovery Call Framework so you're ready when calls start coming.

Days 4-7: Build Your List

• Build a list of 50-100 prospects using LinkedIn, Apollo, or a B2B lead database.
• Find verified emails using an email finder or Findymail.
• Run the list through an email validator before loading it into your sending tool.

Days 8-14: Start Outreach

• Set up your sending infrastructure in Smartlead or Instantly with a warmed domain.
• Write your cold email and three follow-up messages. Keep each one under 100 words.
• Start sending 20 emails per day. Track replies in a spreadsheet.

Days 15-21: Handle Replies and Run Calls

• Reply to every positive response within the hour if possible. Speed matters at this stage.
• Run discovery calls using your framework. Ask questions. Let them talk.
• Send proposals within 24 hours of any call where there was clear fit.

Days 22-30: Close and Build

• Follow up on any proposals that haven't responded. One follow-up per week is fine.
• Close your first client. Send the contract before you start any work. Collect the deposit.
• Keep outreach running even after you close. Never let the pipeline go cold.

Thirty days of consistent execution will put you further ahead than six months of passive job board browsing. The market is big enough. The demand is real. The question is whether you'll do the work to put yourself in front of it.