How to find good copywriting clients… And grow your copywriting business to $10k+ months.

Hint: It’s not in Facebook groups.

Unpopular opinion: Facebook groups and freelancer platforms are not the best place to find clients for your freelance copywriting business… Especially if you want good clients who pay thousands of dollars for your services AND actually like you. Because working for people who you align with makes a huge difference in your business success. So how do you get clients as a copywriter, and where do you look?

If you’re sick of posting in free FB groups or managing your Upwork profile, this is for you. I’ve never had luck with free Facebook groups when searching for new clients. Sure, some people do, but I find that the quality isn’t there. On top of that, there’s always 100+ other comments from people who are fighting over the same small gig—not worth it in my opinion!

Then there’s freelancer platforms (looking at you Upwork and Fiverr), which breed unhealthy competition and low rates. I want a competitor to win a job over me because of their ideas, not because they accept lower rates… Which these platforms are notorious for.

I’ve personally used some of these strategies to grow my freelance copywriting business from it taking an entire year to just break $20k to consistent 5-figure months…

But the cool thing about all of this is that you get to decide what your goals are too. If $20k a year is enough for you, that’s amazing. If you want more, that’s cool too. Regardless of what you want to make from your copywriting business, you still need to find good clients. So let’s start there.

Wondering where to get clients for copywriting?

You decided that you’re ready to do the d*mn thing and start a copywriting business. Amazing! Or maybe you’re already freelance writing and you want to take this to the next level. Happy you’re here. 👏

Let’s talk about some specific tactics you can use to get clients as a copywriter. The following are great options if you have a bit of experience and are hoping to make consistent money each month from billable client work.

Because I totally get that it’s not fun living in the feast and famine lifestyle that’s often associated with freelancing. You want to know that you can count on money coming in each month, right? Right.

To do that, you need to find yourself a steady stream of copywriting clients. The good news is that literally every business out there needs copy. That’s a lot of opportunity in this space—we love a good abundance mindset. 🙌

Get referrals for new copywriting clients from past clients and colleagues.

I love love looove referrals because trying to get clients this way also encourages you to get really good at what you do. Be so good at what you do that people talk about it. They tell their friends. They can’t help but rave about you. It’s a great way to get clients as a copywriter (or any service-provider/freelancer!).

Potential referral connections:

🔥 Past and current copywriting clients. This one is obvious! But don’t be shy to ask past and current clients if they know anyone who would like to work with you too. It’s great if you can make this part of your offboarding process with clients, so it becomes a habit you don’t need to think about.

🔥 Industry partners with complimentary services. If you’re a freelance copywriter, it’s a good idea to connect with other service providers like photographers and brand and/or website designers. A lot of your clients will need all of the above at some point!

🔥 Friends and colleagues with aligned careers. Don’t go knocking on all your friends’ doors, but think strategically. If you have a friend who works in-house at a marketing agency, maybe they have contacts for overflow work, and they can send you those copywriting clients. You never know!

Even better if you can return the favour to all of the above connections.

Try networking at events and in communities to get copywriting clients.

When I join a paid community, I’ve always made my money back (and then some). Most recently, I joined a mastermind group and made $20k + just by networking with those people.

However, you can’t join these kinds of communities with the intention of making sales—people will smell your vibe from a mile away and you don’t want to be that person. Instead, go in with the mindset of learning from others and clarity on what you can also give. If you focus on giving first, you’ll receive in return.

Events are also great. I’ve had great luck getting clients as a copywriter at in person networking events. My biggest win from one of these was a $16k gig from a concise, but awesome, conversation with the right person at the right time. It felt like a total Outliers moment for any Malcolm Gladwell fans… But the point is that if you participate, you might get your moment too.

Go for the long game: Create an inbound marketing strategy to get clients as a copywriter.

Fun fact: I haven’t cold pitched for work since 2018, but my copywriting business has continued to grow year over year since then. How? I call my method the Client Attraction Equation™ and it involves a combination of the following:

🔥 Personality-driven messaging to connect with dream clients in a genuine and thoughtful way, and repel those that aren’t a good fit.

🔥 Content marketing that attracts the right people to the top of your pipeline… And actually feels like you because it aligns with your style.

🔥 Build authority as an expert in your space, so you become the go-to person for X thing that your dream clients need.

I actually filmed a YouTube video talking about the above ideas and how to get clients as a copywriter in more detail. You can watch that here.

Starting a copywriting business

Maybe you’re new to this whole freelance copywriting thing. That’s okay!

If you’re new to this, I really hope that you stick with it. Yes, building a business is hard work, but it’s so rewarding when things click. Both because you get to literally create your dream life by designing your business around that vision, but also because copywriters have the potential to make a massive positive impact in our clients’ lives too. Neat, eh?

Starting a copywriting business is pretty easy—all you really need is internet connection and a laptop. Of course, gaining the appropriate skills (or leveraging what you already have in your toolkit) is part of it, but if we’re talking about logistics, you could get your first client as a copywriter today if you wanted to.

So let’s talk about where you can start finding copywriting clients if you’re brand new next.

Wondering how to get copywriting clients with no experience?

Before we get too far into this, I want to be super clear: It’s extremely important that you can actually deliver on the services that you sell, regardless of what those are. What I mean is, I do not want you to commit to doing something that you can’t actually do. We’re all about integrity around here. And the most sustainable businesses can back up their claims and promises with real results.

Now that the integrity conversation is out of the way, here’s some specific places you can find copywriting clients with no experience… And no real marketing plan either.

Send cold pitches to get your first clients as a copywriter.

The fastest way to get clients as a copywriter (or for your copywriting business) is to just ask for the work. Make a list of your dream clients and start cold pitching. I did this when I was first starting out as a freelance writer. I made a list of all the publications in my city and pitched them. 1 replied. Sure, my stats weren’t that great to land just 1 at the time, but at least I found something and was able to grow from there.

Browse job boards for freelance copywriting gigs.

Job boards are a good place to start if you have no experience because often these are entry level positions. There are plenty of job boards for copywriting gigs—just do a quick Google search. I’d recommend looking for legitimate sources, and try to stay away from freelancer platforms in general if you can avoid it.

Create a beta offer for your copywriting services and promote it online.

I’m a firm believer that everyone should be paid for the work that they do. However, I also think that beta testing offers before going all in is a great idea—especially if you’re new. You can develop a first iteration of a specific package and promote that everywhere. Put a limit on the number of these that you can sell, and use them to grow. Beta offers are a good way to gain experience, refine your method or processes, and just get the word out there while still bringing in some money for your freelance copywriting business.

Growing a copywriting business to $10k months and beyond

If you’re not necessarily new to the game, but you are ready to level up—great. That’s what we’re about to talk about next. So many new copywriters set their eyes on the buzzy milestones of $10k months and 6-figure years. And of those bright-eyed new-ish freelancers, a lot of them never hit those goals. They can’t seem to get enough clients as a copywriter. We’ve all heard the stats.

But at the risk of making some people angry…

Hitting $10k months isn’t actually that hard—or at least, it doesn’t need to be. It can be fun and straightforward, and once you crack the code of what works for you, it’s pretty simple to maintain long term.

I know, I know… Someone’s probably gonna come at me without getting the context.

But I’m serious.

If you’re freelancing and you are struggling with getting clients as a copywriter, therefore bringing in consistent revenue each month (or any kind of entrepreneur for that matter), keep reading…

I genuinely get what it’s like. I STRUGGLED in the early days of my business. I’m the girl who started out flipping falafels so I could pay the bills because my first writing gig only paid $25 per piece… And I stuck with that waaay too long.

But with every milestone I hit—$1k, $5k, $10k, $20k months—I realized that each of these spots aren’t actually as difficult to reach as I made them out to be in my head.

A lot of the time, if something felt really f*cking hard, on reflection afterwards (a consistent practice I have), I realized that it was probably my own fault. It often came down to the sh*t in my head.

I constantly did stuff like…

🥵 Overcomplicated simple things.

🥵 Stressed about “issues” that weren’t really issues worth stressing about.

🥵 Tried to do too many things at once, therefore straining myself too thin.

🥵 Focused on the wrong stuff first and wasted a TON of time.

🥵 Got sooo caught up in limiting beliefs and literally held myself back.

🥵 Lacked any kind of clear boundaries—especially the ones that give you space to truly GROW a sustainable business.

🥵 So much more… Like *insert your head sh*t here* because I know I’m not alone in this…

BIG CLARIFICATION: I’m not trying to be like those people on the internet who want you to believe that all of this is super easy—end of story—and there’s something wrong with YOU if it feels hard. That’s not this.

Business is hard work.

Being an entrepreneur is hard work.

Growing and sustaining big months is HARD WORK.

But it doesn’t have to feel like an uphill battle every single day. It can feel flowy and fun instead.

It might sound like I’m about to go full woo woo on you, and say something annoying like “If you dream of it you’ll have it” without telling you what exactly you need to do… But I promise I’m not (although, love me some woo woo).

Let’s talk about tangible things you can do to flip the narrative from a daily slog to flexible and fun. It really comes down to doing the work in a few key areas of your business.

The way I see it, those areas are…

🔥 Positioning + Branding

🔥 Processes + Systems

🔥 Mindset + Limiting Beliefs

🔥 Pricing Strategy

🔥 Marketing Strategy + Sales Pipeline

If you focus on these, and don’t stress about the rest, you’ll hit the milestones you want… Like $10k months… Faster than you originally thought possible.

Hard work, but low stress. ← That’s the goal.

I actually go through each of these areas about how to grow your copywriting business in more detail over on YouTube. You can watch that video here if you want.

What’s next for your copywriting business?

If you like this and you want to learn more about how to position yourself in a saturated market and grow a sustainable copywriting business (or any business—for that matter), enroll in 4 Steps to Profit. This is my free 4-day course that teaches you the basics of how I help clients achieve those big milestones everyone wants. If you are new and need to get clients as a copywriter, this free course will help you.

And when you’re ready to go all in, Conversion Class is a great place to start.