Being Freelance Cold Outreach: What Actually Works for Freelancers
Cold outreach can often get a freelance business started.
But in this episode I propose even those of us years down the line don't give it the cold shoulder.
When you need to bring in clients, maybe a period of cold outreach, or even a consistent long term pattern of it, could be exactly what warms our business back up again.
Cold emails. Cold calls. Reaching out to people who didn’t ask to hear from you. It can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and very easy to put off.
But again and again on the Being Freelance podcast, freelancers have shared how proactive outreach - in many different forms - played a huge role in getting their business started, or getting it moving again when things felt quiet.
This episode is a little different from the usual Being Freelance format. Rather than a single guest interview, it’s a reflection on conversations with freelancers who’ve taken a deliberate approach to outreach.
You’ll hear how copywriter Adri Kopp refined her cold email process, worked out who she should actually be reaching out to, and set herself daily outreach targets - discovering that volume and timing mattered just as much as personalisation.
You’ll hear how fintech copywriter André Spiteri approached cold outreach as a simple, repeatable habit, deliberately avoiding emotional attachment to individual emails so he could keep momentum going.
Designer and illustrator Iancu Barbarasa shares how sending hundreds of emails wasn’t about asking for work, but about starting conversations - conversations that later led to some of the biggest projects of his career.
The episode also explores outreach beyond email. Sustainability copywriter Raymond Manzor talks about cold calling, sending physical letters with samples, and following up by phone. Standing out simply because hardly anyone else was doing it. Whilst visual storyteller Ashwin Chacko shares how self-publishing a book and proactively sharing it opened doors to workshops, conversations, and paid work.
Alongside the tactics, there’s plenty of honesty about rejection. Most people won’t reply. Some will say no. A few might tell you to get lost. And that’s all part of the process. The freelancers featured here talk candidly about learning not to take it personally, separating their identity from their work, and trusting that being in the right place at the right time often comes from showing up consistently.
What comes through most clearly is this:
Cold outreach doesn’t have to be spammy, pushy, or salesy.
And while outreach often becomes more selective as a business grows, it never completely goes away.
So even if your work mostly comes through referrals, word of mouth, or SEO, this episode is a gentle nudge to ask:
Is there still a place for cold outreach in your freelance business?
Featuring insights from these brilliant freelance guests, whose full episodes you should absolutely check out:
Fintech Copywriter André Spiteri
Designer & Illustrator Iancu Barbarasa
Sustainability Copywriter Raymond Manzor
Visual Storyteller Ashwin Chacko
Conservation Illustrator Stefán Yngvi Pétursson
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Being Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.