If you’re tired of chasing clients on Upwork and Fiverr or you haven’t seen the results you want, there’s a different approach that treats you like a business serving other businesses. I use this strategy to land high-paying remote clients, and I’ve seen it work for many others. Below, I’ll walk you through the exact steps: how to discover a focused offer, find the people who need it, and reach them in a way that gets responses and converts.
Outline
- Discover one clear offer and ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Find where those clients hang out
- Outreach: methods, structure, and common pitfalls
- Crafting messages that get replies
- Optimizing profiles for cold DMs
- Alternative: building in public and diversifying client sources
- Next steps and resources
1. Discover Your Offer — One Offer, One ICP
Start by thinking like a business. Rather than offering a long list of services, pick one clear offer for one specific customer type (your ICP). For example:
- Offer: Email funnel creation and automation
- ICP: Course creators
Specializing lets you scale faster, speak the language of that niche, and solve deeper problems more effectively. The more you work with one type of client, the more you understand their needs and can position yourself as the obvious solution.
2. Find the People Who Need Your Offer
Once you have one offer and one ICP, the next step is to locate those people. Where do they hang out online? Examples:
- YouTube (search for niche creators)
- LinkedIn (look for creators, coaches, and course-makers)
- Social platforms: X (Twitter), Facebook groups, Instagram
Create a list of potential clients. You can either automate outreach later, or — especially when starting — do it manually. Manual outreach (one message a day or a few per week) is often more effective at first because it’s personalized and research-backed.
3. Outreach: Methods and When to Use Them
Outreach isn’t magic, but it’s a skill. Choose the channel based on your ICP and what feels appropriate for that niche. Common outreach methods:
- Email (most common for B2B)
- Direct messages on social platforms (LinkedIn DMs, X, Instagram)
- Short personalized videos
- Voice notes
- Phone calls (use with caution for remote international clients)
Note about cold calling: if you’re targeting international remote work, accents and call schedules can make cold calling less reliable. Messaging, email, and short videos are usually safer bets.
Manual vs Automation
Two options after building a list:
- Automate: sequences, warm-up tools, email authority — useful at scale but riskier if done poorly.
- Manual: more time-consuming, but better for learning, personalization, and high-quality responses early on.
4. Email Outreach — Subject Lines, Deliverability, and Open Rates
Email outreach has specifics that many people miss. Two immediate priorities are: get the email seen and get it opened.
Subject lines matter
Your subject line must spark curiosity and get the recipient to open the message. Low open rates hurt deliverability: if many recipients don’t open your emails, algorithms or recipients may mark them as irrelevant, and future messages could land in spam, social, or promotions folders.
Don’t blast 100+ cold emails carelessly
Sending large batches with weak subject lines kills your sender reputation. Aim for quality and personalization rather than mass volume when you start.
5. Crafting the Message — Research, Value, and Buying Signals
Sending outreach without research is the biggest mistake. Before you message someone, research them thoroughly to identify “buying signals.” Buying signals answer: Do they have a real need for my offer?
- Examples of signals: outdated or missing funnels, inconsistent email marketing, an announced launch without automation, a visible content gap, or a public pain point.
- Do you have proof you can solve it? If yes, you can reach out; if not, don’t waste your or their time.
Research allows you to establish common ground in the opener. A good opener shows you understand them: it’s not flattery — it’s context that proves you paid attention.
Lead with value, not freebies
“Free” can be ineffective if it doesn’t prove your ability to produce results. Business owners aren’t looking for low-cost freebies — they want solutions that increase revenue or save them time. If you offer something free, make it strategic: a short audit or a one-off insight that proves you can deliver measurable value.
6. Message Structure & Call to Action
A simple structure that works:
- Subject line that creates curiosity
- One-sentence opener that establishes research-based common ground
- A concise statement of the problem you can solve
- A small proof point or specific result (one-liner)
- Close with a low-friction CTA — preferably a question
Example of a closing: “Would you be open to a 10-minute audit to see how an email funnel could increase sales on your next launch?” The goal of that CTA is to get a reply — once they respond, you’re halfway to closing the deal.
7. Social DMs & Profile Optimization
If you reach out via LinkedIn, Instagram, or X, remember most people will check your profile before replying. Your profile should quickly communicate who you are and what you do:
- Profile photo with a clear face
- Banner or headline that states your offer
- A few posts or activity that supports your expertise
Without this, recipients may assume you’re a bot or a scam. You don’t need to be a content creator, but you do need credibility and clarity on your profile.
8. Building in Public — Inbound Leads, But It’s a Marathon
Building in public (sharing your journey, lessons, wins, and case studies) attracts inbound clients without cold outreach. Platforms: LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram.
Important caveat: building in public is a long game. It can take months to a year to generate consistent inbound leads. Combine it with outreach to diversify your client sources and accelerate results.
9. Combine Strategies — Don’t Abandon Marketplaces Immediately
You don’t need to abandon Upwork or Fiverr entirely. Keep them as part of a multi-channel approach:
- Maintain a presence on marketplaces for volume and early cash flow
- Use targeted outreach weekly (or a few times per week) to attract higher-paying, direct clients
- Build in public consistently to attract inbound leads over time
Most of my highest-paying clients came through direct outreach. That’s why this method deserves serious attention, alongside marketplace activity.
10. Quick Practical Checklist
- Decide on one clear offer and one ICP.
- Create a list of 50–200 potential clients to start.
- Research each prospect to find buying signals.
- Personalize subject lines and openers based on research.
- Lead with value and include a low-friction CTA (a simple question).
- Ensure your profile supports your outreach messages.
- Mix outreach, marketplaces, and building-in-public for long-term results.
Resources & Next Steps
I created free resources to help you implement this strategy, including a freelance pivot sheet and a step-by-step guide to finding your offer and clients. There’s also a waitlist for a course that will include templates, subject-line frameworks, research techniques, and full outreach sequences.
If you want to accelerate your transition from marketplaces to direct, high-paying clients, start with these actions today:
- Select your one offer and ICP.
- Build a small manual outreach list and research each prospect.
- Send 1–3 highly personalized messages per week and track responses.
Conclusion
Moving away from Upwork and Fiverr doesn’t mean working less — it means working smarter. Focus on a single offer, target the right people, do deep research to find buying signals, craft messages that lead with value, and optimize your profiles. Combine manual outreach with marketplace gigs and public content for a diversified, reliable client pipeline.
“The goal of outreach is not to get the job immediately — it’s to get a reply.”
If you want the full playbook (templates, subject-line formulas, research methods, and outreach sequences), consider joining the waitlist for the course I’m building. Start small, be consistent, and the results will compound.