Ask YC/HN: Where/How Do You Find Your Consulting Contracts/Gigs? | Hacker News Reader

Ask YC/HN: Where/How Do You Find Your Consulting Contracts/Gigs?

4 pointsMystalic5 comments

So I'm currently working a full time job, a part-time job, and side projects. I've decided that I'm moving from Chicago to San Fran in April, no matter what.my situation is.

I already have a part-time gig lined up (contract essentially), so it seems natural to find one or two more and do consulting/contract work - I can do my work from practically anywhere, it gives me a chance to work on side projects, and I have more autonomy, even if it ends up being more work.

So what websites do you visit/what do you usually do for contracts and consulting? I have a large network, but have yet to tell them this is the direction I'm going in.

Thanks.

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Go to seminars, give seminars, go to conferences, talk at conferences, and ask.

This is what advice I was given. At school we had someone who was an alum come in to give a talk about how she got her own show on Discovery Channel (sorry, I forgot what the name of the show was--it was about doing absurd/impractical things to be "green" ie beaming solar power on a mountaintop to another place 50 miles away). Basically she got the gig because she was a phenomenal presenter. Really really engaging. At one of the conferences she presented at, a scout for the Discovery Channel told her that they wanted a PhD who was entertaining enough yet had a way to capture the attention of a non-scientific audience. She flew to NY to audition and was later placed with a team of engineers and given a $40million budget to design the show.

Moral of the story: Be good at conveying information and stand out with niche.

Word of mouth. Your first job will beget more jobs, if you are good. And, of course, you have to make it clear in all of your marketing materials (your blog, business cards, author info in any books or articles you write) that you are a consultant/contractor working in whatever field you're working in. It depends on what it is you do...but some fields are so empty of competent providers and demand is so high (this is definitely the case in system administration) that you can't help but work if people know about you and know you're competent and reliable.

I've been thinking the same thing but I find that consulting is really based on personal connections and so, that's where I've always got mine. Which makes it harder in leaner times to get anything done.

I've also found that your personal network are usually supportive and wholly useful when it comes to generating business, because the work they can get you is usually not within your realm of expertise or isn't needed when need the money.

But if you have a part-time gig already lined up when you go, that'd be a good step. Curious to hear what others think on this subject...

I have a friend who is much better at getting work than at completing the work. So I get his "overflow."

I've had exactly zero success with websites such as guru.com, craigslist and odesk. Sometimes I treat the more interesting guru.com assignments as ungraded homework - namely I do them for my own intellectual curiousity for the sake of "sharpening the saw" even though there is no contact with the person/company requesting the job - since I don't get the job for some/whatever reason.

> I've decided that I'm moving from Chicago to San Fran in April, no matter what.my situation is.

Congratulations on your commitment!

My friends who freelance full-time - most of them are graphic designers not programmers - one says "Sometimes I have to pick which bill to skip or delay payment on but the daily feeling of working for yourself makes it all worth it."

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