Start a freelance business, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
Well, ‘they’ aren’t necessarily wrong, but you probably didn’t anticipate the influx of rejected applications, declined proposals, or ignored DMs scattered across your bingo card when you signed up to be a successful freelancer. Whatever the case may be, handling rejection can be discouraging, especially when you're pouring so much effort into landing work.
If workdays on a foreign beach or having your student loans paid off feels more like a pipe dream right now, you’re not alone and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed as an entrepreneur.
In this article, we’ll explore why rejection is so common in freelancing, how to build a resilient mindset, and seven easy rejection recovery tips to help you build confidence, develop thicker skin, and stay motivated, even when you want to give up.
Rejection is a common part of freelancing
Here’s some tough love for you: if you’re actively building and marketing a business, you’re going to be rejected…a lot. This isn’t meant to discourage you, though—quite the opposite, actually.
Getting rejected is just the nature of working in a competitive, fast-paced, and incredibly unpredictable industry in today’s market, with billions—yes, billions of freelancers worldwide (as of February 2025) now competing for the same opportunities.
For example, getting a rejection in freelance writing might look like an editor not jiving with your pitch or a long-term client who suddenly decided they need to prioritise their in-house team over you. This could (and does) happen whether you’re a beginner, veteran, or anyone in between.
It doesn’t mean you’re not talented nor does it mean you’re not cut out to be a business owner. On the contrary, you’ll often find that being rejected from an opportunity is either redirecting you to an even better one or protecting you from a working relationship that isn’t a good fit. In other words, you’re on the right track!
Even if you do run into a client who isn’t a big fan of your work, that’s frankly none of your business. What is your business is keeping your focus on tasks that move the needle forward, like building relationships, improving your craft, and finding clients who value your work. This leads to the next point.
How to improve your mindset as a freelancer despite rejection
As you may know by now, being a freelancer requires a lot of emotional resilience and dealing with constant rejection comes with the territory.
Let’s explore three ways you can strengthen your mindset and recover from rejection quickly without letting it derail your confidence or motivation.
1. Change your inner dialogue with self-affirmations
How you speak to yourself matters, which is especially true after getting rejected as a freelancer. If you let it spiral into self-doubt, it can affect your ability to pitch, connect with clients, and all the other fun stuff you kind of have to do to grow your business.
Enter: self-affirmations. Positive self-affirmations are uplifting phrases you say to yourself that influence your thoughts, beliefs and behaviors, which are usually replaced by negative self-beliefs.
The goal is to make it a practice to repeat these affirmations (ie. ideally, daily or hourly) so that they become ingrained in your subconscious mind, making you more likely to act accordingly to your new thought patterns. The latter is especially important since you always want to be in a state of taking consistent action in your business, no matter how hard things get.
Try this: Set hourly reminders, or notifications, on your phone with positive affirmations that directly counteract a negative belief you have about yourself, your skills, or your ability to make your freelance business work. Anywhere between one and five affirmations would be the sweet spot but it’s entirely your preference. The great thing about this method is that it’s easy to implement as a daily practice since we typically access our phones multiple times a day anyway.
Here are some sample affirmations to get you started:
"I am building a career on my terms, and success is inevitable."
"Every rejection is a stepping stone to better collaborations and bigger projects."
"Every ‘no’ brings me closer to a ‘yes’ that truly aligns with my skills and value."
"I am resilient, adaptable, and capable of overcoming any business challenge."
"The right clients appreciate my creativity, and they are searching for my work."
"Every pitch, every draft, and every revision makes me a better writer."
2. Breathe, be grateful, reset, and refocus
As creatives, we tend to view our work as an extension of ourselves, more often than not. Whether it’s a rejected application, a potential client ghosting you after a promising call or a pitch that never gets a response, it can feel extremely personal.
First of all, it’s okay to hold temporary space for whatever feelings come up, if and when this happens. The key is getting into the habit of release, and structured breathing exercises are an excellent way to let go, calm your nerves and regain focus.
The Box Breathing Technique is great for this because it slows your heart rate, reduces stress or frustration, and helps you gain some much-needed clarity in that moment.
Pause for a few seconds and try it now:
Inhale for four seconds.
Hold your breath for four seconds.
Exhale for four seconds.
Hold again for four seconds.
Then, write down three things you’re grateful for immediately after. It could be anything: a roof over your head, family members who support your career choices, or even that $10 you found at the bottom of your purse today that you’d forgotten was even in there.
Whatever it is, this gratitude practice helps redirect your focus from a seemingly negative event (like rejection) to a positive one. Doing this helps you clear out the mental clutter so you can focus on the next best thing or most important task.
Try this: Practice the above box breathing technique and gratitude exercise the next time you get a rejection email or receive difficult feedback.
If you want to take it a step further, commit to these every night for two weeks and take note of how you feel. If you feel it had a positive impact on your mental health as a freelancer, keep it going for another two!
3. Let your body language speak for itself
Our minds and bodies are more interconnected than we realise, and how we physically respond to stress influences how we feel about ourselves emotionally, and subsequently, what we do (or don’t do) thereafter.
Several studies prove this theory and can negatively impact you, whether a prospect decides to pass on having a business conversation with you or you’re being excluded from a group project.
When it comes to dealing with rejection as a freelancer, some common physical sensations that follow include sluggishness or tension in the shoulders and/or jaw area—in other words, sensations that signal defeat to your brain.
On the other hand, straightening your back or opening your shoulders can give you the energy and confidence to push through and send that last cold pitch for the day when you would’ve given up otherwise. And that one, tiny step forward can change everything.
Try this: The next time you receive a freelance rejection email, pause, roll your shoulders back, and take a deep breath. You might be surprised at how quickly this small shift changes your mindset for the better.
Practical tips and habits for handling rejection as a freelancer
Building a resilient mindset is the foundation of it all, but having small systems in place can help you bounce back and stay motivated. Here are four more practical habits to help you handle freelance rejection effectively.
4. Use constructive feedback to sharpen your skills
Learning to embrace criticism and using it to refine your skills is an underrated way to grow your freelance business and secure more work.
When a client or prospect provides feedback, take it as a sign of their interest in your potential. Even if they aren’t ready to hire you now, their input can help you improve so that your future pitches are stronger and more aligned with what clients want.
Pro Tip: When you thank a client or prospect for their feedback, you show professionalism and emotional maturity. Don’t overlook this! These are two traits that business owners respect and remember. Even if they aren’t ready to work with you now, your gracious response leaves a positive impression that could lead to future freelance work, partnerships, or referrals.
A simple response like, “Thank you for your notes, [name]! It means a lot that you took time out of your busy schedule to look over my work. I’ll keep this in mind going forward,” could go really change the dynamic of your relationship from that point on. Doing this will help you stand out as a thoughtful, selfless, and committed professional they can trust.
5. Set rejection goals to desensitise the process
It might sound counterintuitive, but intentionally chasing after a rejection can help you build resilience and reduce the fear of hearing ‘no’. The more you experience what it’s like to be rejected, the less intimidating it becomes.
When you reframe rejection as a success metric for effort rather than a negative outcome, you shift the focus towards taking consistent action to grow your business.
For example:
Instead of aiming to land five new clients, set a goal to pitch 20 potential ones and embrace the idea that rejections are part of the process.
Track how many pitches, proposals, or follow-ups you send each week and celebrate the effort, not just the results.
When you normalise rejection and detach your self-worth from the outcome, it loses its emotional charge. This mindset shift reduces the anxiety tied to pitching and makes it easier to take that next bold step without feeling like a “failure” (spoiler alert: no such thing). Over time, you’ll likely notice an increase in your self-confidence and a greater willingness to pursue new opportunities.
Try this: Set a specific rejection goal for the next month (e.g. 10 rejected pitches). Celebrate each one as evidence that you’re taking action to grow your business and build a life you want to wake up to every day. Over time, this builds emotional resilience and a mindset focused on progress, not perfection.
6. Treat client acquisition like your full-time job
Think of it this way—if you had a 9-to-5 job in sales, you wouldn’t take every ‘no’ personally. You’d follow up, move on to the next lead, and keep going because that’s just part of the job.
The same mindset applies to freelancing. Instead of seeing rejection as a personal failure, see it as part of your daily workflow. Pitching, networking, and following up should be as routine as checking your emails.
While cold pitching is still a tried-and-true method for acquiring clients, let’s talk a little more about some additional client acquisition strategies you can try.
Client acquisition strategies for freelancers
Creating online content: Share your expertise by posting regularly on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok. You can use these posts to showcase your work, share valuable tips, or highlight success stories.
Networking locally: Attend local industry meetups, coworking spaces, or small business expos. These events are fantastic for connecting with like-minded professionals and small businesses looking for freelancers.
Tapping into online communities: Join Facebook groups, Slack channels, public forums, or pretty much anywhere your target audience hangs out. Provide value by answering questions or sharing insights, which can naturally lead to client inquiries.
Partnering with other freelancers: Connect with a fellow freelancer on Linkedin or other private communities like Superpath. Bonus points if they’re in complementary industries. For example, if you’re a writer, it’s always great to connect with designers or marketers who might refer clients to you.
Reaching out to past clients: Don’t forget to nurture relationships with former clients. Send friendly follow-ups or updates about your services. Often, past clients are willing to rehire you or refer you to someone who might need your services too.
Try this: If you currently work an actual 9-to-5, pick any 2-3 days out of the week that you can dedicate to client acquisition. Set your alarm 30-60 minutes earlier on those days to do some cold outreach or connect with others online using one of the above methods.
If you have the luxury of multiple days off in a week, treat at least some of those days off like you would a part-time or full-time job. For example, give yourself tasks you can complete in 30-60-minute time blocks (ie. 9:00-9:30 am - lead generation; 9:30-10:00 am - cold outreach; break; etc).
An important thing to keep in mind is that client acquisition is often a marathon, not a sprint. It also requires showing up consistently and putting yourself in the right places for an opportunity to strike.
7. Archive your ‘rejected applications’
Sometimes, a great way to handle rejection is to take the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach—out of your inbox, off your to-do list, and out of your mental space. Freelancing is all about momentum, and the faster you can shake off the ‘no’s, the quicker you’ll get to the next opportunity. Essentially, you’re giving yourself permission to move forward.
Try this: If a potential client hasn’t responded after multiple follow-ups, archive the email instead of letting it sit in your inbox as a painful reminder. If you keep track of proposals in a spreadsheet or project management software, create a “closed” or “archived” section where you can move rejected pitches instead of deleting them altogether. That way, you acknowledge the effort you put in without letting rejection clutter your workspace or your mindset.
Image source: Dominique Seaton
Your next steps for dealing with rejection as a freelancer
overall, the best way to handle rejection is to treat it like a normal (and expected) part of the process—because the truth is, as long as you’re building a freelance business, it’s unavoidable. The more you put yourself out there though, the less each rejection will feel like a big deal. And over time, those ‘no’s won’t feel as discouraging because you’ll know that a ‘yes’ is just around the corner.
Let’s recap the 7 simple daily or weekly habits you can implement right away to keep you motivated and focused, even in the face of the big ‘R’ word:
Change your inner dialogue with self-affirmations
Let your body language speak for itself
Breathe, be grateful, reset, and refocus
Use constructive feedback to sharpen your skills
Set rejection goals to desensitise the process
Treat client acquisition like your full-time job
Archive your ‘rejected applications’
Bookmark this post so that you’ll have it handy the next time you experience rejection or any other emotionally stressful situation throughout your freelance journey. You’ve got this!
Want to see more content like this from Dominique? Check out her website to see some more of her work.
And if you’re a freelancer currently dealing with rejection from clients and prospects, or just want more helpful freelance advice from a fellow solopreneur, feel free to connect with her on Linkedin!
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