263: How Amanda Landed a $9K Freelance Fashion Project Without a Website

0:00What if your biggest freelance project started with a LinkedIn message and didn't close for another eight months? That's exactly how Amanda Cabania landed a$9 ,000 client for a women's golf brand. With no website, minimal marketing, and a lot of uncertainty, she wasn't sure where things would lead, but she stayed persistent, followed up, and eventually got the yes. In this episode, Amanda shares how it all played out, what helped her stay grounded through the weight, and what it really looks like to grow a freelance business while raising three kids. All right. Well, welcome to the podcast, Amanda.

0:32You shared a big win in our community, which is that you landed your biggest client yet.

0:38Amanda Cabania:You've been freelancing a little over a year and you landed your biggest client yet, which was$9 ,000. And I would love to hear like all the details. So I don't know where it makes the most sense to start with this project. But I guess, where did the client come from? How'd you land them? Um, she found me on LinkedIn. Um, and that's where actually I have gotten most of, um, the interest from LinkedIn. Um, cause I don't have a website. I've tried, I've been trying to build a website, but it hasn't really launched yet. And I, I'm very, I don't have, so I mean, I have a social media, but I haven't really done anything with it because marketing is definitely not something that I am familiar with and comfortable with.

1:24Amanda Cabania:and used to. So, I mean, I have personal stuff, but nothing like marketing, you know? So, everyone finds me on LinkedIn. And to gain her as a client, it took a really long time. She first contacted me, I think, November of 24. And she said that she wanted to start this golf apparel line and I was like, great, let's talk. So, um, we did a discovery call, um, pretty much right away after she, after she contacted me and, um, it was very exciting. You know, she asked me what the process was and what I offered. Um, and so after that interview, after I, you know, asked my questions obviously and got to know what she wanted, um, I, uh, And I sent her my proposal.

2:16Okay.

2:17Amanda Cabania:And I learned everything from Vast. It was like, without you, I probably would not have been able to do this. But I sent her my proposal. And she said, thank you. I'm going to look over it. Look at all the details. And she didn't get back to me. I think, gosh, I think it was maybe February or March. And so in between, I'm like, yeah. Yeah. And in between, I'm like, I probably didn't, you know, she probably lost interest. She found someone else. Totally fine. You know, but then she contacted me again and she wanted to meet one on one and told me that I was the only person that she spoke to that actually sent something after our conversation.

3:02Amanda Cabania:So I was like, oh, that's great. um so we met one and one-on-one she's here in Austin which I think okay she's very beneficial yeah and um that was one of the reasons why she found me as well because she wanted someone local yeah and um we met at a coffee shop we uh I mean she showed me just some examples of what she wanted she asked a ton of questions that um I was very excited to share because you know freelancing and as a mom you don't really get to have those conversations all the time especially one-on-one so I really felt like okay great we're connecting this is something that we're you know we are both really passionate about she's passionate about the line that she wants to start I'm passionate about basically what my job is so um so it was great to meet her one-on-one.

4:00Amanda Cabania:And yeah, and so after that, I mean, she asked me like, what are the services that, and at first I wanted, I mean, she wanted, I thought she wanted just tech packs. And then she, when we met one-on-one, she asked me what my services were. And I said, I specialize in basically everything from concept through production. So I can do sourcing, I can do, you know, the pre-production samples, everything. And so she was really excited to hear that. And yeah, I, so after that, I didn't hear from her for another, I think June. I think it was June. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it took, it took a long process. And in between that, I thought maybe she doesn't like me.

4:54Amanda Cabania:maybe she doesn't want all of these services you know maybe I overwhelmed her um but then finally in June she's like let's do it and I was like yay like was there literally no communication between November and February like you sent you had a survey call you sent the proposal and then it was ghost town well I mean I I sent her hey I wonder you know have you looked at everything that I sent and she said yeah I'll yeah yeah I'll let you know I'm so sorry and she does have another full-time job okay so this is you know a very new startup for her inaugural collection and she explained that to me and I understood you know I didn't want to push too much so after that first follow-up I backed off a little bit and then in June she she was like I'm ready let's do this yeah um so yeah that's kind of how how it all happened that's so exciting okay so I have so many questions um first of all I was I was pulling up your LinkedIn over here it says um freelance apparel product developer and tech pack creator specializing in women's wovens and activewear so you don't even have anything about golf in here no I don't there was the the benefit for her was you're local to her I'm local and um I have done activewear in the past and in our one-on-one conversation I told her that I have kept a lot of the relationships um within the activewear community so um like manufacturers that I've worked for or worked with a lot of the fabric vendors I've all you know just sort of stayed in contact with and we have just you know I'm sure you know the fashion industry is almost like based solely on who you know so keeping those relationships close is really important so I'm just sort of you know I told her I still have those relationships and you know they're always a great resource and I think that's sort of ultimately why she went with me so yeah okay Okay, that's amazing.

7:05And so, um, other, or maybe what there's no other than like other than her full time job was there? Do you know if there's a reason why it took from basically November to June? I mean, what is that? Like, how many months? I'm having trouble doing the math. It's eight months. Yeah, it was a long time. Like, do you know what was happening during that time? And I I asked this not to like be rude to her, but actually to put context into this for other freelancers. Because I think as a freelancer, we like want the project to happen like yesterday. Yeah. And from a brand side, there's sometimes just so many like nuances and moving pieces and parts.

7:49And especially with a startup and you've got a full-time job, like there's just a lot of stuff going on until you're ready to like maybe finally pull that trigger. So do you know, because it's August now that we're recording this and you closed the deal in June. So maybe now you've gotten to like work with her and talk with her a little more. Do you know like more details about what was going on during those eight months and or like why she just wasn't ready even though she initiated the discovery call back in November?

8:15Amanda Cabania:Yeah. So in our one-on-one, she had asked estimated prices of everything. And I told her, it's really hard to give you estimates because we, I have not spoken to any of the, you know, resources that I have because we haven't committed to anything. So I gave her like a ballpark of like, I don't know, a hundred to 500. And in between, she was sort of, she was, she told me that she was talking to investors to kind of see if she could actually do this, actually be able to do this. I don't know who her investors were, but I think that was when she was able to finally pull the trigger and say, okay, let's do this.

8:55Amanda Cabania:But I've never had investors, so I don't know how long that process actually takes. So I'm assuming that's probably a big chunk of it. Yeah. And when she was asking for prices, are you saying prices for manufacturing costs? manufacturing costs how much fabric costs um how much my you know how much I charge for tech packs all of that yeah and so it sounds like when you you had a discovery call you were the only one she talked to who sent something afterwards which is surprising and also not surprising because I had freelancers who I've done discovery calls with and they've never gotten back to me even though I felt like we had a great call they were supposed to send me something so this is oddly not that unusual.

9:42But it sounds like you sent a proposal after that call in November, but then the scope changed over time. And so I'd be curious to know, where did you ultimately land for the$9 ,000 project? What are you doing? Would you be willing to share what the scope of that is and how you came to that pricing and what the evolution of the pricing was over the time that you worked with her or you talked to her from the initial discovery call to where you ultimately landed.

10:09Amanda Cabania:Yeah. So I'm doing, um, I'm doing everything for her line. She has three styles. Okay. Um, so right now we are at the stage of fabric sourcing. So I finished her tech packs. Um, I mean, I did the initial sketch and then when she approved the sketches that I've, you know, that I've made for her, I went ahead and did the tech pack. I, you know, found manufacturers. I I tried to, I sent the tech packs to the manufacturers to get different quotes, sent her the pricing. And, you know, that was probably the biggest challenge for me is getting her to approve pricing for manufacturing because she only wanted U .S.

10:56Amanda Cabania:manufacturers. and at the time I had my main activewear contact and then two other contacts and to get them to lower their prices for her she wanted ultimately she wanted overseas pricing at U.S. manufacturing and to me that was very difficult to do yeah um and I it got to the point where I was I you know I've built these relationships in the industry, especially within manufacturing. And I didn't want to insult them by going too low because I didn't want to lose that relationship. So we went back and forth. I mean, my manufacturer that I was working with was very understandable. I mean, he did what he could.

11:42Amanda Cabania:And I explained to her, this is as low as he can go. And I don't want to insult them. I've built a relationship with them. I don't want to go any lower than this. And so she, she ended up actually taking it back to, um, I guess the investors that she's working with and explain to them, I guess, you know, this is because ultimately I think they were the ones that were really pushing for us manufacturing. I tried to dip her feet in the idea of going overseas, not necessarily China, but there's also, you know, there's India, there's Pakistan, there's Sri Lanka, you know, there's, there's other countries that you can go to.

12:20Amanda Cabania:But I think it was her investors that were very adamant about staying in the US. And when she came back, when I shared that in Circle, that was when she finally approved it. And so it was, that's why it's a huge win because it was a process of just going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. I have a headache. So that was when she finally approved the pricing so I am just you know doing everything for her uh we're at the fabric sourcing stage um and once we do that we can start sampling um I'm doing all her pre-production and yeah so that's that's what I'm doing that's exciting congratulations what a great project oh thank you yeah so when you say she approved the pricing does that mean like she approved the pricing for the manufacturing but she had already approved the price the nine thousand dollar proposal price oh yes yes yeah okay for me for my contract my contract with her yeah yeah that was already approved yes sorry and that's separate from the manufacturing pricing i was like correct no you didn't like get all this and then approve the project no sorry yeah okay Okay, just making sure.

13:36Okay, cool. Sorry. No, no, no, you're good. So you mentioned a lot of your other work has also come from LinkedIn. Can you just talk a little bit about some of that as well? Is it just people finding you in the search results or what?

13:52Amanda Cabania:Yeah, I've had people, I've had maybe like three, within the past year that I started freelancing after taking the fast courses. I've had maybe three or four people contact me. We've had discovery calls, but, and they're all small businesses that are just starting out. So she was actually the only one that came back to me after the discovery call. I tried after the FAST program, I tried cold pitching and that was never really successful for me. But when I started, you know, gaining interest on LinkedIn, that's when I started trying to polish up my my profile um so and I have one other client that um that found me on LinkedIn that I so I have two clients she's my biggest one and then my smaller one is she basically just wants me to do tech packs for her but she's a she's a returning client so great she yeah so it's nice to know that she likes me she just keeps coming back to me but I've done tech packs for her last season and she came back uh for her new collection coming up to do six tech packs for her.

15:03Amanda Cabania:So that was really great. Awesome. Yeah. So right now, juggling the two. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you. So what's your background? Where did you get started in fashion initially? I mean, it sounds like you have a pretty good network and connections and stuff. Yeah. Well, I graduated from FITM. And then after graduating, I worked Forever 21 and Splendid Littles. And those were the two biggest corporations that I worked for before I started moving into the small business community. And when you, you know, I went to one of your seminars that you had. And when you talk about how toxic the industry can be, I thought directly of my experience with the bigger corporations and um and when I started working for small businesses it was just more it was more for me um because the toxicity of the bigger corporations was not so I definitely resonated with that when you said it can be toxic yeah yeah so you when did you graduate FIDM like how long did you work in the industry before you decided to go out into freelancing gosh I think I graduated in 2008 okay so yeah that was a while ago yeah yeah and other than the toxicity of the large corporations and you wanting to move to smaller businesses what was like the push to go freelancing I know you mentioned your mom as well yes I'm a mom and um when I had my first it was it was really hard to get back into work just because we didn't really have too much help it was basically like me and my husband and um and I went through this time where I was just sort of I'm sure most first-time moms know where mentally you're just not really there.

17:08Amanda Cabania:It's a hard transition. So I didn't work for a while. And I found, after a year, I found a really great small business in Vegas where I was living at the time when I had my first. And she was also a mom. She had a women-owned business. She was just starting her swimwear line. And we met by, I don't know how, But I applied to be her part-time office assistant. And it turned out that she was looking for someone to help in design. And so it worked out that we sort of built her swimwear line together and just watched it grow. I worked for her part-time for five years. And she was probably the most understanding boss that I could probably ask for.

17:57Amanda Cabania:Yeah. especially while I was transitioning, you know, and, you know, from, to, from, to be a mom. And so I worked with her for five years and I had two more kids in between those five years with her. And she just, you know, she just understood. She was very, if I needed time off because the kids were sick, she would give it to me. And yeah, so it was nice. And so we moved to Austin now because my husband got a job here. we wondered whether or not I would find a full-time job or if I would be able to find a full-time job I applied to different places I've had interviews um but they always ask you know why there was a gap you know and I think I think because there was a gap in my career they don't really like it I don't know what it is but I never get hired so I um so that's why I mean you say like I paused to like start my family and be a mom and they just don't seem to really care yeah I I mean I blame it on that but I don't know I I really don't know what the yeah what the issue is but yeah and um I found you through a co-worker an ex-co-worker and we shared an office together and she said oh you should listen to this girl Heidi Heidi, she talks about freelancing all the time.

19:22Amanda Cabania:And we were both, you know, she was actually starting an Etsy shop and she was already, you know, taking off with that. And she said that, you know, there's this girl, Heidi, she does podcasts about freelancing. And she was actually, she's a FAST graduate as well. She took your classes. Who is it? She was, her name is Mercedes Johnson. Okay. I don't know her. I mean, I don't have over a thousand students in FAST. I don't know everybody, but I know some. Yeah. So she took your fast classes and she introduced me to you. And then I ended up when I moved here and I found, you know, like no one was really hiring me.

19:58Amanda Cabania:I took your courses and yeah. And now I'm here. So landed a 9K client. Couldn't thank you enough. Good for you. Good for you. How does it feel to be like building a business and juggling your own thing while also still getting to be a mom and not having to, you know, be in the 40 hour or 60 hour a week toxic offices or at someone else's beck and call. How's that feel? It feels great. I can still be a mom and not have to worry about, you know, whether or not I need to be in a meeting or I need to be in, and she's, Lizzie, her name is Lizzie. She's great because we hold meetings in the house and she's met the kids she's okay with the kids being around you know she she's great with kids um so we can we can freely have those meetings and you know not have to worry about how I guess quiet it is or you know so that's so yeah yeah that's amazing um I'm curious to know a little bit more about your LinkedIn I'm you don't post no I don't I just am realizing this I was like other than like setting up your profile, you, you're not, you're not even very, you don't even really comment.

21:22Amanda Cabania:Yeah. I'm very shy. I don't really, I mean, I repost sometimes, but not very much. Yeah. Marketing myself is, is hard. It's hard to do. And my husband always says, you don't market yourself because you don't believe in yourself. And I'm like, I'm trying to believe in myself, but it's still hard. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, so yeah, I, I, I'm really trying to build a website, build a company, I guess a freelancing Instagram, but it's, it's taking some time, but I'm, I'm trying to get there. Yeah. I mean, one step at a time, But I just, I love that, like, just setting up your profile is allowing these people to find you.

22:11I mean, you said the two clients you're working with have come from there. And you kind of just said it and, you know, not like, I know some people who are very active and engaged. But that's amazing that you set it up and people are coming in that way.

22:26Amanda Cabania:yeah and I think it helps that all these all these people who have contacted me they're local and I think they look specifically for Austin freelancers interesting um so I think that's what that's what's gaining interest yeah okay you guys do have like a decent little fashion community there yeah there's um there's a lot of outdoor active wear here um I know there's Yeti just comes at the top of my head, but they're more hard goods. Yeah. And there's a lot of little small businesses as well. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you. Have you been getting out into the local community and going to events and stuff?

23:12I don't know how. I feel like there's a bunch of stuff going on there. I mean, I know you guys have South by Southwest, which I know is more like music, but there's some fashion crossover. I went to that one time many years ago. have you been getting out into the local community at all? I haven't actually, but I did go to Magic. I just got back yesterday from Magic.

23:29Amanda Cabania:I went for 24 hours, left on Sunday and came back last night. How was it? It was great. I was just on the sourcing side because I wanted to, you know, talk to some trim manufacturers, some fabric vendors just to broaden, you know, my community or my, you know, my resources. So yeah, and I was, I thought it was very successful. I was able to talk to some of the fabric representatives that I've been speaking to online. So I got to meet with them. And just to put a face to who you're talking to through email is great because then you remember them. So that was one of my goals for me too. So yeah.

24:14Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. So did you do that independently on your own or did you kind of do that for your client? Okay.

24:22Amanda Cabania:Yes, I did it. I did it on my own. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just to network and pass out business cards and I'm available if you need me. Yeah, that's great. I find that I'm more, I know this is why online is so different for me, but I'm more of a one-on-one face-to-face sort of person when I meet someone it just sort of comes naturally I guess um but online just typing it out can sometimes be a little nerve-wracking for me yeah well I kind of was like getting that feeling and so that's why I was asking if you had like ventured out into Austin into like some of the I don't know I just feel like they have a lot of like indie small small indie fashion scene going on there um I should really look into that actually we've we've only been here a year okay here you go so we're I mean still new but not so much but now that I've kick-started my freelancing career I think um I think I'll definitely be looking into more of those networking events here yeah yeah that's awesome that's awesome well we've talked about so many things that have gone great and are going really well and I realize that within any freelance business or any endeavor in life, it's not all rainbows and roses.

25:42So I'd love for you to share, like, what are some of the things that you're still struggling with? And, you know, to make this conversation relatable for people who are like, I haven't gotten my first

25:53Amanda Cabania:$9 ,000 client, like, you know, it's still not all perfect. So what are some of those things that are still feeling challenging to you or still still not going as well as you want? um well definitely you know like I said the contacts that have contacted me through LinkedIn I've really only gained two out of I think five so um I think just just trying to gain those clients and um just trying to believe in yourself I think just don't lose confidence that's probably one of the biggest issues that I have just keep going you know um because it does I mean it does pay off now I have this 9k client that although it took almost 10 months to to finally land that contract but I think if you just keep going and not lose hope not lose confidence it'll happen for you because yeah yeah yeah that perseverance and that persistence is so important and I think most people give up way too soon.

27:01Amanda Cabania:Yeah. I almost did when the cold pitching didn't work. Yeah. It's funny. I even like, and we won't get, we won't open this can of worms, but I, I do talk to people who they're like, I'm not getting any replies from my cold pitches. They're like, I sent 10 last week and I haven't gotten a client. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, and I'm not saying that that's you, but like, right. I think we have to look at like, What is an appropriate volume? What is an appropriate amount of time? Et cetera. And then compounded with what do the pitches look like? What are we actually sending out?

27:34So many nuances into that. And I do think cold pitching has gotten harder over the years as the market has become saturated with AI. Inboxes are a very different space now than they were five, ten years ago. It still can be impactful. And it can still work. but you have to approach it in a much more nuanced and intentional and strategic way. So I hear that one can definitely be an uphill. But I'm so excited that these leads are coming in from LinkedIn. And yeah, I would, I selfishly, I would, I'll say, I would love to see you maybe double down on that. And like, imagine the traction you could get by being a little bit more like engaged on a platform.

28:20And if you're already getting these leads coming in without doing too much there, I feel like you could easily double that with some more intention and strategy. And I know that that's a challenge, right? Getting out of your own head and making that move. But I know you can do it. So, well, thank you so much for chatting with me, Amanda. I'd love to uh end the interview with the question I ask everybody at the end which is what is one thing people never ask you about being a freelance fashion designer that you wish they would uh they never ask me okay um I would probably say

29:07Amanda Cabania:I guess to learn more about why you chose that path like why freelancing because I think I never get asked that question, but I think it's nice to know, you know, the journey of it, I guess, because every person has their own journey to why freelancing. When you graduate or when you just start, you know, a career in the industry, everyone talks about, you know, working for these large companies and how, you know, great it can be. And so why freelancing, you know and why is it so great because there are so many great things about it and you know you just don't you don't get to express that as much because you don't really get asked that so yeah I think that's that's a great question to ask yeah well good and I'm glad we were able to touch a little bit on that and I know you know part of that is your kiddos and stuff how old are your kiddos now um well one just turned four last week um and then I have a five year old and I have another, she will turn eight next month.

30:12Okay.

30:12Amanda Cabania:So four, five and eight. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Well, I have a five-year-old as well. He's starting kindergarten next week. I don't know. Is yours starting kindergarten as well? Yes. He started last week. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. That's why it's so quiet right now. There you go. So you've got two in school now. Yes. Yeah. My husband is with the other one. So. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat where can everybody connect with you um linkedin okay we'll link everybody to your linkedin and um they can reach out and say hi and and check out what you're up to so thank you so much for chatting it was lovely to to hear your story and and thanks for having me Heidi yeah thank you so much