Why Am I not Making Sales As A Freelancer?

The Problem I had when I first started freelancing

Let me explain what l think you are going through:

You are wondering why you are not making sales or getting any gig as a freelancer despite all your efforts.

Here is the thing

You bought an eBook on freelancing, you got so motivated that you jumped to action, first things first, you registered on Fiverr.

Great job,

  • but days passed by,
  • weeks came and gone, and
  • you ran into months,

yet no sales, no reviews, and no inquiries on your gigs.

Next thing, you jumped to Upwork, and the same thing happened.

You read that you need to be on social media, you started with LinkedIn, then Facebook, and you created a Facebook page.

Nice work. but you still had no sales.

If that describes you, then this article is for you.

I will be sharing with you simple but powerful things you have been doing wrong.

I will also direct you to some resources that the major players are using to scale it in freelancing.

Just to be on the same page, all the approaches I am showing you here require effort.

It’s not a lazy man’s thing.

If you are ready to put in the work, then let us start.

There are a number of things that could be holding you back from receiving those joyous alerts on your email about sales and inquiries.

But pay close attention to see if any of what I share below could be the reason why you are not making enough sales as a freelancer

You choose the wrong Niche

If you are selling in a niche you are not competent enough to be in, your buyers will know.

Nobody will like to hire you to work for them if they can sense that you are not a professional in what you say you do.

If you do not know what you are talking about in your description, people will know it and they will run from you.

Solution:

Choose a field you are knowledgeable about. If you like dating, go for it, if you want, create a service out of it and you are more likely to be patronized.

If you do not like spending time on social media, why offer to be a social media manager?

You did not receive the core training needed to excel in your chosen Niche.

It is true that with the internet, you can learn almost anything so long as you are determined to put in the work.

But the problem is when you do not take in enough learning on a given field before you jump into rendering service.

If you are going to render writing services, you must be good at certain disciplines like English.

There are courses online you can take to polish your grammar.

Using Google to pass the Fiverr test will only get you approved on Fiverr but will manage to show up to your clients that you are not proficient in the field.

Invest some time into learning how to write good copy. You will definitely benefit from this article on How to Write 2000 Words Engaging content In 30 Minutes

Some common pitfalls I see tripping up new freelancers

Your English is bad

As a freelancer, if your English is not good enough, it will prevent people from giving you any job, no matter what niche you are dealing with.

From your gig title to your description, any sign of bad grammar will turn people off, especially if your potential clients are native English speakers.

Solution:

  1. You can choose to get someone who is a good writer to do your writing for you while you make a profit off it. It is called arbitrage.
  2. Get more training.
  3. Use the services of grammar checkers; there are a lot of cloud-based AI ones. If you like those you can download and install them on your device, you are certainly going to find something. A good number of them are free, with premium options for additional features. I started with Grammarly.
  4. Look at how your competitors craft their headlines.
  5. Hang out with other writers on social media.
  6. Drive traffic to your sales page through social media like Facebook.
use social media to connect with like-minded people

You have too few a gig

If you have done all of the above and feel that you at least scored more than average and you are not making money as a freelancer, then you might want to try the following:

Solution:

Spread out.

Why spread yourself so thin? Set up as many gigs as you are allowed on any platform as this increases your chances of getting hired.

But a word of caution though, it will be more beneficial to set up a gig that is related in some way.

For instance, you might have a gig where you offer Writing service and another gig where you offer Proofreading.

You neglected your USP

Before you can generate enough sales as a freelancer to keep you in business, you are advised to check out how others are setting up their gig to bring in sales, but then do not copy them.

Copying others makes you lose yourself in the crowd.

Solution:

  • Get inspiration from what others are doing and make yours better. Find out what your competitors are not doing right and improve on it
  • Discern what your clients want most and be the solution to it.
  • Sometimes you may want to throw in some bonuses to entice people to give you a try.
  • Wherever your strength lies, publicize it so that the message cannot be ignored

Not being active on your platforms like Fiverr

If you do not show up on the platform where you host your gig, nobody will take you seriously, and if your clients do not see you as important to the success of their needs, they will not buy from you and you will not make money as a freelancer.

And this is one of the major reasons why you may not be getting any sales.

Solution:

Freelancing is not a do-it-and-live-it kind of business. You must show up to build enough momentum, yes you need to build your network and reach out to people who will need your services

Set up a Facebook page, use it to promote your gig, get twitter up and running and make sure you post on it regularly, if possible daily.

Research shows that people who hire freelancers like to hang out on LinkedIn, so go give it a try and be active on it.

You do not have to be present on all social media, choose the ones that best match your business, just a few, and be as active as you can be on them.

Consider hiring a social media manager if you find it overwhelming, it does not cost a lot to have one. You can reach out to me if you need my assistance on that.

You are not paying attention to your persuasion

This will keep holding you back until you work on it. You are a salesperson and should learn the art of persuasion.

If your clients are not convinced that you can do what you are claiming that you can do, they will run to the other direction.

Solution:

  • Put yourself in the shoes of your would-be clients.
  • Use words that show you are thinking about them
  • Be clear with promises
  • Avoid obscure assertions, it keeps your clients guessing what you mean.
  • As a marketer, your job is to use your copy to influence people’s behavior as well as their decision. But this should not be coerced, Lead your prospect into willingly and joyously doing your bidding.
  • Use statistics to your advantage, if you have done something that results in a substantial gain for a client, find a way to put it into your description.
  • Put people in a situation where they are inclined to reciprocate your goodwill. According to Shane Barker a Forbes council member, when people receive something free or overvalued, they tend to feel gratfull and this in turn makes us want to reciprocate and give them something in return

You focused your GIG on yourself and not your potential client

When you make your gig description resound around you and you alone, your clients will run.

I saw a gig recently where the seller was using too much ‘I’. It was all about himself. This is wrong, if you are selling on Fiverr, the only natural place to use it is on your Title.

The rest of the description area should be on what and how you plan to benefit your client.

Develop a pricing program that makes sense to your clients

You must be coherent down to the last phase.

You cannot offer 5 dollars per hour, only to sell 30 hours for 5 Dollars.

This does not follow a logical order; it is natural that one will expect to get a lesser price the more they buy and not the other way around

focus on how to help your clients

Focus your copy a little bit more on how your services will help your client.

Below are some Tips that can help you fast-track your goal to make money as a freelancer

  • Use Grammarly to check your grammar
  • Make and use short videos in your description. Google it and you will find free resources for video creation
  • Give out enticers to motivate people, they will reciprocate
  • Promote your business offline, hand out fliers, business cards, etc.
  • Be bold with offering a guarantee
  • When you do land a job, put all effort into over-delivering it
  • Respond to messages in the shortest amount of time
  • Target sending at least 10 proposals a day
  • Make your titles very concise and clear
  • Ask for Feedback. If you land a buyer, get feedback from them, most times they will not give it unless you asked.
  • Whatever made them choose you, keep doing that in fuller measures.
  • Join forums of like-minded business people and tap from their knowledge
feedback is important for making money as a freelancer
Always look for ways to get feed back from your clients

Here you have it all. Take a step back, re-look at how you are performing based on the above, correct what needs to be corrected, and be patient as you implement these things.

Please share this content if you find it helpful and tell me how you feel or any questions you have, do share with us all in the comment section.

We look forward to hearing from you as this will help us do better.

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21 Comments

  2. Thank you so much for this article. My name is Randolph, I have been doing freelancing for some time now as a graphic designer. But sometimes, it is difficult to find clients.

    But this article has opened my eyes.

  3. I chose the wrong niche at first and it wasn’t easy for me to even pay the bills.
    I was out of work and needed clients to stay afloat.
    But the points you made here is an eye opener.
    Thank you

  4. Every freelancer needs to spend some time to choose the right niche. Get this wrong and your success will be minimal.

  6. I can’t help but bookmark this site. I am implementing your tips right away.

  7. I love the part about bad English. Honestly, this can prevent someone from getting clients as a freelancer especially if you are a writer. The solutions you gave for this is awesome.

    Thank you Echez.

  9. Thanks for this. I tried to access your newsletter, why is it not going through?

  11. Hi, successzenith. My name is Max, thank you so much for this article, it has been an eye opener for me.

  12. This is Calewan from India, thank you for this article, I saw it while researching about freelancing. Please keep up the good work. If you have any freelance opening in your place kindly let me know.

    Here is my email address: calewen@aol.com

    • Hi Calewan, thank you for the encouragement. We are happy that you found our content helpful. Please spread the word.

  13. I am Julie and I have been doing freelancing for over 5 years now,
    your article is good for someone who wants to succeed in freelancing.

    But in addition to what you discussed here,
    it is good for freelancers to be consistent with their marketing efforts.
    This will help them to be known as experts at least in their field.

    I am always open to give freelance advice to new ones in the field. Here is my email address:
    julie3667@yahoo.com

Comments are closed.