As I’ve mentioned before, finding customers or clients is an important part of freelancing. It’s also time consuming and intimidating. In the last article, we talked about client red flags, but now let’s talk about ways to keep a client or customer coming back for more. The customer retention strategies that we’ll discuss in this article were picked to accomplish two goals: 1)I want to help you develop customer service skills that are applicable for online businesses and 2) I want to pick skills that don’t require a lot of masking.

Autistic people are at a disadvantage when it comes to navigating boundaries. Many of the social biases that we face -- such as workplace ableism -- actually push us to relinquish our boundaries in order to survive. We’re more likely to overlook bad client behavior and/or tolerate it until we’re emotionally unwell. The idea of finding clients while working within this kind of dynamic can be almost more overwhelming than the transitions.

This article is meant to help you learn what red flags to look for in a client so you’re better prepared to assert your boundaries -- even in confusing, ambiguous social situations.

Portfolios can serve as word-of-mouth type promotion for your freelancing business, which is helpful for autistic folks who don’t have networks in place to help them get started. Even the need to build a portfolio can help you find your first clients.

So this article is going to give you portfolio building tips that consider an autistic person’s way of working.

Learning how to get freelance clients is both a core part of freelancing and something autistic people find challenging. There are many reasons why networking is hard for us, and it’s pretty overwhelming to navigate new social situations and transitions in general. So, I’ve gathered a collection of approaches that can help you feel out how to find freelance clients.

There is a bit of setup involved in freelancing. It doesn’t take a super long time -- especially if you’re not left to stumble upon the information alone -- but it’s important for your success. So here are 6 steps to help autistic freelancers get started without the intense overwhelm.