I started with a service:
https://digitalmicroenterprise.blogspot.com/2018/05/starting...
Proviso: Not really a programmer, though I do little plug-and-play websites these days in addition to freelance writing and resume editing.
Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
11–20 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#12Started overseas, right after dropping from school and landed my first job by pure chance, in the so-called creative industry. Had no money, knew nothing and had to learn the ropes in real life situation. The fact that this was a completely different environment helped a lot. I had to start from scratch and pay attention to everything. Luck played a large part. My first client was a big ad agency so this gave me a bit of a buffer time and also helped to get new clients—that job led to the next, building a portfolio and clients references. For a long time, I didn't know how to market myself, however. It took me years to learn some of the basics in that regard. These are things you only realize in hindsight, after trials and errors, in my case. When you are freelancing one of the danger is that you get a false sense of freedom. When things go well you tend to believe that you are at the steering wheel of your career. But at the end of the day, you depend very much on clients and things that are out of your control. If not careful you can quickly become expendable.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#13Started with message boards (the physical kind!), went from small/private jobs to b2b jobs by using the small/private people's references to get in to their employers and business networks (the people network kind).
In the space of about 6 months went from 100% private jobs to 50% private, 25% small business and 25% medium business.
As much as people seem to be busy with their CV and references, it's often more the presentation of your skills in-situ and the impression you make on potential sources of jobs that will get you a constant flow. In the space of about 18 months I was booked about half a year in advance. This is in a western european country with about 17 million people to give you some context.
About said context: it really depends on your location, rules, lawyerisms and style of capitalism.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#14Still brand new to this, but have pretty much hit the tipping point from "unsure if enough work" to "too much work" immediately.
If the goal is to be on your own, one thing that is incredibly useful is to build a network of people who would be in a complimentary business to yours, are likely to stumble across work that you would be able to do, and aren't in the position to do themselves. For me, that's working with a former coworker whose business is data science + the strategy around it, or a larger consulting firm where I used to work that has projects come across their plate for steady clients that are too small to be worth their time, but can be quite lucrative for an individual.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#15I was already working remotely, but I'd quit a job of several years because of a disagreement.
Someone wanted to give me work, but they preferred to give me a job through a company-based contract rather than being an employee (for work permit reasons). It was pretty straightforward to make that happen from my side. Once I was in that game of "you contract for some of my time, but not all of it", I just carried on.
That someone found me through word-of-mouth / personal recommendation, which is also how everything after that has come along.
I don't market myself particularly hard, but I like to think that my reputation is "brutally honest".
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#16No joke my first client was from a HackerNews "Who is Hiring" thread. I had been doing part-time freelancing while working a full-time job, and had enough of a portfolio that they took a chance on me. That was my first 5 months, and now I'm in month 11 with a 2nd major client that I got through my network of people in my local city.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#17I built up connections during employment and open source communities (the latter was much easier 2 decades ago). Ever since, my "marketing" is:
* Try to over-deliver in some aspect important to the customer (time to delivery, documentation, client integration)
* Try to detect clients I cannot interact with properly and refuse them upfront (refer them to a friend who can deal with this type of client!)
* Bring lube. As an extern, you are causing more friction than an employee. A small present to whoever has to deal with the extra overhead and lots of work towards making his/her work easier help a lot.
* Be professional. Never ever talk bad about a client in public, no matter how bad they are; when you want to mention them in a positive public statement, ask for permission (most will say yes anyways and you pointed them at the free advertising you do for them)
Works for me; I don't even have a website nor any picture of me online with my real name. I don't make public appearances at all.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#18I don't do contracting as much now, but I used to get work through referrals and also blogging. If I toss an item on my blog, do a few blog posts:
And I'll probably get some hits within a week or so.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#19After I proposed to my wife, we did a pre-marital counseling class about budgeting. She knew that I had credit card debt but she didn't know how much and it shocked her when I laid out the real numbers (over $10k). We had about 10 months until the wedding so I told her I was going to try to pick up some moonlighting projects to pay down the debt.
Fast-forward a couple of months and I've picked up a few really simple websites, blogs and a simple web application that I found through responding to ads on craigslist.
I did these types of pretty crappy jobs for a few years until I finally got enough of a portfolio to start bidding on larger and more interesting projects.
Currently I no longer prospect but work as a resource for other creative agencies who need devs on various projects for a few months at a time. It's good work and all started by realizing that I could take more control over my debt and get it paid off quicker if I was willing to give up my tv time in the evenings.
And I did eventually pay off that credit card debt, but not quite before the wedding.
Re: Ask HN: How did you get started as a freelancer?
#20I'm doing freelance EE hardware design.
About 5 years into my career I worked for a small consulting firm that did a lot of mechanical engineering and a little electrical. The owner could not find enough work for the mechanical guys and was tired of the ups and downs of consulting so he closed the business. I asked him if I could continue working directly for one of his old clients and he said sure. So that would give me one customer if I wanted it, but I would need to find more.
I was pretty young and wasn't sure I could do it. I interviewed for one full time job with a startup. At the end of the day I met with two people: 1) my previous mentor who was consulting there at a high level and 2) the CEO. I was open and honest with my mentor and told him I wasn't sure the startup was right for me, and I was considering striking out on my own as a freelancer, like him, even though I recognized I was probably too young to do that. He, being a compassionate and reasonable person, encouraged me and said "well, people should do what they want to do". So, when I met the CEO, I felt I should tell her what I was thinking - I was leaning strongly toward consulting work. Why was I so honest with her? I don't know. It's just my style. But, she blew up. She started yelling at me, saying "You are too young! People become consultants after years and years of experience for a reason! Let me tell you what you need to do! You need to get a job!!!" And she basically threw me out of the building.
From that moment on I was resolved to prove her wrong and become a successful freelancer. It's now 15 years later and I am sure I made the right choice. All my advertising is via word of mouth / previous clients. I've been busy every day I wanted to be busy.