5 Ways To Stand Out As A Freelancer And Keep Clients (Almost) Forever

Forbes

4 days ago

Stand out as a freelancer by delivering good work—and by how you do the work!
How do you know if you stand out as a freelancer? I can tell you how I know. Just last month, I got a call from one of my very first clients. Back in 2002, after I first opened my freelance writing business, she hired me via Elance, now Upwork, to edit a company brochure. That small project could have been a one-and-done transaction, but it became the start of a relationship that has lasted for more than two decades. As she's said to me more than once, 'That's longer than most people have been married!'
My client has since sold her original consultancy, started and sold two more businesses, climbed into C-suite positions at several different companies, and brought me along for the ride each time. New companies, new roles, same freelancer—me.
Guess what? That's not luck. (And she's not been my only long-time client.) It happened because I know that freelancing isn't just about delivering good work. It's also about becoming the kind of person clients don't want to work without.
On the client side, I also hire freelancers. And I've worked with plenty who treat projects like transactions: Deliver the work, collect the payment, move on to the next gig. But the real money—and the real satisfaction—comes when you delight your clients, doing the things that turn them into repeat buyers, word-of-mouth advocates, and long-term partners.
Based on my 20-plus years of experience, these are my top five ways to stand out as a freelancer and move from gig-getter to go-to freelance professional.
1. Stand out as a freelancer by always closing the loop
Stand out as a freelancer by NOT going on vacation in the middle of a project—without letting your ... More client know!
I once hired a freelancer to transcribe research interviews for a client project. She seemed like a good fit from the start. She was capable, asked good questions about formatting and turnaround times, and delivered solid early work transcribing the first couple of interviews. I was relieved to know that I could move on to the next task on my list.
Then, suddenly, she disappeared without explanation or warning. She just went quiet in that way that makes you wonder if your last email got lost, or if something happened, or if you're being slowly, politely, albeit rudely ghosted—all the while as your client deadline looms closer and you still have half a dozen interviews left to transcribe.
I sent a follow-up message, then another. The days passed, and I grew more worried. We still had some time before I needed the rest of the interviews, but as the silence stretched, I found myself bouncing back and forth between annoyance, anger, and genuine concern. Had something happened to her? Was I about to get stuck trying to hire someone else?
When she finally resurfaced—eight days later!—she apologized for missing my messages. She said she'd gone on vacation. Vacation! She gave me no heads-up. There was no out-of-office message. She just packed her bags and left, apparently without a second thought for the work she'd left hanging or the client who might be wondering what the hell happened.
Stand out as a freelancer by NOT going on vacation in the middle of a project, without warning or ... More informing!
Here's what I learned from that experience: Good work isn't enough if your client spends the entire project wondering whether the job will get done. Or if you've vanished and wasted their precious time. Trust builds up in the spaces between deliverables; it grows thicker with each quick confirmation, proactive update, and simple courtesy of letting someone know you're still there.
That's why I always close the loop, even when it feels unnecessary. When a client sends me a project file, I let them know I received it. When I'm a week into a project with a three-week deadline, I send an update even if nothing has changed. And if something threatens a deadline—illness, tech trouble, life getting complicated, vacation (ahem)—I definitely reach out immediately with a revised plan, not an excuse.
I even follow up in reverse. For example, if a client promises to send me something by the end of the day, and the end of the day comes but I haven't seen it, I'll check in with the client before logging off. Not to nag, but to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. Sure, I sometimes worry I'm being annoying, but I've learned that clients would rather hear from me too much than wonder if I'm still paying attention.
The fact is, clients notice. One of my earliest clients specifically mentioned how much they appreciated how I 'always closed the loop.' It was the first time I'd heard the phrase. I practically glowed. Both the phrase and the practice of closing the loop stuck with me.
Loop closing is a way to signal that you're present, engaged, and taking responsibility for more than just the final deliverable. It's how you become the freelancer clients stop worrying about—and start relying on.
2. Stand out as a freelancer by charging like you understand the job
Housekeeping isn't really freelancing, but it is a solo enterprise, so the same rules apply.
I once hired a house cleaner who quoted me $245 for what I'd described as a thorough, top-to-bottom deep clean of my fairly large home. The number felt wrong right away. It was too low, and I found myself pushing back in a way that probably seemed ungrateful.
'Are you sure that's enough?' I asked. 'It's a lot of square footage, and we really want you to touch every surface.' She reassured me with a confidence that made me second-guess my own instincts. She'd done this before, she said. She could handle it all in a day, for that price, no problem.
Maybe she had done it before, but she didn't do it that day.
First, she arrived late—hours late! She told me she'd forgotten to buy supplies and had to stop at Walmart. Then, as she started cleaning in earnest, working methodically through each room, I watched the clock. As the hours ticked by, the sick feeling in my gut grew stronger. I knew my suspicions about the timeline were right.
By the time dinner rolled around, she was still scrubbing. By 10 p.m., she was starting in the kitchen. By 11:30 p.m., she was still there, although (thankfully) wrapping up. I was exhausted and angry. And she hadn't even finished everything she'd promised to do.
I didn't feel like I'd gotten a bargain. I felt frustrated and, strangely, taken advantage of. I would have gladly paid twice her quote if she'd just been honest about how long the job would take her.
The same thing happens with freelancers who underbid projects, thinking a low price will help win the work. They don't ask enough questions, don't account for revisions, and don't build in buffer time for unexpected complications. I guess they just pick a number they think sounds appealing and hope they can make the math work later—if they even think about the math at all.
Stand out as a freelancer by pricing right. Quoting too low hurts everyone—and your wallet.
But pricing isn't just arithmetic. It's also a matter of communication. Your quote tells a prospect whether you understand the scope, whether you've thought it through, and whether they can trust you to stay calm when something goes sideways. If your price is too low, I worry you're missing something important. If it's too high without explanation, I wonder if you're padding the estimate to cover your own uncertainty.
The sweet spot is the number that makes a client feel like Goldilocks, 'Yes, that feels just right'—not cheap enough to raise red flags, not expensive enough to create anxiety, but grounded enough to suggest you know exactly what you're getting into.
Price like you understand the job, and clients will trust you to do it.
3. Don't be an order taker (unless your client wants one)
Stand out as a freelancer by being an order taker—when your client wants you to. Otherwise, be a ... More consultant.
I hate getting my hair cut, and for years, I blamed myself for not knowing exactly what I wanted. Then I realized the real problem: I keep encountering order-takers instead of consultants.
Here's how it usually goes. I sit in the chair at Great Clips and explain what I'm looking for: something that looks good and takes practically no time to style. I may mention that I don't want my bangs cut straight across. Then I say the magic words: 'I trust your judgment.'
What I'm really saying is, 'You're the expert here. Please use your expertise to give me a haircut that works for my face, hair type, and lifestyle.' Instead, I get interrogated. 'How much do you want taken off? An inch? Half an inch? Do you want layers? What about the back?'
And I'm sitting there thinking, 'Isn't this literally your job?' I came to a professional because I wanted professional judgment, not because I wanted to make every technical decision myself.
But I'm too polite to push back, so I pick some random measurement and cross my fingers. The result? A cut that's technically what I asked for, but rarely what actually makes me look or feel good. The stylist filled my order. She didn't solve my problem.
I've had the same frustration with all sorts of freelancers, too. Years ago, I hired someone to add dropdown menus to my website. The project seemed straightforward enough to me, although at the time I didn't realize that dropdown menus caused rendering problems. The developer I hired didn't tell me, either. He just built what I asked for, no questions asked.
Stand out as a freelancer by informing your clients if anything in your life will cause a delay for ... More their projects.
When I discovered that the new menus didn't work on every browser, my blood boiled. I had to hire a second person to fix the problem. Nope. There were now different issues! Seeing red, I hired a third developer, who told me that dropdown menus were 'a real problem' and maybe I should consider a different approach. Sigh.
Why didn't the other developers tell me that? Why did they just take my order? Why didn't they know? By the time I signed the contract with the third developer, I'd already spent more than $1,000 on a feature that never would have worked.
See, there's a difference between being an order taker and being a consultant, and you need to figure out which one your client actually wants.
Stand out as a freelancer by knowing which way to go: order taker, or consultant
Some clients genuinely do want you to carry out a vision exactly. They've thought it through, they know what they want, and your job is to deliver it efficiently and professionally. That's fine—as long as you're excellent at taking orders.
But other clients come to you precisely because they don't know what they want, or because they suspect their initial idea might not be the best solution, or because they're just struggling with a problem, like my dropdown menus. These clients come to you hoping that you'll bring expertise, not just execution. They want you to do the deep thinking, ask the hard questions, flag potential problems, and guide them toward the best results.
The trick is learning to read the signals. If someone gives you detailed specs and seems confident about their approach, follow their lead. But if they're vague about the details, or if you spot a potential issue with their plan, speak up. Most clients would rather hear 'I think there might be a better way to do this' or 'I think I see a problem here' than discover later that you noticed and didn't say anything.
Your job isn't (always) to do what they ask. It's to help them get what they need.
4. Stand out as a freelancer by following the $!%& instructions
If a prospect shares an RFP or if a client shares instructions, stand out as a freelancer by READING ... More them!
I once posted a detailed request for proposal that took me the better part of an hour to write. I outlined the project scope, explained the technical requirements, specified the timeline, and even included a content-mapping document and annotated screenshots to make sure there was no confusion about what I needed.
Then I started getting responses. I was annoyed to see that a surprisingly large number of freelancers had somehow managed to bid on my project without actually absorbing the information in it. Did they even read my request?
One response in particular made me want to bang my head against my desk. 'Good morning, I am hoping that you might be able to go a little deeper into your project. If you don't mind, I'll put a couple of questions out there for you that would get us started. Do you have your detailed requirements completed? Can you give examples of the site you would like to emulate?'
I stared at that message for a full minute. This guy was asking me for the exact information I'd already given in my original project description. It wasn't just lazy. It was insulting. With his response, that freelancer essentially told me that he couldn't be bothered to read my request for proposal. There's no way I'd hire him.
My response when a freelancer asks for information I've already provided in the RFP...
The thing about instructions? Clients don't include them for fun. When I ask for proposals with the word 'blueberry' in the subject line, it's not because I'm obsessed with fruit. It's because I'm about to get 75 emails, and I need a way to sort and organize them. When I give you a timeline, budget range, or formatting particulars, it's because those details matter to the success of my project.
Following instructions shows your client that you read carefully, process information accurately, and pay attention to the details that matter. If you can't follow the guidelines in a job posting, why should anyone trust you to follow the requirements in a project brief?
It's tempting to fire off quick, identical responses to multiple job posts, especially when you're trying to build momentum or fill your pipeline. But taking an extra five minutes to actually read and respond thoughtfully will put you ahead of half the people who are just spraying generic proposals and praying something sticks.
Instructions exist for a reason. Follow them, and you'll signal that you're someone who takes direction seriously and pays attention to what matters to clients.
5. Trust your gut and set boundaries
Stand out as a freelancer by learning to 1) develop and 2) trust your instincts. (It's not always ... More natural!)
I once took on a client who seemed reasonable enough during our initial conversations. But then something shifted the moment we started working together. He began questioning every single recommendation I made, turning each suggestion into a debate.
I suggested adding a PDF download to make it easier for readers to save and share the content. He said no, people no longer want PDFs. I recommended breaking up a massive wall of text with subheadings to improve readability. He preferred it as one solid block. I proposed restructuring his homepage to highlight the strongest value prop first. He wanted to keep his long, winding introduction that buried the important information three paragraphs down.
He met (what felt like) every suggestion with pushback and explanations about why I was wrong and why his approach was better. It was like being hired as a consultant and then having to justify every piece of advice to someone who had already made up his mind about everything.
The breaking point came during a 15-minute phone call, during which he managed to dismiss or contradict nearly every point I raised. I was so frustrated! I'd start to explain the reasoning behind a recommendation, and he'd cut me off with reasons why it wouldn't work for his audience, his industry, his particular situation. By the end of the call, I felt like I'd been arguing with someone who had hired me specifically so he could have someone to disagree with!
Stand out as a freelancer by owning your expertise.
I hung up and immediately sent him a full refund along with a polite note explaining that we weren't a good fit. I kept it professional, but the message was clear: If you don't trust my judgment enough to consider my recommendations, you don't need my services.
Experiences like that one taught me that some clients hire experts not because they want expertise, but because they want validation for decisions they've already made. They're not looking for fresh perspectives or strategic guidance. They're just looking for a patsy—someone with the credentials they need to rubber-stamp existing plans.
That's not the kind of work I do best. I'm not a yes-woman. I'm not here to nod along with everything you say. If you want someone to simply execute your vision without question, hire an order-taker, not a consultant.
Now I watch for early warning signs, like clients who push back on every suggestion during our initial conversations, clients who seem more interested in explaining why things won't work than exploring how they might, and clients who treat every recommendation like a personal challenge rather than professional advice.
Your expertise is worth something. Don't let difficult clients convince you otherwise.
Stand out as a freelancer by doing the real business of freelancing
Success as a freelancer depends on more than doing the work; it depends on HOW you do the work!
Look, I'm here to tell you that you don't need to be the cheapest, the fastest, or the most talented freelancer in your field. But you do need to be the one clients remember when they need work done—and the one they recommend when someone asks for a referral.
Those things happen when you make clients' lives easier, not harder. They happen when you solve problems clients didn't even know they had, when you show up consistently, communicate clearly, and treat their success as your own.
Good work gets you paid. Great relationships get you rehired again and again. The freelancers who understand this distinction become the CEOs of successful freelance businesses. I want you to be one of those freelancers. Be the freelancer your clients can't imagine working without. Then you'll truly stand out as a freelancer and keep clients for (almost) forever.