It’s the damnedest thing, a lot of time when freelancers are searching for clients, they’ll look left, right, and center. But they don’t look back.

Looking for prospective clients, introducing yourself, and selling them on your offer is a lot of work. It can also be a lengthy process.

Getting work from past clients can be a lot easier and quicker, especially when you need money coming in fast.

Now, the first push back you may have is you can’t think of any past clients to contact.

My reply to that is, unless you’re fairly new to the game, there are probably at least some clients that you’ve forgotten.

I was reminded of this recently when I did a keyword search in my email looking for an old document. Not only did I find clients I’d forgotten, but I’d also forgotten some of the work I’d done.

Over time, it’s easy to forget, especially if you do a lot of one-off or short-term work. That’s why I strongly suggest, going forward, that you keep a log of your clients somewhere other than your head. It could be as simple as a running list in a Word doc with your clients’ names and contact details.

And I use the term “past client” loosely because there may be people you’ve worked with who have moved on to new positions in new places. If they can use your service where they are now, you should reach out.

You may also push back because you think, if past clients wanted to work with you again, they would reach out. But just like you forget about them, they can, and do, forget about you.

Furthermore, if it’s been a while since you worked with someone, even if you come to mind, that person may be hesitant to reach out because they don’t know if you’re still doing the same work.

Whatever their reason for not reaching out, what’s important is you and what you do.

Even if your past clients don’t have anything for you right now, letting them know you’re still in the game, could get you bring you work later.

Or they may know someone who could use your service. There’s a lot of data out there that suggests client referrals are one the top ways to bring in new clients.

Don’t Stop Here! Listen To: 7 Way to Build Out Your Freelance Business