11–20 of 61 posts
start here: http://www.freelancer.com/affiliates/ahmed613/ and make sure you the projects that you can really finish!
- Don't restrict yourself to the local market. Businesses in other countries might even pay more than your local businesses (e.g., pay in Vienna is quite meager if you don't have the connections and have a small portfolio, while job markets in UK are so sucked empty that you can get your first gigs there).
- Emailing does help to get jobs. Don't just send them your CV (I think CV is optional), do go the extra mile and cherrypick your special skills, things you would emphasize on if you had only 10 seconds to pitch. People want you to make their life easier, and it starts with short, uncomplicated emails.
- Don't assume there will be hard feelings if you demand "too much". Demanding high pay makes you look more confident and experienced. If they can't pay, they will tell you and be happy if you lower the rate. Also, think about what you want as a minimum rate beforehand, and don't go lower than that, or you will hate the job. Another alternative is to set up a fixed price, based on what you think you can create value-wise. If you are in a developed country, please don't EVER go lower than $50/€40 or you are just ruining everybody's job market.
- Do people favors whenever you can - people are so happy when you help them (even if you just offer your help and they don't take it), they might become your gratis lobbyists. Just don't ask for something in return of your favors, do them genuinely to help them. More than once did I get a job offer out of a simple favor.
- Attend local user groups. Networking for developers happens there. People don't connect easily by just tweeting at them - once you have talked to someone in person, then they might consider forwarding you that job offer they cannot take themselves. Most user groups are full of cool people, I wouldn't miss that out anyway.
- Setup a blog if you haven't, and try to write when you are in the mood. Don't do it because you have to, but out of curiosity (checking stuff out while writing the post is an excellent way of learning) or because you found THE solution you want everybody to know about. This won't get you job offers immediately, but you can position yourself as a niche expert in the long term. I got to improve on that point myself :)
- Relax and be confident that you will get your bills paid, even if it seems unlikely at the moment. You will automatically be more outgoing and more pleasant to talk to when talking to potential customers, and it will prevent you from making mistakes out of irrational fear of going broke (yes, I've had my share of that). I put this last because I consider it the most important :)
ADDED: A friend of mine had success with accepting a headhunter's offer at LinkedIn. As scammy as headhunters may seem (and yes, they get a huge cut), non-scammy companies do hire them out of desperation. Might be worth a look.
I'm always amazed the influence that personal projects have on which kind of work comes through the door. There's a reason why many companies have a public 'labs' page. Featuring these projects will pull in clients that appreciate your sensibilities (I believe these are the best clients to have).
btw - the fact that you're on the first page of HN is a good start!
Much like how in product development we talk to customers prior to building stuff, I'd suggest verifying that you have an addressable market for a service offering prior to defining what that service offering is. "Freelance", "web", "design", "local", and "business" are five things that you said in that sentence which might be distinctly suboptimal.
Consider alternatives such as "I am the world's leading expert on WordPress sites for heritage language Asian schools." That sort of thing potentially resolves a lot of customer identification and marketing problems, and lets you charge much higher rates than generic "local business web-dev", even though you might just be doing web development and heritage language Asian schools may all be local businesses for some value of local.
(By the way, just my biases talking, but when I think "local business" the phrase "the best possible customers for programmers because they love paying five-figure invoices in a timely manner after competently managing reasonably specified projects" does not exactly jump to the forefront of my mind.)
I have been a freelance web developer, and I can tell you that starting on the internet is a good way to build a portfolio. start here: http://www.freelancer.com/affiliates/ahmed613/ and make sure you the projects that you can really finish!
I have been a freelance web developer, and I can tell you that starting on the internet is a good way to build a portfolio. start here: http://www.freelancer.com/affiliates/ahmed613/ and make sure you the projects that you can really finish!
Come on, this is a hacker community...The people here aren't that dumb. Atleast, you could have used a URL shrinking service..duh!
Why do I have to shy about promoting something real?!!
I've decided that I want to start freelancing doing web design for local businesses/organizations. Much like how in product development we talk to customers prior to building stuff, I'd suggest verifying that you have an addressable market for a service offering prior to defining what that service offering is. "Freelance", "web", "design", "local", and "business" are five things that you said in that sentence which m…
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Measuring Production/Service – Questions To Ask At The End
“Did they give a testimonial? On a scale of 1-10, how glowing/awesome is the testimonial?”
“Did they give us referrals? How many? How many sales did that lead to?”
“Did this job become an outstanding addition to our portfolio? Why or why not?”
“Did they purchase any relevant upsells or services?”
“Subjectively, did it feel like it ‘went well’?”
“What was the cost in time and money to do the work? (Did any of the money/time cost relate more to general asset-building, knowledge, etc, than the fulfillment itself?)”
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If you play it right, you'll have 5-10 awesome testimonials )(you can actually say, 'What do you think of my service? What do you think of my promptness? Friendliness? Looking out for you?' Etc, to get quotes on relevant topics. You'll also very likely get at least a couple referrals out of it (aim for 3 on average per client to start, you might not hit it depending but it's a good target), and probably 1 or 2 of them will choose you for significant work later. It's really just a win, if you don't mind hustling and working. Sadly actually, some of your best free clients you'll have to run down and really bust your ass to get them to even agree to take your work for free! But it's worth it, it works.
Make a nice portfolio site of whatever you have available, and compose a nice cold email being very honest about who you are ("I'm just starting freelancing and can do XYZ") and then look up every single marketing / design / interactive agency in a 100 mile radius and send them a cold email. Even if they don't have work you'll go in their list of available freelancers and may get a response a month later, or referrals etc.
Try doing the same for any sizable business in the area. Particularly the type that would have a dedicated marketing / interactive or software department.
Basically the goal is to lock down clients with steady work and that have infrastructure and experience dealing with fresh freelancers. Its going to give you far more bang for the buck/effort than handing out business cards door to door.