Best Practices for Landing High Paying Clients

Struggling to earn the big bucks? Whether you’re a freelance graphic designer or content writer, finding quality clients that will pay you what you’re worth can be challenging. However, there are tips and best practices out there that you can use to land better paying gigs and allow you to earn the income you’ve always wanted.

In our video series, ‘The Freelancer Lounge’, Jon Younger, author of the Forbes blog, Freelance Revolution, shared best practices on how to effectively attract high-paying clients and which channels you should be utilizing in order to reach them.

Here we’ll discuss the different types of high-paying clients and how to attract them and earn more.

Types of High-Paying Clients

1. Clients That Pay Higher Rates for Higher Quality – typically from larger organizations and companies and are able to spend more on freelancers if they receive quality service.
2. Clients Struggling to Find the Right Freelancer – whether it’s their location, network, or reputation, finding the right freelancer can be tough and these types of clients are willing to pay more if they find the right person for their project.
3. Clients That Have Urgent Needs – when your client needs something to be done quickly, in fact, urgently, they typically have no problem paying you more.
4. Clients That Ask for Rare Skills & Experience – if you own skills that are usually hard to find in most freelancers, then you might be able to charge more than usual.
5. Clients That Need Risky Work Done – whether it’s something personal or reputational, if there is a risk involved for the client, then they would typically lean on paying more to get this kind of work done.

Now that you’ve learned how to identify the different types of clients who tend to pay more for freelancing gigs, what can you do to increase your earnings and attract them? Consider these best practices to get the ball rolling.

1. Be Visible on Social Media

Don’t be shy about your work and instead, make it visible for everyone to see. No matter how many freelance platforms you’re on, it’s super critical that you showcase your skills and expertise on social media, because that’s where clients are looking as well. Build a presence on platforms like LinkedIn where many organizations and those who have the budget to pay more, are seeking top talent like yourself.

2. Use the Right Platforms

Make yourself visible on platforms that are specific to your work. For example, if you’re a freelance software engineer, you should be offering your services on platforms that focus on this area and where potential clients are seeking freelancers with within this field.

3. Make Your Expertise Known to the World

Are you sharing your expertise, knowledge, and skills to a large enough audience? As mentioned earlier, you need to make yourself visible as much as possible. Share what you know via podcasts, webinars and even on E-learning platforms where you can get the opportunity to teach those who are interested in your field and earn even more. Take the time to think about what you can do to expand your presence which will lead to reaching more prospects.

4. Focus on Lucrative Specializations

Are you currently working in an area that doesn’t offer much pay? Now would be the time to consider switching over to a field that can offer you a higher income. Research what the most in-demand skills are, and which areas of expertise larger companies are looking for and see if any of those industries interest you. If one of them is a good match, then you can easily be on your way to making more.

5. Take Advantage of Your Network

You never know who may be able to help you and what connections that person may have. Networking and reaching out to your connections on social media platforms like LinkedIn can have both a major and positive impact on your freelance business. Your connections may be involved with people in specific industries or clients who are seeking your talent. Make yourself available to them and offer your help while they can also help you.

6. Work with Others

You are more likely to receive better paying gigs when you and others collaborate to generate larger opportunities and look for clients together. Instead of thinking about the hourly pay, think about the size of the project and the opportunities that may come about from that.

Bottom Line

If you want to achieve working with a particular type of client, especially one that will pay you what you’re worth, it’s vital to build your brand and reputation and this can be done by making yourself present and visible. Remember, building your brand, network and reputation will take time so be patient. If you really want to work with clients that can pay you the big bucks, it won’t be something that will occur overnight, you’ll have to earn it.

In addition, if you want to land high-paying clients, be prepared to show your best work as they’re going to expect high quality work from your end.

Are you a freelancer working with clients overseas and are looking for an easy and secure way to get paid by them? With Payoneer’s cost-effective payments platform, we can help you get paid by leading freelance marketplaces and clients around the world with ease, so you can focus on growing your business.