Ask HN: How did you get your first freelance client?

The first freelance client I ever had was a company that one of my friends worked for. It was a pharmaceutical company that was storing all their records in large 3 ring binders. I told my friend that their records could be digitized and stored on a central database and be accessible on all their lab computers. My friend liked the idea and asked if I could put together a simple proof of concept web service.

From there she demoed the prototype to her boss who loved it. She gave her boss my email and we began discussing features, scope and price. After a single in-person meeting we agreed to a features set, price, and delivery date. 2 months later I delivered a product. There were some minor changes that they requested after seeing the first version. I agreed to make the changed and brought back a final version. Finally after the system was up and running, I was paid.

I never really went looking for the freelancing opportunity, it just sort of fell in my lap. I guess the main take away is always be on the lookout for business inefficiencies that can be greatly improved by the skill set you possess and then make an offer and see what happens.

From craigslist, and I ended up working like a week to earn $100.

But it got me started.