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FREE FINANCIAL AND CLIENT RELATIONSHIP RESOURCES FOR FREELANCERS
Grow your freelance business with
these free resources
Looking to showcase your expertise as a freelancer? Or expand your client base and develop your existing freelance venture? While attracting clients is essential, managing every detail, payment, and client interaction can be challenging—especially when you’re working solo.
These 12 free resources for freelancers provide you with the tools to tackle the toughest aspects of running a freelance business. Whether you’re seeking to secure and onboard more clients, streamline your payment system, or address inquiries about pricing—these resources have you covered. This complimentary resource pack includes templates for client calls, a client payment tracker, a guide for optimizing your freelance website, and a cheat sheet for navigating 33 different client objections.
What you get:
- 3 sets of checklists comprising a total of 105 bullet points, ensuring no crucial aspect of client relationships is overlooked.
- Guidance on addressing 33 typical client objections
- 8 templates for follow-up emails to clients
- Templates for invoicing, proposals, and tracking payments
- Four agenda templates designed to enhance productivity during client meetings.
- A comprehensive guide covering essential elements for freelancer websites.
Pairs well with:
Efficiently handle your upcoming freelance projects using these automation strategies.
Retain your audience by implementing Customer Experience Automation.
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Partner resources
Thinkific Rapid Training
Enroll in this Thinkific online course to gain the skills needed to confidently develop, market, and deliver exceptional online courses to your audience, enhancing your existing business. Receive expert guidance in crafting a learning experience that reflects your expertise and leaves a lasting impact!
Creating a Product Recommendation Quiz
Crafting personalized product recommendations can boost sales by fourfold compared to generic product lists. This guide will walk you through creating a product recommendation quiz, enabling you to offer tailored suggestions to each website visitor.
Guide to Self-Marketing for Freelancers: 12 Free Tools and Templates
The original concept of a freelancer referred to a knight who was “free” to use their “lances” for anyone who hired them. Nowadays, the definition has evolved, but the essence remains – as a freelancer, you have autonomy over the work you undertake. You set your own terms and manage your schedule.
However, managing all aspects of freelancing can be challenging. You not only have to do the work but also secure new clients and stay organized to run a successful freelance business. So, how do freelancers stay organized?
Freelancers must:
Acquire new clients
Manage client relationships
Plan and execute freelance projects
Handle finances
Maintain consistent communication with clients
Follow up with past clients
To address these challenges, Sales Titan has assembled 12 freelancer templates (completely free) to equip you with the necessary tools to handle the most crucial (and demanding) aspects of your business.
According to Upwork and the Freelancer’s Union’s annual comprehensive report on the U.S. independent workforce:
Freelancing is increasingly viewed as a long-term career choice, with as many freelancers considering it a permanent career path as a temporary income source. Additionally, the proportion of full-time freelancers has risen from 17% in 2014 to 28% in 2019.
Skilled services are the most common type of freelance work, with 45% of freelancers offering skills such as business consulting, marketing, programming, and IT.
Freelancing offers opportunities for individuals who may not be able to pursue traditional employment due to personal circumstances, with 46% of freelancers citing flexibility as a key benefit.
Freelancing can be a lasting career, and staying organized is crucial for success.
The freelancer resource package will:
- Guide you on asking the right questions to gather essential client information
- Offer tips on proactive planning to anticipate potential challenges
- Provide a professional project proposal template to attract new clients
- Prevent scope creep and miscommunication, fostering long-term client relationships, referrals, and a robust portfolio
- Save you valuable time by streamlining project management
- Ensure you never overlook vital steps in client relationships
- Conduct well-organized and efficient client meetings
- Offer plug-and-play templates to streamline every aspect of your freelance business
- Teach you effective communication strategies with new, current, and past clients
- Assist in developing your email marketing strategy
- Establish credibility and a polished online presence to attract new clients and enhance brand visibility
Here are the 12 templates available for you today.
Guide: Crafting the 4 Essential Pages for Your Freelancer Website
As a freelancer, the onus of securing clients and projects rests largely on your shoulders. And in today’s digital age, one of the first steps a potential client takes to learn about your business is searching online.
While platforms like LinkedIn and social media accounts play a role, your freelancer website stands as your primary online asset.
Your website serves as the central hub where prospective clients can discover:
- Who you are
- Your track record with past clients
- How you can address their needs
- The easiest way to connect with you
As a freelancer, you are your business. Crafting an outstanding freelancer website is key to effectively marketing yourself and enticing clients to explore further.
In this guide, you’ll receive step-by-step instructions on creating the four most critical pages for a freelancer website:
- The HomepageThe “About Me” Page
- The Portfolio and Work Experience Page
- The “Contact Me” Page
Proposal Outline and Template
You’re confident in your freelance abilities and know you can deliver top-notch work for your clients. However, to convert potential clients into official ones, you must demonstrate your capability to meet their needs, precisely when they need it.
Enter the proposal.
A proposal serves as your introduction, outlining your skills and ideas for project execution in a polished and structured format. Key components of a proposal typically include:
- Cover page featuring your contact details and client information
- Introduction highlighting why working with you is beneficial
- Overview of proposed work
- Deliverables
- Project timelines
- Financial summary
- Next steps
Receive a comprehensive proposal outline guiding you through crafting each section of your proposal. Plus, gain access to a customizable proposal template for seamless integration into your client pitches.
Cheat sheet: objection handling
Encountering objections from clients regarding budget constraints or project timelines is a common challenge in the sales process. As a freelancer juggling multiple roles, it’s crucial to navigate these obstacles adeptly to maintain momentum in your business.
Wearing numerous hats—from marketing to accounting, operations management to sales—adds complexity to the balancing act, particularly if you lack formal sales training or experience.
Enter the Client Objection Handling Cheat Sheet. This invaluable resource equips you with strategies to address objections effectively during sales calls. Covering 33 different objections you may encounter, this cheat sheet provides actionable techniques to turn objections into opportunities.
Whether the objection revolves around pricing, timing, or competition, this cheat sheet empowers you to leverage objections to your advantage, ultimately enhancing your client interactions and boosting your business success.
Checklist: Client onboarding
Upon securing a new client, the initial response is to celebrate! Following the celebration, it’s time for onboarding.
During prior discussions with your new client, you’ve likely covered topics such as your skills, the nature of their projects, and agreed-upon service rates. You’ve outlined a general plan for your collaboration. Now, it’s time to set this plan into action.
However, client onboarding involves numerous steps, especially when managing multiple clients simultaneously.
Crucially, onboarding serves as an opportunity to showcase your capabilities to new clients. It’s your prime chance to upsell and cultivate long-term relationships.
To streamline the process and ensure no crucial steps are overlooked, a checklist proves invaluable. Bid farewell to the anxiety of forgetting essential tasks and stay organized throughout each phase of client onboarding.
This client onboarding checklist encompasses vital steps to guide you through every aspect of nurturing a productive client relationship.
Checklist: how to run a great client call
Your freelance expertise is in demand! With potential clients expressing interest and calls lined up, how do you ensure each client call is maximally productive? What steps can you take to transform every call into a successful and fruitful meeting?
Here are a few essential tasks to consider:
- Researching your client’s business
- Preparing to take detailed notes
- Establishing a clear agenda
- Setting reminders to ensure punctuality for the call
However, optimizing the productivity of client calls requires thorough preparation beyond these basic steps. With numerous elements to juggle, it can be challenging to keep everything organized.
Fortunately, we’ve curated a comprehensive checklist comprising 76 items to guarantee your client calls run smoothly, addressing every aspect from pre-call planning to post-call follow-up.
Agenda template for calls
Ever found yourself in a meeting that could have been an email? It’s a common experience!
As a freelancer, you’re responsible for organizing and leading meetings with your clients. Without proper preparation, you risk encountering awkward pauses and unproductive discussions filled with “Um” sounds.
The remedy for such situations is simple: an agenda.
Crafting a meeting agenda ensures everyone is on the same page and establishes clear expectations beforehand. This minimizes confusion and prevents common questions like:
- “What’s the purpose of this meeting?”
- “Are we addressing that topic today?”
- “Wait, what’s the agenda again?”
- “Am I missing something important?”
With an agenda in place, every meeting becomes productive and worthwhile.
These customizable agenda templates are at your disposal, ensuring nobody leaves your meetings feeling their time was wasted or that the discussion could have been handled via email.
Financials: Client payment tracker spreadsheet
and invoice templates
As a freelancer, the range of services you provide may vary, resulting in varied pricing for your work. Managing multiple client projects means keeping track of numerous financial figures.
To ensure you receive payment for your efforts promptly and efficiently, you need a streamlined method for tracking client payments.
Freelancers have the flexibility to determine their preferred payment method—whether hourly or by project type. This financial toolkit equips you with invoice templates suitable for either approach.
Additionally, you’ll receive a client payment tracker spreadsheet, allowing you to monitor each client’s payment progress, track outstanding balances, and maintain contact records for seamless operations. Think of it as your personal CRM tailored for freelancers!
‘Thank you’ note script
Your client relationship doesn’t end when the contract is signed; it’s just the beginning.
When onboarding a new client, nurturing the relationship and maintaining open communication is paramount. Step one? Sending a heartfelt thank-you note.
A follow-up note to your new client sets the tone for your business relationship. Included are two thank-you note scripts:
- One tailored for new clients
- Another crafted for existing clients
Expressing gratitude through thank-you notes not only shows appreciation but also fosters a positive atmosphere for collaboration.
Email Template: following up with past
customers and prospects for more work
Your previous clients represent a valuable opportunity for new business. With an established rapport and the groundwork already laid, what’s left is to explore potential new avenues.
Checking in with past clients to identify fresh opportunities for your services is key!
Included are three customizable email templates tailored for this purpose. These follow-up emails serve to reignite the dialogue and explore potential collaborations once again.
Email Template: post-call follow-up
Following a first call, second call, or even a closing call, sending a follow-up email is essential to summarize the discussion and outline the next steps.
Post-call follow-up emails serve to document the entire interaction and serve as a reference point for clients or potential clients.
Included are three follow-up email templates for various client call scenarios:
- Discovery call follow-up
- General client call follow-up
- Project proposal or closing call follow-up
No matter the circumstance, these templates provide a structured framework, ensuring clarity and alignment moving forward.
Checklist: ways to make sure you’re following up regularly
“Hello (Client Name),
I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to touch base and see how things are going on your end. Additionally, I wanted to inquire if there are any services I can provide to assist you further. Your satisfaction is my priority, and I’m eager to support your needs in any way possible.
Best regards,
[Your Name]”Unfortunately, many follow-up messages resemble the example above. They lack personalization and fail to offer value, resulting in ignored emails and unreturned calls. It’s essential to have a compelling reason for reaching out to potential, current, or past clients. Repetitive messages yield little results, so it’s crucial to diversify your approach.
This checklist aims to help you identify fresh reasons for follow-ups—16 innovative ideas in total. Moreover, diversifying your outreach methods is key. While emails and voicemails are effective, today’s digital landscape offers numerous alternative communication channels. Take advantage of this diversity!
In addition to the follow-up reasons, this checklist includes a list of 21 different communication methods. From traditional mail to Twitter DMs, explore various avenues to reconnect with your clients effectively.
Thinkific and Sales Titan present: A 21-day blueprint for launching online courses
Your freelance business has endless potential. Have you considered the full scope of opportunities it offers?
You can utilize your skills to fulfill client projects and also develop online courses to share your expertise with a targeted audience. However, if the concept of creating your own online course is new to you, you might be uncertain about where to begin.
The crucial first step in creating an online course is thorough planning—down to the smallest details.
Thinkific, a leading online course platform, not only provides the tools to launch your online course but also offers a comprehensive 21-Day Launch Plan workbook to guide you through every aspect of course planning.
This Launch Plan workbook assists you in designing an email launch sequence to effectively promote your online course. Additionally, Thinkific seamlessly integrates with ActiveCampaign, streamlining your email marketing efforts and ensuring organizational efficiency. With this integration, you can effortlessly create and update user activity based on events within Thinkific.
The 21-Day Launch Plan workbook covers it all: You’ll discover the 5 essential steps to plan your online course, ensuring that when you create your course, all the groundwork is already in place.
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