Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
How did you land your first customer? How did/do you market yourself? ...
The real skill you have to develop is who to say "no" to. One good customer can keep you busy for a year and pay really well. 500 bad customers with small projects and small budgets can require 500x the work and result in less overall money.
I got my first customer that way and most of my best customers that way. But once you get a couple of customers and do a good job, that naturally leads to more work and other opportunities through word of mouth.
Another strategy that has worked for friends is to contract part-time for a place they used to work that needs temporary help. One friend made nearly his full-time salary working half-time doing this. That left him with the other half of his time to work on his other projects.
One other strategy that works well in a big city is to go work in a shared office like a WeWork. It's easy to meet people that way just through proximity and end up doing projects together or get new leads.
This. So important to ensure that you find the "right" clients that fit what you are offering.
When I got it working I was so excited that I immediately opened up their live chat and asked support if it'd be something they were interested in. They were a small operation and it ended up being the businesses owner who was on the other side. After a few emails back and forth we agreed on $3500 (plus our shop would get to use their app for free) in exchange for windows and mac versions of the code.
Oh man, now was I really excited. $3.5k for a couple weekends of work, I've hit the big time!
Later they sold to stamps.com for $50 million. I've since learned to charge more and to better estimate my time.
Fast-forward a couple of months and I've picked up a few really simple websites, blogs and a simple web application that I found through responding to ads on craigslist.
I did these types of pretty crappy jobs for a few years until I finally got enough of a portfolio to start bidding on larger and more interesting projects.
Currently I no longer prospect but work as a resource for other creative agencies who need devs on various projects for a few months at a time. It's good work and all started by realizing that I could take more control over my debt and get it paid off quicker if I was willing to give up my tv time in the evenings.
And I did eventually pay off that credit card debt, but not quite before the wedding.
I'd also suggest having a landing page for your business/service, and maintaining a blog on this site where you write commentary on things relevant to your focus. Post links to your articles across social media. At the beginning and end of every post, make it known you're available as a consultant.
It's mostly just about putting yourself out there a bit. This didn't come natural for me at all, so it was a learned skill. But after a while you get kind of used to it. Routinely posting on LinkedIn et al. when you're looking for more work (phrase it like "I have room for a new client in my consulting portfolio..." or something along those lines, see who reaches out).
Just a word to the wise, if you're new to the freelance game, you'll probably accidentally undercharge all your clients for your first year (or few years). Don't be afraid to raise prices on them when you recognize what you've done.
Take your hourly rate from a full-time position and basically double it.
1) Your network will be your main source of work. I've been freelancing for just over a year and every single job I've had has come as a result of relationships I made when I was in full-time employment.
2) In terms of billing do not be afraid to charge a lot more than you would expect to make if doing the same work as an employee. You'll get better at this.
3) It also helps if you can save a few months worth of money before hand. I've found that it helps psychologically when negotiating if you know you don't need to take a job. In practice you will (ideally) a fair amount of what you are offered, this can be because some jobs simply aren't worth taking and the opportunity cost of a mediocre pay-day.
4) Take time off when you can and always sleep well. You will switch between periods of no work and periods of too much work. Relax during the former so you are ready for the latter.
5) Know your stuff and work hard.
About 5 years into my career I worked for a small consulting firm that did a lot of mechanical engineering and a little electrical. The owner could not find enough work for the mechanical guys and was tired of the ups and downs of consulting so he closed the business. I asked him if I could continue working directly for one of his old clients and he said sure. So that would give me one customer if I wanted it, but I would need to find more.
I was pretty young and wasn't sure I could do it. I interviewed for one full time job with a startup. At the end of the day I met with two people: 1) my previous mentor who was consulting there at a high level and 2) the CEO. I was open and honest with my mentor and told him I wasn't sure the startup was right for me, and I was considering striking out on my own as a freelancer, like him, even though I recognized I was probably too young to do that. He, being a compassionate and reasonable person, encouraged me and said "well, people should do what they want to do". So, when I met the CEO, I felt I should tell her what I was thinking - I was leaning strongly toward consulting work. Why was I so honest with her? I don't know. It's just my style. But, she blew up. She started yelling at me, saying "You are too young! People become consultants after years and years of experience for a reason! Let me tell you what you need to do! You need to get a job!!!" And she basically threw me out of the building.
From that moment on I was resolved to prove her wrong and become a successful freelancer. It's now 15 years later and I am sure I made the right choice. All my advertising is via word of mouth / previous clients. I've been busy every day I wanted to be busy.
I showed the site to a neighbor. A few days later, I got an email from the neighbor’s sister’s husband’s cousin, looking for a quote on building a MLS real estate search system. I sent a quote, he accepted, and I’ve been working freelance ever since.
I think all of my customers, over 19 years worth, have been referrals either from people I know, people I’ve volunteered with, or previous customers.
(And both those sites from 1999 are up and working to this day.)
This provides some even ground to help the bills get paid while you explore the growth techniques that will work best for you.
That's what I did.
I worked for years in a contracting firm, and -- with their blessing -- took a couple long-term clients out with me. It was easier for me to keep working with them than to force a transition.
To gather new clients, I also identified a specialty/niche, created a clear brand for myself, and started marketing it in the places my potential clients would look. It really helps to narrow things down this way in the beginning, so you can have some focus in your pursuit of clients.
Over time, growth became more word of mouth and holding to the niche became less important. When new clients are referred to me now, I just assess whether it's work I want and sell them on it.
As is common with enterprise products sales was hard. Not being Microsoft, IBM or any other of the big names in the industry didn't exactly help either. Suffice it to say, the company didn't do too well.
However, trying to sell an enterprise product came with the benefit of making a lot of new contacts, many of whom needed bespoke software development and consulting (rather than a turnkey enterprise search solution).
Hence, I quickly transitioned into the IT consulting business.
In more generally applicable terms, networking and becoming known for an area of expertise in my opinion is absolutely key for continued, sustainable success as a freelancer / consultant.
So, here for some more general pieces of advice:
Go to events / meetups. Talk to both people from the industry you market your services to and fellow entrepreneurs and engineers. When doing this continuously and consistently consulting gigs almost inevitably will come up.
Create a professional website that describes the services you provide and the value you create for your clients. This is essential. Don't just put up a CV and be done with that. If you want to stand out you have to explain why you're not just a commodity paid by the hour but how you can solve a problem for your clients.
On that website, write about your current work and your area of expertise in general. If such opportunity presents itself (which it also almost inevitably will once you start networking with others at meetups or other events) give talks about these subjects.
After working a couple years with python and going to meetups I started to know some people in the community. That paid out. First getting a different job. (Thanks Reinout)
One of the people I knew recommended me. That was a part-time gig. Since then, most customers got a recommendation from someone in my network.
Other freelance jobs were via recruiters. They search mostly on linkedin.
If you've got questions drop me a note.
Someone wanted to give me work, but they preferred to give me a job through a company-based contract rather than being an employee (for work permit reasons). It was pretty straightforward to make that happen from my side. Once I was in that game of "you contract for some of my time, but not all of it", I just carried on.
That someone found me through word-of-mouth / personal recommendation, which is also how everything after that has come along.
I don't market myself particularly hard, but I like to think that my reputation is "brutally honest".
Joined some startup who was struggling to get their services right as they didn't have any proper programmer. I just kept fixing stuff left and right with my 10 years experience and it was apparent even from their clients who the guy was that kept fixing stuff.
I was planning to quit the place in a year (without planning anything ahead) but as I quit, everyone started asking me for work, even from the company I left.
Now I’ve been freelancing for eight years, doing quite the variety of web and iOS projects. Never did I really need to find customers, friends always directed enough work towards me.
A client is seldom worth a lawsuit that you'll likely lose.
* Try to over-deliver in some aspect important to the customer (time to delivery, documentation, client integration)
* Try to detect clients I cannot interact with properly and refuse them upfront (refer them to a friend who can deal with this type of client!)
* Bring lube. As an extern, you are causing more friction than an employee. A small present to whoever has to deal with the extra overhead and lots of work towards making his/her work easier help a lot.
* Be professional. Never ever talk bad about a client in public, no matter how bad they are; when you want to mention them in a positive public statement, ask for permission (most will say yes anyways and you pointed them at the free advertising you do for them)
Works for me; I don't even have a website nor any picture of me online with my real name. I don't make public appearances at all.
Also volunteered. I highly recommend United Nations Online Volunteers. I cannot recommend this enough:
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https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en
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Otherwise, it was probing friends for connections. For instance, I had friends who worked in bakeries and restaurants (advantage of living downtown in an urban city), and I offered services to their managers or business owners. Often it would get whittled down to me offering the service for free before they accepted.
Once you have a [relevant] portfolio going, then it becomes easier to approach like businesses. I never sold to large clients so I can't comment there.
Another good place to look is survey your local sports and other non-profit organizations and determine whether you think you could offer them something improved upon what they currently have for web or other operational tools.
You'll get shot down a lot—especially at first, so don't let it get to you. It can be a bit of a slog at the start.
I'll add that if you're currently working full-time, then stay that way and start on the side. At least while you build up a portfolio, etc.
If you're just exiting school or have some personal financial runway of any kind then that changes things, but I can't tell you what to do there.
My family wanted me to take another job but I asked for 3 months and if I couldn't earn equal to my last salary I would take up a job.
It was very hard in the beginning, I emailed people, posted on social forums but the response rate was very low(we all know that now) which was again emotionally challenging.
I had a good profile working with Ruby and JavaScript so some of my clients got interested. And I still work with them it has been almost a year.
@ageitgey said a very good thing about finding the good client, which stays longer and pay well.
I have also realised that in the freelance world the turnaround time is slightly high. What I mean by that is even after a client says yes, it takes almost 15 to 30 days before you really get started.
That's my story!
fyi, I spent my time in school actually learning, when I felt a class assignment was worthless, and I saw slackers getting A's by pandering to the teacher, I'd focus on learning something new and screw my grades. (did just fine, but wasn't straight A's because of this)
My methods paid off. I got an internship my second semester (teacher in my first class at school told me to apply at his work place), was hired as employee after 9 months in related field while still in school, and got my first freelance gig the last month before I graduated. Freelance ever since... been working on a startup for too long now though, lol. (I think many people here are working on startups)
- Specialize in something during normal employment (Python backend/cloud infra).
- Build and contribute to a few Open Source projects. Thanks to that I have a small portfolio to show to potential clients.
- Use an agency to help me find clients. Since I didn't really know where to start I looked for advice. An old HN thread mentioned Toptal so I registered without really thinking it would work. After a quite long interview process I got into the platform and landed my first customer a few days after. Overall it is a positive experience and a good way to get started, but other HN comments are more nuanced so YMMV.
He already knew what I was capable of so there wasn’t much marketing/selling involved. That came after, through local networking and finding odd projects on Dribbble and hiring websites that had a section for remote designers. I had kept my main site sparse—and still do—so I had an easier time to drive initial conversation towards business goals instead of pixels and colours.
I found other odd dev work through family friends and by making a well-performing app for a small platform. This was all a nice supplement during university and internships, but not enough to compete with full-time remote work.
https://digitalmicroenterprise.blogspot.com/2018/05/starting...
Proviso: Not really a programmer, though I do little plug-and-play websites these days in addition to freelance writing and resume editing.
And I'll probably get some hits within a week or so.
In the space of about 6 months went from 100% private jobs to 50% private, 25% small business and 25% medium business.
As much as people seem to be busy with their CV and references, it's often more the presentation of your skills in-situ and the impression you make on potential sources of jobs that will get you a constant flow. In the space of about 18 months I was booked about half a year in advance. This is in a western european country with about 17 million people to give you some context.
About said context: it really depends on your location, rules, lawyerisms and style of capitalism.
I have had a good amount of success on upwork.com, targeting financial / stock trading algorithms.
Check my profile for details...
If the goal is to be on your own, one thing that is incredibly useful is to build a network of people who would be in a complimentary business to yours, are likely to stumble across work that you would be able to do, and aren't in the position to do themselves. For me, that's working with a former coworker whose business is data science + the strategy around it, or a larger consulting firm where I used to work that has projects come across their plate for steady clients that are too small to be worth their time, but can be quite lucrative for an individual.