I was about to say that word of mouth is more important as a freelancer to find clients. But word of mouth works much better if you ask people to recommend you. So the struggle is real!

I try to apply the following rule IRL: if you ask, you’re more likely to get.

The idea is that if self-promotion / negotiation is hard for you, then just do the first step which is asking for referrals/discount/whatever. And that’s all you do. You don’t try different techniques, you don’t push for more, you don’t spam people with your links like I do (https://2madness.com/an-open-letter-to-my-impostor-syndrome-b97aa7e70fe0)

Just this first step. In some % of cases you will get a yes which is a tremendous improvement compared to the state where you were not asking for anything. And it’s not so much effort to do only this first step.

See what I mean?

Just my 2 cents. Best of luck, Sieran!

(and thanks for all the comments and support)