There are a few ways to get jobs that I see.

Knowing People

The best by far is “knowing people”. Most of my jobs last year came through one of my ex-teachers from college. We became friends, kept in touch and eventually we started working together. When people know you and trust you it’s really straightforward. You just discuss task, pay etc., then you start working.

Introductions

Number two on the list is “introductions”. This is almost as good as “knowing people”. If you’re introduced to a client by someone who knows both of you, trust is again already established.

One thing to note is that you never know who is going to introduce you. I once got a 3d job through a bartender friend for example. 🙂 So be a good, friendly person in general and form friendships with people from the industry and beyond.

The Brute Force Method

I wrote a full article about it so check it out! This is what I recommend to freelance beginners. This is one way you get to “know people”.

Building your profile on the internet

This one is actually quite tough even tho it’s often the main advice you’ll get… “Just post your stuff online and clients will start contacting you.” In my experience it doesn’t work that way.

Nevertheless it’s a tool that everyone should use. It can take some time to gain momentum but it’s worth it. Once you get a lot of eyes on you through your website and social media you should start to get *some* job offers here and there.

One of my jobs came from someone who saw my WIP threads on a forum, so that’s something you might want to do.

Most people think that building your profile on the internet is about showing your work on Artstartion, Twitter and Instagram. In my experience there are things that are much more likely to bring you a job:
-writing articles and tutorials (establishes you as an authority in your field)
-create a wip threads in forums and facebook groups (people can see your work process)
-directly contact and befriend other artists. As long as you don’t spam and behave as a decent human a lot of artist will be happy to talk to you!

After years of working and sharing your work you may get to a point where everyone is fighting to work with you. Until then use whatever tools you have to find good clients build trust with them.

Conclusion

One thing is for sure – when you do get a job, give 200%. If you work in a team do more than anyone else. Stand out. If you do, it is easy to get repeat customers or recommendations.
I am starting a job next month. I got it because on a previous project I did 4x the amount of work that was expected from me. One of the project leaders took notice and introduced me to someone else.

Lastly, lower your expectations and grow a thick skin. Sometimes you may do 10x the work and get nothing out of it. Sometimes people just don’t care about your tweets, forum posts, job applications etc.

The above strategies are good but they take time and effort. You need to keep a positive attitude until you gain traction. Until then hustle, grind it out, persevere 🙂