Turning Past Clients Into Freelance Gold: The Alkemi of CRM
💡 If you're a freelancer, your business probably depends on strong relationships.
That’s where a CRM system helps. It keeps track of all your contacts, so you never lose touch with a client’s.
What Is a CRM?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It’s a tool that helps you keep track of new and old client relationships.
Using a CRM for us Freelancers is important—because the value grows over time.
If you’re just starting out, it’s a smart habit to build early. And if you’ve been working for a while, you can still go back and organize things.
Why Every Freelancer Should Use a CRM
Let’s say you just did a project with someone.
Once the job is done, it’s easy to forget the details. But keeping a great client that trust you is so much easier than finding a new one. That’s why you want to stay connected even after the work ends.
At the very least, you should add people on LinkedIn or Instagram. But soon, you’ll forget what the job was, what you talked about, or even their name.
Instead, use your CRM. Open it up and write down a few key things:
Your client’s name
Their job title
What the project was about
What you made or did together
Doing this helps you remember the job later. And it makes it much easier to check in again.
For example, 3 months, 6 months, or a year later, you can send a message like:
"Hi [Amanda], it’s almost been a year since we worked on [Project ABC]. How’s everything going? Are you planning anything similar this year?"
That kind of message helps you to easly stay personal and in contact.
Your CRM Becomes Gold Over Time
If you do this regularly, after a few years, you might have 100 or 200 people in your CRM. With people who know you and trust you already!
Now let’s say you don’t have any jobs coming in. You can go to your CRM and start reaching out.
Think about it: What are the chances that none of those 200 people need help with something? If only a few do, you’ve got work!
Picture shaking 200 trees—some of them will have fruit.
A CRM Is Also Great for Cold Leads
Sometimes you meet someone new, or they tell you, “Get back to me in 6 months.”
Where do you write that down? In your CRM.
It’s Not Just for Clients
You can (and should) also add:
Referrers – someone who once recommended you
Collaborators – gaffers, stylists, producers, editors
Agencies or producers – even if it didn’t lead to work (yet)
This helps you filter your network and work smarter, not harder.
It’s Not Fancy — It’s Just Smart
It might look (and feel) boring. But it works.
And more than that — it helps me see every conversation as the beginning of something meaningful.
—
If you found these insights helpful, don’t miss my best tips on running a freelance business at onemancrew.
I also share advice on success in film and photography through my LinkedIn newsletter