Quite nice presentation about freelancing :
http://megrobichaud.tumblr.com/post/22147155867/everything-i...
Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
51–60 of 61 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#52Two points may help:
- Find the gaps in the services of similar "providers"
- Apply Paul Graham's "run upstairs" principle: choose the hardest gaps and develop the ability to fill them more easily than the competition.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#53Instead of conjecture, here's how I got started as a freelance dev, starting 6 months ago. You need a decent portfolio site Design and build in in WordPress or something similar. Prove your design chops here by having a well-design, functional, and more importantly clear message to potential customers. You want to let your customers have confidence. It doesn't have to be amazing. Mine certainly isn't. http://andrewhe…
"Next, you start bidding for work"
Other than FreelanceSwitch and Craigslist, which sites do you use? I'm genuinely curious, as when we launch matchist.com at the end of the summer, I'm hoping it's on the list of places you can find quality work.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am the world's leading expert on WordPress sites for I'd tune out the second I saw such a marketing boast; the odds of being pure b.s. are through the roof.
The idea is that you google 'wordpress sites for heritage language asian schools' and this guys blog is the only thing on the SERP for the informative, expertise-demonstrating content he's got there. At no point does he have to be explicit about being the foremost expert in this or any other niche.
I wasn't critiquing the specialization, I was critiquing the claim of being the worlds leading expert. Going for the long tail doesn't require lying.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#55Key lesson I learned the hard way: 1 good ongoing client is better than 100 one-off projects with different clients. There's a huge overhead to finding and onboarding a new client/project. Instead find one good ongoing contract, and put all your extra energy into creating a product that can scale. Freelancing is a dead end road, but you can use it as a tool to bootstrap your own lifestyle business. see also: Four Hou…
> 1 good ongoing client is better than 100 one-off projects with different clients.
I mostly agree with you, except much of the freelancing allure stems from working on new and exciting things, avoiding burnout and boredom. So I'd modify that statement to:
3-4 good ongoing clients is better than 100 one-off projects with different clients.
Edit: didn't read the last half of your comment. If running a startup or building a product is your primary goal, then I absolutely agree with you.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#56Key lesson I learned the hard way: 1 good ongoing client is better than 100 one-off projects with different clients. There's a huge overhead to finding and onboarding a new client/project. Instead find one good ongoing contract, and put all your extra energy into creating a product that can scale. Freelancing is a dead end road, but you can use it as a tool to bootstrap your own lifestyle business. see also: Four Hou…
I take into account the overhead by charging 50% premium on the first 20 hours with the client.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#57Do free/cheap work for a few non-profits. Almost every area will have some highly respected non-profits in the area that will be greatly appreciative of upgrading their web presence. You get a network, a portfolio piece, and a testimonial. The keys are:
* Craft your story from the beginning. Think about the before and after and how you can best spin this for your services, and make sure your work is based on feeding that storyline.
* Be explicit about how they can help you. Are there sponsorship opportunities? Who's connected on the board? Non-profits typically understand how this works and will be willing to work with you.
* Be explicit about scope. They'll want the world, of course. Make sure you table their wish-list to "Phase 2" and really focus on a defined deliverable you can include in your portfolio.
* Most importantly, do a damn good job.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea is that you google 'wordpress sites for heritage language asian schools' and this guys blog is the only thing on the SERP for the informative, expertise-demonstrating content he's got there. At no point does he have to be explicit about being the foremost expert in this or any other niche.
I wasn't critiquing the specialization, I was critiquing the claim of being the worlds leading expert. Going for the long tail doesn't require lying.
Way to read into it. That was totally beside the point. The point was just to specialize. The example pitch was exactly that; an example.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#59Most referrals actually come from other professionals (i.e. no I'm busy/too expensive, but there's this new kid that looks pretty promising.) So what should get the ball rolling for you is to build one really great portfolio site at the top of your ability, making it as good as you possibly know how to make it. Be prepared for it to be taken apart by a keen eye all the way down to someone checking out your HTML/CSS/J…
If I was looking for someone to do web dev work for me, and I went as far as checking out their portfolio site's HTML/CSS/Javascript, I'd say that not minifying code would reflect badly on them. Certainly forgivable if everything else checks out, but still a mark against them.
Re: Ask HN: How do you sell yourself as a new freelancer to clients?
#60Do 5 to 10 jobs for free. Not skimpy stuff either... really put the time in, overdeliver, and bust your ass on these and go for real excellence. It'll pay for itself. At least, it's been good to me. Here's some good questions to measure your success by -- -- 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 g…
Never work for free. The reasons are many, including:
Clients not willing to pay for design will have no respect for you or design.
On the other hand, you could get skewed customer experience information.
You are undercutting other professionals and by the way, those other pros are where a big piece of your business will come from as a small shop.
You won't know how much to charge your first client. You'll probably charge too little.