Landing my first client by being proactive

During my job search, I kept seeing advice for juniors: “Show your value. Reach out. Offer solutions.”

I've seen many posts and articles, especially Florian Boelter's article on finding hidden opportunities and the idea of spotting real problems and proactively offering help.

I hadn’t acted on that advice… until I did, without realizing it.

One day on Instagram, I saw a creator I've been following promoting his language courses. His content? Hilarious. His videos? Super polished. But the sign-up flow? Clunky. A third-party PDF with rough mobile usability.

That’s when it clicked. I saw an opportunity—and I took a chance.

I put together a proposal: a no-code website to centralize his courses and streamline the registration flow. I emailed him, not expecting much—just hoping he might read it.

To my surprise, he replied. We booked a discovery call where I uncovered other issues in his customer acquisition flow and also other business ideas that he wanted in a website. And just like that, I had my first freelance client.

It wasn’t a full-time role, but it was my first chance to design something real—for real users, with real business goals, and real impact (while finally getting paid 🥹). I learned how to manage a client, balance constraints, and deliver value end-to-end.

The case study’s coming soon, but for now, I just want to say:
One thoughtful message can go further than 100 applications.

Original post on Linkedin.