I am a full-time developer planning to switch into to freelancing. I am bit scared/worried about maintaining a constant flow of work to pay bills.
- How did you find your first freelance gig? - How do you maintain constant workflow? Manage stress with finding work? - Do you have any advice for the first-time freelancer?
Thank you so much for your time :)
You should be! The key to paying bills is not to get a constant flow of work, which will take a while, it's to live off of a portion of your income and save the rest. IMO you should have at least 6 months of expenses in the bank before you start freelancing. This also ameliorates a lot of the stress related to finding work, and means you won't feel pressured to accept or pursue bad work.
I got my first freelance gig by posting on the HN whoishiring thread, which I do recommend doing.
- Become a "visible expert" in your space. By that I mean give talks at meetups, publish a blog about the technologies you want to work with, etc.
- One of the best things I did was to write an ebook about React. Even a short ebook can give you instant credibility (even if no one ever reads it!) - the fact that you wrote it says a lot about your commitment level.
- Be open minded about what kinds of contracts you will get. Generally, freelancers fall into a couple of different buckets: full time staff augmentation, 1/2 time or less ongoing help, one off project help.
I've written up more tips here: https://www.breakintoconsulting.com/ - and feel free to email me if you want more specific feedback or info! (email in profile)
Make sure you put time into staying in touch with people you know, especially people you have worked with before. Tell them you are looking for work. Talk to them about the interesting stuff you are doing.
I've noticed that the more excited I am about work I'm doing, or the work they are doing, the more opportunities I have.
The biggest contracts I have ever received started with a conversation over some beers, playing darts after hours, etc. A lot of listening to their problems, offering advice and saying "that sounds really interesting, I'd love to help with that!"
You have to do this even when you are really busy doing work you already have. Keep the pipeline full, it can take a long time for opportunities to show up, so stay in people's mind constantly.
"Constant flow" is just semantics. If seeing your contracts end the day before Thanksgiving removes your festive mood for the next 60 days, freelancing probably isn't for you.
https://digitalmicroenterprise.blogspot.com/2018/05/starting...