A lot of people will say "word of mouth" without defining it.
The key is to have regular but not annoying conversations with prospects. Don't put them on a mailing list (unless you're somehow uniquely interesting and cool, I guess) but send them personalized emails every so once in a while - these can be "oh I thought you'd find this interesting" (and it has to actually be interesting to them) or just a short hello reminding them that you're always looking for work. And I mean SHORT. "Hey just checking in, really enjoyed working with you, please keep me in mind if you're looking for help!"
I've tried it all, from personal CRMs to complex alerting and the bottom line is that nobody's going to do the extra work to get you involved unless they have a no-pressure, friendly connection with you.
Most of my high-paying and regular clients we just text message, maybe once every six months or so. Casual, friendly, no pressure is the key.
The key is to have regular but not annoying conversations with prospects. Don't put them on a mailing list (unless you're somehow uniquely interesting and cool, I guess) but send them personalized emails every so once in a while - these can be "oh I thought you'd find this interesting" (and it has to actually be interesting to them) or just a short hello reminding them that you're always looking for work. And I mean SHORT. "Hey just checking in, really enjoyed working with you, please keep me in mind if you're looking for help!"
I've tried it all, from personal CRMs to complex alerting and the bottom line is that nobody's going to do the extra work to get you involved unless they have a no-pressure, friendly connection with you.
Most of my high-paying and regular clients we just text message, maybe once every six months or so. Casual, friendly, no pressure is the key.