Ask HN: How do I start freelancing?

It all depends on what you want to do.

Do you want to basically work on your own app but perhaps do custom installs of it, or integration work with it and other systems? Then focus on building on a basic app - while you're talking to potential clients. See if any actually want to use it, and what the pain points are.

I don't do 'design' work specifically, but I suspect if you were pitching 'web site design' to people, they'd want to see a portfolio.

Here's my 'portfolio':

website with my name on it, my location, and some description of what I do. links to sample code/projects (just a handful) link to blog link to resume (outdated by 2 years) list of some moderately current projects (yes, I know you won't have that right now) list of tech I like to work with

That's my 'portfolio' on my site.

What often gets people to me, however, isn't that. It's referrals. Word of mouth referrals from people in my network. But perhaps even more importantly, I participate in local user groups. I nominally still run the local php/mysql group, although I don't do as much day to day as I did years ago. But having my name associated with the local PHP group on meetup.com means I get cold calls from people just because I organize the group.

I get probably 1 a month on average - some random project someone needs done, and they don't know where to turn. They don't care about my resume, portfolio or anything else. They have a need and need it done fast. I sometimes refer them to other people in the local group or my larger network, or take it myself.

"networking" is important, but sometimes a nebulous idea, especially for people who are just starting out. Join other networks - get out there and socialize some, and let people know what you can do. But also promote yourself. An easy way to do that is to run your own group and publicize the heck out of it.

Here's another idea:

Go to local chambers of commerce and organize a 'meet the geeks' ("meet and geek" as a name?) night for local web freelancers in your area and the chamber members. Have it be informal - maybe a couple short presentations by people in the group about "how to get started on the web" or "things to look for in a web designer". DO NOT present yourself, but do organize it. Get everyone's name.

The local chambers should be able to find a space and food and get the word out to their members.

Make yourself known as the go-to guy/gal in your area for work. Even if you can't do the work yourself - that's not as important as being the middleman for that information.

This will end up paying dividends simply because almost no one else will ever do this. The fact that you put 3 hours in to organizing an event and getting people to do something will raise your stature and peoples' estimation of what you can do 100x what it actually is, but that doesn't matter.

Feel free to ping me if you want to discuss this more, or need more help getting started freelancing. I run indieconf.com, a conference for freelancers - perhaps you could attend this fall? (shameless plug!)

EDIT: Someone wrote me asking why I said to not introduce yourself. I was saying "don't present yourself" as in "don't do a presentation yourself", but instead have the event be a spot for other people to present themselves. You'll still have a chance to meet and mingle with X other people, you won't have to be as nervous, and the people you spotlight will reciprocate nice things back to you over time.

With only 2 projects and 100LoC each, I would have doubts whether you have sufficient experience to go freelance yet.

Have you thought of scoping out the established freelancers in your area and contact them to do some of their lower level work at a competitive rate and with permission to link to those projects that you worked on? You certainly don't want to claim credit for work you didn't do. So you do need to be clear as to what you did. Showing your are a dependable team worker is going to be in your favour.

"Keep in in mind that technical is only half of it. Communication in the other half."

Technical, imo, is about 20% of it. Communication, presentation, professionalism and responsiveness are the other 80%. I recently had a friend bring on two contractors for a project. One senior - years of tech - sr level by any measure - and one juniorish.

The sr guy spent all his time refactoring stuff that didn't need it, ignoring established tickets, not answering phone calls, ims and emails in a timely fashion, and missing deadlines. The jr level guy checked in every few hours, did the work on time and answered every question the client had.

Guess which one the client wants back for more projects? The technical stuff - you can learn that quickly. And in fact, much of that changes or is 'new' anyway so you can't be expected to be an expert at everything. You can be expected to be professional. Acting the part, and being available when a client needs you, is about 80-90% of the business.

That's not to say you should lie/fake credentials and such - you will be found out if you lie about stuff eventually, either by the client or someone in their network. My point is generally, with most client/projects, it matters less whether you're an SQL expert or CSS guru and more about whether you show up when you say you will, and deliver what you promise.

Start a community site regarding something you're passionate about. Blog, forum, etc. Make it clear within that community that you're a web developer and always be clear about the sort of projects you can help with. You need to be in it for the long haul because it won't take off for a while but will help you later. That worked for me at one point many years ago. An alternative would be to become entrenched within another community that is already established. Make sure you're passionate about the topic at hand (sport, hobby, etc) or you'll stand out as an imposter.

Build a personal site - nothing crazy and nothing that is difficult to update or requires constant maintenance to stop it looking dead (e.g., blog component or 'latest news').

Make sure friends and family all know exactly what you do and that you're looking for work. They'll keep an ear out for opportunities. Sometimes they might be over-enthusiastic, but any lead has value. If your work queue is empty, you can handle a few time-wasters or painful jobs to get your start.

Major charities will usually turn down offers of unpaid online work (they want donations) so try for smaller ones. Or community sports groups. Companies may be wary of someone without a portfolio but given your spare time, you can afford to design a concept to prove your ability - no obligation to them. There is a line re: 'work for free or full-rate, but never for cheap', so you might have luck doing some charitable freebies rather than cut-price for small businesses.

Remember that the little jobs will often be the most painful, so don't give up when the early projects drag out. Always be building in your head a picture of how long certain types of tasks take you. Track it manually if you need to - concept design, cut to HTML/CSS, etc.

Business networking can help. Many areas have little small business organisations that will have get togethers or advisors.

Especially look to connect with marketing people who work for small businesses with suppliers/sponsors/etc and marketing freelancers who need a go-to web guy. Make an initial contact through an unrelated interest rather than going in with a sales pitch immediately IMO. If you are a strong programmer, speak with small graphic designers who likely farm out their backend work. Or if you're a designer, try to get a feel for which IT companies want a designer they can tap either as a contractor or someone directly in contact with their client.

(Me: Web developer about to complete a 14th year in business, now with two employees. Started by working on the side during an on-the-job traineeship. All work is now just word of mouth; have never advertised, barely bothered networking, etc.)

It really depends on where you live. If you live in an urban area with a decent population there will be people you can meet face to face.

If you live in a rural area it's going to be a lot harder to meet people in person. In that case focus on finding online leads or consider moving.