Found a weird way to get clients that actually worked

Honestly, I was stuck for months. My usual job boards were dry and my website felt like a ghost town. I was down to my last $800 in savings and getting desperate. Tbh, I started just looking at local business websites in my city, Austin, and finding the ones with really bad design or broken contact forms. Instead of sending a cold email, I'd fix one small thing on their site for free, like a typo or a broken link, and send them a screen recording showing what I did and how to fix it. I did this for maybe 15 businesses over two weeks. Ngl, three of them hired me for bigger projects right away. One guy said, 'You actually showed me the problem instead of just telling me I had one.' Has anyone else tried a 'free sample' fix like this to get a foot in the door?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily701mo ago

Wow that's actually smart. Shows you know your stuff without being pushy. Might try this myself.

ray_miller841mo ago

Thats a clever approach for sure but there is one thing that might trip people up if they try copying you exactly. Sending a screen recording out of the blue could come off as a bit invasive or tech-supporty if you dont explain yourself first. Instead of jumping straight to the recording, maybe send a quick email saying you noticed something small on their site and ask if they want a quick visual walkthrough. That way theyre expecting it and it feels more like a friendly tip than a stranger digging around their website. Also make sure the free fix is something truly harmless like a broken link or a spelling error. Messing with anything that affects how their site runs without permission could get you in hot water legally.

bell.felix1mo ago

Wait, doesnt sending an email first kinda defeat the whole purpose of making it feel organic? If you reach out ahead of time and say "hey I noticed this thing," now you're in their inbox like every other sales pitch. The whole point of just dropping the recording is that it shows you already did the work instead of asking permission to do it. Plus, a lot of small business owners will just ignore that email or put it off, but a short video with a clear fix right in front of them is harder to brush off. I get the concern about looking like tech support, but if the recording is short and focused on one tiny thing, it comes across as helpful more than creepy. And honestly, messing with their actual site code without asking is a bad idea, but sending a video of what their site looks like on your end is not illegal in any way. You're not touching their server, you're just showing them a screenshot with audio.