It honestly doesn’t matter what your industry is, or if you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur. You need clients to bring the money in and pay your bills. It also makes no difference at all whether they’re buying your product or hiring you for your services — you need to make contact with them somehow and make an impression. So, how?

Since we’re starting a new year, it’s probably time to take a re-think of our tactics and see if we’re really doing the best we can. Think about these things in particular.

1. Are you putting yourself out there and networking in the places where your ideal clients are watching? Or are you busy making conversation in the wrong places?

2. Do you have a good online portfolio? When was the last time you looked at it and checked it was up-to-date?

3. When someone asks “What do you do?”, do you find yourself struggling to explain yourself? How can you do a better job of answering this question succinctly?

4. How do you keep yourself on-track and motivated in your work? What’s driving you? Do you know your daily/weekly/monthly targets to reach your goals?

5. Do you actually advertise your products and services? Why not give your business a boost by running a small ad campaign each week? You’ll get better at it each time and the peanuts you spend could bring in some great new clients to work with!

Don’t think that final point didn’t apply to you. Yes, freelancers are allowed to run Facebook ads and Google Ads, too. See what happens — at worst you might waste $5 and a bit of time. But you never know what else might come of it until you try.

How have you found clients in the past? What else would you add to this list?

Good luck!