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Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

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Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#11

Post by jreposa »

ianterrell wrote: post #7

If you're doing web or mobile development or anything that is contracted out regularly, I highly recommend you make relationships with the creative/development agencies in your area. My experience is that the decent ones always have more leads than they can execute on at any given time, which leads to two scenarios: 1) They want to grow, lack full development strength, and will subcontract you to work under their nam…

Agreed. Although, as a person who runs an agency, I do get a lot of emails a day from freelancers. So, you should try to stand out by showing your best work up front and be a real person. Don't try to sound like you're a team of 12 by saying "we" and attaching your company logo to everything. Simply say...

"My Name is protoweek and I really like what you guys are doing. I especially like your app XYZ. If you need help on a project I'd love to work with you. Here are the last three apps I've published. If you need an invite code let me know.

http://www.protoweek.com/app1 http://www.protoweek.com/app2 http://www.protoweek.com/app3 "

Something as simple as that usually gets my attention.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#12

Post by MrFoof »

Are you simply freelancing (one-man body shop) or consulting? The former is a short-term employee, the other involves "paying for a solution to a problem". Both are done for cost savings, but with a bit more up-front work to get in the door, the second tends to get you paid better.

I've actually taken this route as of a few months ago, and the best advice is to share your new plans with people you've worked with in the past who have appreciated your work. Former managers, CIO/CTOs, even contingency recruiters who have placed you in the past (worst case, you work something out on a corp-to-corp basis and they'll have plenty of work and leads for you).

I mostly do data warehouse ETL recovery/refactoring, database performance tuning, and some data architect work. The way I sell it is to distill my previous work down to some easily digestible details: "Automated recovery of existing processes, eliminating manual hand-held recovery. Improved performance of evening batch processes by 1500%. Reduced replication time to DR site by 70%". Then, when asked about details, feel free to explain it in excruciating detail over lunch. If they have a specific need, odds are you can get them the results their looking for -- explain your approach, common issues, and get in the door. Even for something like, "I need X built", you have to look past "I can do it" and try to figure out what the customer is looking to get out of it (increased sales, conversion, etc.) and explain not only how can deliver on those metrics, but ideally back it up with previous history.

I've had lunches with former bosses, and talked to former co-workers. I'm not the guy who networks at all (Patio also covered this topic rather well: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/17/ramit-sethi-and-patrick-...

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#13

Post by eggbrain »

My guess is that you are an experienced developer that worked for a company and never saw the outside clients -- meaning you have no reputation in the field outside your resume.

I'd partner with a web-contracting agency in your area to start doing work through them -- something where you work directly with clients on a day to day basis.

After you've worked for a dozen or so clients, you'll start to have a reputation, and from what I've found with friends, once you quit your contracting job you'll find clients wanting to still give you work based on what you've done. From there word of mouth does a good deal of work, and going to networking events and forming relationships does the rest.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#16

Post by lnanek2 »

Go to meetups and other tech events. Make friends with people and talk about their ideas. Give out your card. You'll get propositions to help people constantly. Some of those people will be willing to pay. The more you get asking you, the higher you can raise your price.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#17

Post by rglover »

Don't be adverse to meeting people. Some of the best work that's come through my studio has been the result of meeting with someone six months prior and them remembering my name/work.

Reach out to people you feel you can help. Don't be arrogant, but offer an honest and articulate reasoning for offering up your services.

As a developer, have (at least) two things online: a list of recent projects (could be as simple as a Github account) and a blog/notebook with some of your work. I know a lot of the developers that I follow just from coming across an article or tutorial they wrote.

Try putting up a personal site that says who you are (a profile, photo, etc.), what you can do (services), and a rough cost estimate of working together (i.e. my projects start at $X,XXX and average $X,XXX).

Sell yourself on HN. Make sure your profile says what you can do and has contact info. Also, checkout the monthly "Seeking Freelancers" thread. It's a great jumpstart when you're looking for work.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#18

Post by padobson »

Have conversations with people that need problems solved.

What's your main area of expertise? Go to online communities where that expertise is discussed and join the conversation. When somebody enters the conversation that needs a problem solved, you'll be headed towards a new client.

Social networking is your friend. A month ago, I got a new client using Quora - through a question I asked about how to find new clients.

The more companies you talk to, the closer you'll get to finding somebody that needs you. Remember, they want you to consult for them as much as you want to consult for them, so go out there and find them. From my perception, the environment is very pro-consultant right now.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#19

Post by 13rules »

verelo wrote: post #2

Work your real life connections, you'll start by taking some pretty crappy work (it'll possibly feel like a career downgrade for a bit) but word will spread and opportunities will present themselves. You just need to produce great work, and stick to it. Only key advice i would suggest is simply not to lock yourself into one contract for too long, unless its a great one. Nothing worse than some great work coming up, a…

Work your real life connections

Came here to say this. Go ahead and post on the freelancing websites if you want — but separate yourself from the outsourcing companies. Do not lower your rates to compete against them. If a potential client chooses someone else over you simply because they are cheaper, trust me, you do NOT want them as a client.

Work your real-life connections in your local area. If you don't have that many, get out and make some. Realize that your skills offer an expertise that others need. Become known as the expert in your area and word will get around. Ask for referrals.

It can be really frustrating to hit the pavement day in and day out, but you have to do it and eventually it will start to pay off.

Re: Ask HN: How does an experienced freelancer get work?

#20

Post by davewasthere »

I don't know how I get work, but I always seem to be busy (for the past four years of freelancing at least).

Main thing is to put the word out. Have projects of your own. Offer advice freely. Be helpful. I normally have more work than I want and can be fairly choosy.

But I've got to admit, if it all dried up, I'm not sure how I'd go about 'looking' for work. (that said, I'm not sure I'd want to)

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