Ask HN: What can I do to find more leads for freelancing? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What can I do to find more leads for freelancing?

26 pointsnotastartup15 comments

So far I have worked with handful of clients. Back in January, when I went this route, it was a high risk move for me. However, I ended up alright. Now growing as a freelance developer, I have setup a portfolio website http://appsonify.com in hopes that I can win more clients.

I've gotten lucky in the past but have no developed system where I am constantly sifting through leads to follow, and this worries me.

Where to even start looking, is the biggest question for me. People say go to meetups, but I don't know what meetups I should attend to find gigs.

I also looked into Adwords but it seems super expensive upwards of $1 per click. What strategies can I employ to purchase leads? Or should I even be doing this at all?

If you are currently a freelancer, what was the single most effective action you took towards landing more client leads?

Any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated.

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Don't advertise; network! The leads you get as referrals from people you've already helped will be higher quality clients, and they will come to you already having respect for what you do, due to the referrer's recommendation.

To this end, ask past clients if they have any colleagues or friends in need of work. Also ask them if they're willing to be featured in a case study/whitepaper/writeup. My best-paying gigs came from friends' referrals.

Also consider starting your own network. Use your knowledge of industry XYZ (gleaned from serving XYZ companies) to put together a 1-2 hour talk on "Bringing XYZ to mobile" or "How to solve XYZ problems on the web." Hold a seminar/webinar/meet & greet session at your local library/hotel/chamber of commerce. Bring coffee and donuts and get it listed in the local paper and village newsletter. People will come (if only for the donuts), see you as the leading local authority on XYZ-meets-technology. At this point, stick around after the session for Q&A and the leads will start coming in. My lawyer friend has a lot of success with this technique.

If you don't mind working with design agencies then send them email to setup a meet and chat about yourself. Don't send a super long email to them, just a short, conversational tone asking to meet for a coffee and a chat about what they do and what you do.

this is an interesting idea, why design agencies? What are they like? Is it so I can offer a technical expertise to their design projects?

Design and advertising agencies are often asked by their clients to produce apps, and generally have a single inhouse dev or outsource the work to freelancers.

Do some research in your area to find a fair hourly rate for your work. Bill hourly, never ever agree to a per-project fee, I cannot stress that enough.

Also I would recommend against accepting any offers of full or part-time employment with the agencies. They tend to be sweatshops. Treat them as a supplementary source of income and don't get sucked in too far.

I agree with your first 2 sentences, but that last one is really just pretty lame. Not every agency is a sweatshop.

I'd say a significant portion (90%) are.

I recommend reading the agency's Glassdoor reviews.

Just a heads up, the TD Ameritrade link on your site is broken. Have you looked into getting referrals from previous clients? Do they know you're still freelancing/looking for new leads?

There are a few weekly emails that provide a steady flow of curated leads:

http://letsworkshop.com/ http://www.iosleads.com/ https://freelancedevleads.com/

The leads mailing lists look very interesting. I'm thinking of subscribing.

Is there anything like this for Android?

http://www.androidleads.net/

You should be identifying and marketing to other businesses within the same industries as your previous clients. Most businesses in a particular industry will have pain in the same areas.

Area301.com - most freelance job board leads in one place with removed low quality postings.

GetWorkshop.com

I earned that downvote. The url I posted goes to a tool manufacturer, making me the tool :-)

Should have been http://LetsWorkshop.com

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