I recently took a trip to South East Asia and was amazed at the service of taxi drivers. In most places where tourism isn't a major source of income, taxis are a means of transportation. In Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, taxis have evolved to become more akin to freelancers as we know it: the quality kind, which understands how to actually earn an income.
While beginners or those who perform it as a side hustle are more prone to taking on small gigs that are one-off deals, the ones who chose the career as their full-time employment end up realizing that the only way to have a stable income is to generate it yourself by some means.
That means choosing one's contracts smartly so that even when one job is completed, your client either recommends you to someone else or ends up employing you for other projects. This would, at some point, fill up your calendar to the point that you don't need to worry about finding a job, because it's there waiting for you.
Drivers you find from Grab (the taxi app in SEA) very much resembles Upwork workers, which I frequent as a freelancer.
If you are a tourist, and you are using the taxi, they will then go on to offer you services that include showing you around, dropping you off someplace while helping you get discounts on tickets, and then picking you up once you're finished. This is what's known as a 'warm lead', meaning a customer who has already shown interest in a particular product or service.
Simply by being a tourist, you are now a warm lead that has essentially booked a discovery call for the duration of the ride, and if the service (which you likely want without the hassle of calling for taxis and competing with all the other tourists doing the same in popular attractions) is good, then you're locked into a contract with them, which creates 2-4 (back-and-forth, and sometimes with stops in-between) rides that is convenient for the customer while the driver also fills up their calendar which ensures they will find a customer who will travel a long distance, which is obviously more profitable than multiple short ones peppered across the day.
This has reminded me that at our core, us freelancers are offering a service, and it is in our best interest to offer as much as possible at our preferred rate, and to understand our customer base enough that if you offer it, then at least 1 in 10 clients would end up choosing a follow-up service with someone they already know than not having it done at all, or having to find and vet someone competent all over again.
It has also reminded me that regardless of industry, country and even culture, one can draw parallels and reach an epiphany by simply observing.