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Author

Jim Hamilton
February 07, 2025

In partnership with

Happy Friday! Welcome to February. This is the Freelance Gig, where we share news, tools, tips, and tricks to help grow your freelance business. 

Mentioned in today’s email: DeepSeek, Cloudflare, Open AI, Theads, Google and Chinese tariffs. Plus one sneaky but legal way to find clients, and 15 passive income apps to make money on autopilot.

Read time: 2 minutes and 58 seconds.

Together with KwaKwa

KwaKwa: Your Content's Value Unlocked in One Click
Maybe Two


KwaKwa is the ultimate course creation tool designed for creators who thrive on social media. Unlike traditional education platforms, KwaKwa understands that social media creators aren’t lecturers—they're dynamic, creative, and community-focused. As a social media content creator, who wants to build a course, you deserve a space where your unique skills, talents, and advantages shine. Built by creators, for creators, KwaKwa is the go-to hub for crafting high-quality, premium content experiences that engage and inspire.

Working With Clients

Try This Sneaky But Legal Way to Find Clients

People need to know who you are and what you can do before they’ll hire you.

And most freelancers try to bridge this gap on an “as needed” basis by


  • Applying to jobs on freelancing platforms

  • Sending out cold emails and DMs

  • Running ads

  • Etc

But there’s another way to skin the cat:

Joining a paid mastermind group.

Now, you don’t want to join just any mastermind


Instead, look for one that has a lot of business owners in the group.

Because many of these folks could be potential clients.

And by joining the group and networking with them, you get the chance to do two things:

1 - Demonstrate your skills 
2 - Show you care about investing in yourself

Aim to add value wherever you can (without expecting anything in return) and you’ll be hard pressed not to generate a few referrals.

Making the Rounds

POLL: Have you ever joined a mastermind group?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Working For Yourself

15 Passive Income Apps to Make Money on Autopilot

Remote work is great.

But in many cases, you’re still trading time for money.

And you can only crank your hourly rate so high.

That’s why it pays to explore other ways to make money online that don’t involve a direct time-for-money exchange.

Now, most of these options offer modest payouts.

But if you’re looking for passive ways to earn some extra money


Check out this updated list from our friends at Millo:

AI Prompts For Freelancers

Prompt of the Week: The Graceful Follow-Up

This AI prompt is designed to help you gracefully follow up with prospects and clients who’ve gone quiet or ghosted you.

Here is the prompt:

I often receive polite rejections or ghosting from prospective clients. Propose 5 follow-up messages or micro-content ideas that gracefully revisit ‘lost’ leads and keep the door open for future opportunities.

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Tool of the Week

Screencast Like a Pro With Tella

We’re big fans of asynchronous communication here at Gig HQ.

And screencast videos are a key part of that.

Now, up until recently, our weapon of choice for this has been a tool called Snagit.

But now we’re in love with a new tool called Tella.

It’s like SnagIt or Loom on steroids:

  • You can choose from a wide variety of layouts and backgrounds to make your video look more polished & professional

  • The video & audio recording quality is unbeatable (so everything looks and sounds as crisp as possible)

  • Plus you can easily stitch together multiple clips into a single video (so no more worrying about nailing the entire thing in one take)

All in all, Tella gets a rave review from us.

Yet you don’t have to take our word for it.

Tap the link below to see for yourself:

Bonus Points

đŸ’Œ Careers: How to be left alone at work, without being left behind (link)

✍ Writing: Books written by humans are getting their own certification (link)

🎧 Work Beats: Cars and Coffee... - Two + you (link)