How they found me.

Since August 2023, I've worked with 24 clients as a freelance designer.

I keep a simple tracker with a column for where each client came from. 20 of the 24 came through someone who already knew me. That's about 83%.

I've known this for a while. I'm sharing the breakdown because it shows where posting fits in.

Where they came from

9 from friends and family. A family member, a neighbor, longtime friends, and people those friends sent my way.

6 from past work. A former boss, a former design colleague, leaders and investors at companies I used to work for, and agency partners.

5 from people I met on LinkedIn. Mostly referrals from other designers I'd gotten to know there.

4 from strangers. People who found me on LinkedIn and reached out.

Where the followers come in

I mention my follower count because people often ask whether that's where my clients come from. Close to 70,000 people follow me on LinkedIn, so it's a fair question. Of my 24 clients, 4 were strangers who found me there.

So I think I'd have landed a lot of the same clients with 1,000 followers, as long as those followers were people I'd worked with or knew personally.

What posting did was keep me in front of the people who already knew me. My face showed up in their feeds a few times a week. They saw that I was freelancing, what I was working on, and how I think about design. So when someone they knew needed a designer, my name was already there.

A referral needs two things to line up. Someone hears about a project, and you're the first designer they think of. You can't control the first part. Posting helps with the second.

The longest chain

Referrals from people you meet online can take a long route. Here's the path my biggest client of 2025 took to reach me. I couldn't have planned it.

I started posting on LinkedIn in 2022
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I got to know Tommy Geoco there
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In 2023 he invited me into his Slack group
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I met Jayneil in that group
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In March 2025, Jayneil and I got on a call to swap notes
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He suggested I meet his friend Gev
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I met Gev in April
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Gev referred me to a client
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That client hired me, and we started working together in August

We worked together for 7 months, and they became one of my biggest clients.

The call with Jayneil was a swap. He wanted to hear how I'd grown on LinkedIn, and I wanted to hear how he'd grown his newsletter. I wasn't thinking about client work at all.

I went into that call to share what I knew. What came back took five months and two introductions to show up.

The strangers

Strangers reaching out is what most people picture when they think about getting clients from posting. The two stories I remember best came from posts I never expected to lead anywhere.

In May 2023 I posted a mockup of Tinder for design hiring managers. Swipe right on a portfolio to move it forward, left to reject it. It was a joke. A founder saw it, followed me, and read my posts for about a year without saying a word. When he was ready to hire, he messaged me. We worked together for a couple of months on a $10,000 project.

Another time I posted a video of someone else's design that I loved. I said whose it was and why I liked it. A developer who'd built an app saw it, noticed I was a designer, looked through my site, and booked a call. When I asked how he found me, he said I had good taste. That post brought in a few leads.

Neither post showed client work. One was a silly concept and the other was someone else's design.

I point this out because a lot of designers wait until they have polished client work before they post. Neither of these would have gone up under that rule.

What I'm doing next

Most of my work has come from inbound, and that's what I've written about most. I'm not against outbound. I just haven't put much effort into it, and I want to get better at it.

Since 20 of my 24 clients came through people who already knew me, that's where I'm starting. Five catch-ups a month with past colleagues, old bosses, past clients, and old friends. A call or a meetup, mostly to hear what they're up to and see if there's anything I can help with.

If we haven't caught up for years, they may not know I freelance as a designer. If they do know, they may have no idea whether I'm available for new work.

What I'd take from all this

Your next client probably knows you already. Or they know someone who does. Start with the people who've seen your work up close.

Stay visible to them. Posting keeps your name in front of people who already know you. It works with a small following, as long as the right people are in it.

Tell people what you're up to. Let them know you're freelancing and that you have room for new work. You don't need to attach an ask. You can if you want, but if they like you and know you're good at what you do, odds are they'll think of you when something comes up.

Share what you like, too. A silly concept and someone else's design both brought me work. Posts like that show your taste.

Go into conversations ready to give. My biggest client of 2025 started with a call where I shared what I'd learned about LinkedIn.

If you have 15 minutes today

1/ Write down the last 10 people who hired you or referred you, for freelance work or a job.

2/ Next to each one, write how they first heard about you. Mark the ones who knew you before the work came up.

3/ Pick 5 people from past jobs you haven't talked to in a year. Send one of them a message this week and tell them what you're working on.

One question before you go

Most of my work came from people who already knew me when a project landed on their desk.

If someone you used to work with heard about a design project tomorrow, would your name be the first one they'd think of?

If you're not sure, that's who to message this week.

Talk soon,
Trevor Nielsen

PS: Know a designer who's been applying everywhere with nothing to show for it? Forward this to them. They can subscribe at discoverabledesigner.com.