How freelancers find clients is a question I didn't have to ask for years. Then the easy answer dried up. Here's what I tried after that, what it cost, and what came back, in numbers I can back up from my own records.

Where my customers came from

Fiverr built my business. I'd do a job for someone there, and after a while they'd start working with me directly. Many have stayed for years. A few that had gone quiet came back recently, and I had to pull their records out of the archive. I'm proud of that, because it means they felt the work was good enough to return to.

For about the last year and a half, Fiverr has brought me very few new customers. I don't know why, and I can't prove my guess. I think there's more lower-priced work available, often from overseas, and my rate is higher even though I haven't raised it much in three years.

Cold email: about $600 to $800 and little to show

I used Instantly to send cold email for my Divi 5 migration service and my PostHelp products. I used warmed-up sending accounts and qualified leads. Claude helped me write personalized emails. My Instantly export from October 3 shows 11 campaigns and 4,857 emails sent, with 30 replies in total.

The local business campaigns did worst. One PostHelp Captions campaign sent 362 emails to 93 Colorado Springs HVAC companies and got no replies. A Denver plumbers campaign reached 115 leads with 434 emails and got one reply. A Denver electricians campaign sent 404 emails to 125 leads and got none.

A deliverability test showed Outlook inboxes sending some of my mail to spam. A July review decided the bigger problem was the offer. I spent roughly $600 to $800 (my own estimate, not counting my time), and I turned it off. I'm still not sure whether it was the offer or my technique.

LinkedIn Premium: 86 notes, 3 positive replies

I bought LinkedIn Premium Business at $69.99 a month at the end of August. Claude searched for business owners whose websites or Google Business Profiles had a specific, checkable problem. Then it wrote a connection note of 300 characters or less that mentioned the problem. Scheduled tasks prepared the list and the messages every Monday and Thursday. I sent each one by hand, because LinkedIn doesn't allow automated sending.

My outreach ledger, as of October 26, shows 86 connection notes sent and 3 positive replies. It also shows 17 InMails (the paid messages that skip the connection step) and no positive replies. I let Premium lapse on September 30, then signed up again on a quarterly plan on October 23. It's too early to call.

Google Ads: $194.43 and no orders

I started Google Ads in October to promote my $75 One-off Fix, including the malware cleanup version. By October 28 it had cost $194.43 for 27 clicks and no orders. I paused it that morning. The settings are saved, so turning it back on is one click.

What does work

Referrals. Two or three customers came from existing customers who liked my work. An affiliate program through FlexOffers was a bust. I built my own partner program for PostHelp Calendar, and it has one member so far.

I'm thinking about adding a no-payout referral link to my client portal, so a customer can send a friend my way in one click. That fits how I already work. I wrote about pricing my time and about running a one-person shop with Claude if you want the rest of the picture.

Your turn

If you're a freelancer who found a steady way to get new clients, tell me what worked. If you own a website and want someone who keeps customers for years, my malware cleanup and the One-off Fix are the easiest place to start. Technical questions about any of this are welcome too.

Questions

Why did Fiverr slow down for you?

I don't know. My guess is more lower-priced competition, but I haven't found a source that confirms it, so treat it as a guess.

Was cold email worth it?

Not for me. I spent roughly $600 to $800 by my own estimate and the local business campaigns got one reply from about 330 leads.

What should a freelancer try first?

Ask your existing customers. Referrals are the only channel here that has brought me paying work, and they cost nothing.