How To Become a Successful Freelance Web Developer (and Not Kill Your Career)

I've been a consultant for close to 5 years and have written similar articles in the past. I agree with just about everything in the post.

What I find most often is that aspiring freelancers/consultants don't realize 1 important fact: Freelancing/consulting is harder than a 9-5 salary job, in every way. If it's one theme that rings constant among freelancers or consultants that I've lent an ear to, it's the "I thought it would be easier" sentiment.

And that supplements the point made in the article. So many developers think their craft is enough to succeed as a freelancer or consultant; the truth is quite the opposite. A business' success depends on marketing and selling their services, and that's what most (if not every) developer underestimates when they start a freelance or consulting business.

To help combat that, I also advocate the gradual approach. Take a full time job in the industry for a few years first, then build up your freelance/consulting business on the side until it becomes sustainable.

hhmmm i've had a very different experience. i've never held a full-time working-for-the-man software development job but i've been freelancing for a bit over a year to bootstrap my own products. the money and flexibility is great. i got initial gigs because i'd been building my own product so i had something cool out in the world to point to. i think this is the single best way to get clients. have something that you - not you and a giant team of people, you - conceived of and built. when people see it (provided it looks good and works) they'll want to hire you. now i get gigs because i have happy clients and i'm a sociable person so they recommend me. people like working with me. so, build something you're proud of to show off and be a pleasure to work with. i've never gotten a gig through linkedin although recruiters contact me regularly. i have gotten gigs through hacker news, however, and they tend to be really good clients.

*edit: ALSO -- make friends with other freelancers and share your network! i've sent dozens of leads to people i know around Boston. this buys you social capital. people will reciprocate.

"your skills will erode as you crank out an endless stream of cheap WordPress sites".

That is so right on the spot. That's exactly how I feel right now and I'm pretty sick of it. I decided to just stop freelancing (I'm still a student so I never really had a full-time job). Most cheap clients only want simple websites that take zero skill to make.

Background: contractor on and off for years. Just moved from permanent to freelance; a totally different world from contracting.

There are a couple of things that have really worked out well for me this time around.

I left an agency - and I took some of their clients with me (don't worry, it's all above board). They have clients that are too small / too complex for them, but perfect for me. It's a great arrangement - the clients already know me, nothing much changes from their point of view. Best of all, they're already used to paying agency rates.

I'd suggest that if you're working at an agency you ask around to see if you could do the same. It really can work out in everyone's favour (particularly yours).

Secondly, I read a lot of patio11's advice [0] so I wasn't scared of asking for much higher rates than I ever had before.

[0] http://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-hits/

I stopped right after this:

But prematurely deciding to freelance for any length of time can severely damage your career and mental health. You’ll feel pressured to take any work you can find just to keep the bills paid and your skills will erode as you crank out an endless stream of cheap WordPress sites.

This is a gross generalization. When I started doing freelance a bit over a year ago, I had $500 in the bank, one client, and was quitting an internship at a low bar design studio. If any word applies to my story, it's premature (I decided to quit 24 hours before I resigned). In professional terms, I was an idiot.

But, that didn't mean I was left in a lurch of WordPress sites and sorrow. Rather, it led to immense motivation to develop my skills and build up my network. How did I do it? I was realistic about my skills, my pricing, and the jobs I would get. Then, I busted my ass to turn around excellent work. Time after time, I delivered, either resulting in repeat business or referrals. What's better, my skills have significantly developed.

Don't be discouraged by this. Acknowledge where you're at, where you want to be, and work to build a bridge between those two points. It take a very long time and a lot of hard work. If you're serious: don't give up and keep getting better.

"Pricing yourself beyond the reach of irrational clients is a good first line-of-defense against taking jobs you’ll regret." - great advice. It's important to quickly filter irrational clients.

It's good to set a minimum contract size and tell people that up front. Also, discuss projects in terms of days, weeks or months of work, and not in hours. This way you can respond to inquiries for rates: "We charge $1500 per day, with a $7500 minimum contract size."

Then you can charge per project after a discussion on how many days or weeks it will take.

I started freelancing a little over 2 years ago and have more than doubled how much I was making at my previous agency job. A few tips would be:

- Save up 3 - 6 months "salary" before you jump-ship. While you are doing that, build your portfolio and start lining up work. If after 3 - 6 months you can't find work, you can always go back to working for someone else again.

- Hire an accountant. For the amount of stress they reduce, they are worth every penny.

- Establish good relationships with a few agencies close by, where you could possibly do contract work. You may not be able to charge them as much, but having them as a fall back when you are slow is nice.

- On a related note: Don't consider contract work through other agencies bad. From my experience, one agency gets work from another agency, who gets work from another agency, etc.. There is good money to be made being the production guy.

No. No no no no. There is absolutely no reason that you need to find full time non-freelance employment in order to network and build a freelance client base. That's complete nonsense.

I am so sick of seeing people do something, become successful, and then start telling other people that their way is the only right way.

This post is the missing part that Brennan Dunn and patio11 ignore. How do you bootstrap from zero clients? How do you build a reputation?

I highly doubt you'd ask this question without being a successful freelance web developer. So instead of talking to you about skills, I can offer some business finance advice in general: CONTROL YOUR FINANCES!

I've learned a lot from the Easy Numbers blog (http://billysbillings.com/blog) by Billy's Billing. They share financial advice for entrepreneurs – including freelancers. A great way to save money from having to hire an accountant because you'll know what to do for yourself. Best of luck!

Great post - I just started freelancing last year and I got some good tips out of it.

I'm interested that you mention LinkedIn to network, as the startup I'm working on is aimed precisely at helping freelancers find clients through their social networks. (Since we realised that most clients hate using eLance and prefer to ask amongst their professional contacts for referrals).

Would be great to chat more if you're interested (email is isaac@i.saac.me).

Nice article, I thought it'd be one of these self-help articles I personally can't stand, but I was quite surprised to see I've actually been following this very path.

I'm currently at Step #4, having a part-time job in the mornings and freelancing in the afternoon, and so far I've only been under stress occasionally for really short periods of time.

I just hope everything works out and I can reach the last step smoothly...

Great article and right on time. I've already gone through step #1 (7+ years FT dev experience in various companies/startups) and plan to break into freelancing/consulting in 2013. I especially appreciated the last part - specialisation - as I'd like to set up shop on one or more niche areas I have most experience with.

On the other hand I am less keen on steps #2 and #4; the thought of reconnecting with (the few) old contacts I haven't exchanged a word for years and didn't have much rapport in the first place feels a bit daunting at best, out of question at worst. Linkedin/Meetup groups sound a bit better in theory, though based on past experience I'm not so optimistic.

I had a very different experience than how you wrote it. I started as a FTE for a small software company and was contracted out to a larger one. They made the mistake of letting me know how much they were actually charging for me per hour and when they started laying off engineers rather than management i realized how mis-managed the place was. Thats when i went on my own and searched for work on my own. Co-workers is one way of finding new gigs, but the best has been actively searching through linkedin and other forums such as HN!

I have a different idea on pricing for new developers: decide what you want to really get paid (hourly rate) and if you need to "eat" some time learning, then eat it. You'll get faster as you learn more and hone your process and eventually won't need to eat any time. Much easier than raising your rates with existing clients later.

Also, find ways to reduce the amount of time you spend on non-billable tasks (time tracking, invoicing, etc.)

Networking certainly is high up there. That's coupled with having clients who love you and want to refer you. Plus if you're international, it helps SEO-ing well because I've certainly found myself searching "freelance ruby on rails developer" or "freelance ruby on rails develeper [city/country]" and found great leads instead of combing something like ODesk or Elance.

I agree with just about everything from this post, especially the emphasis on building a network. It's something that technically-focused freelancers tend to forget about, understandably. Still, it's one of the best resources for finding and maintaining gigs.

"Your goal is to become known as someone who solves problems, rather than the 'web guy'."

having a full time job and trying to launch a freelance career is not easy. its simpler to save up money and take a few months off work and work on your freelance projects like crazy. no matter how simple and mundane your regular job is as a human being you cannot realistically work for so long and expect to have a fresh state of mind to work on other projects and produce 100% quality outcome efficiently. talking from my own experience.

This post essentially says nothing. The tl;dr is, use LinkedIn to network and build a client base.