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Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
61–70 of 165 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#62Rework your website to say something real
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#63Network, relationships, people you know.
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#64General consultancy is an extremely crowded space. As a startup CEO, I get at least 3 emails per week from software agencies and consultants. On top of that, they're usually located in India/Ukraine and the rates they offer are very low, so I assume it's very difficult to compete. My advice would be to differentiate yourself: - Become an expert in 1 thing, and one thing only: either start an open source project, or b…
>>I get at least 3 emails per week from software agencies and consultants. On top of that, they're usually located in India/Ukraine and the rates they offer are very low, so I assume it's very difficult to compete. One place hired me thinking I could fix some software they farmed out to India. I was not aware of that when they hired me. Afterwards they said they wanted it fixed in two weeks and fired me when I told t…
And a lesson in the psychology of sunk costs.
They probably did not suddenly wake up after six months and realized the Indian developers were mot getting the job done. They probably lied about how long it would take. The consultant that said they could do it in a month probably also lied about their estimate.
Now, might think I should be generous here and give them the benefit of the doubt. However I once had the chance to talk with the CTO of a major embedded consultancy about how to get those first few jobs where you really can’t be confident about any estimate, and that was the explicit and unambiguous advice he offered to me: lie. Tell them you can do it.
Once a company hires a consultant, it can take a lot of pain to make them go back to the drawing board. They do not want to admit they made a mistake hiring someone, so they will accept less than they expect… but only up to a point.
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#65General consultancy is an extremely crowded space. As a startup CEO, I get at least 3 emails per week from software agencies and consultants. On top of that, they're usually located in India/Ukraine and the rates they offer are very low, so I assume it's very difficult to compete. My advice would be to differentiate yourself: - Become an expert in 1 thing, and one thing only: either start an open source project, or b…
> As a startup CEO, I get at least 3 emails per week from software agencies and consultants. On top of that, they're usually located in India/Ukraine and the rates they offer are very low, so I assume it's very difficult to compete.
This is why cold outreach is rarely effective. Until you’ve seen it, you don’t realize the volume of incoming freelancing pitches coming from all of the freelancers. It’s getting worse with AI automation, now.
Any real networking at all will set you apart. It has to be more than sending someone a LinkedIn request because that’s what all of the other agencies are doing too. You have to establish yourself as a real and trusted person.
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#66Been at this 10 years. My top tip is if you’re doing cold outreach, kickstart the value exchange by giving something first without asking for anything in return.
A “hey I noticed x is costing you more than it should and could be better/cheaper done like this” AND then actually give them the “this” for free without expectation of anything in return is 10x more effective than a message where you’re asking for work.
It doesn’t need to be a big give - an actionable plan for a small system improvement they can give to someone internal to implement, for example, is fine.
Another tip is to highlight the problem with a loom video/recording of some sort. That way they’ve seen and heard you too. This builds instant trust and a feeling of knowing the person behind the business straight away.
Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#67[dead]
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#68In your case, bike or drive around and talk to SMEs in your city. Have friends refer you to their contacts, so it's a warm intro. Build software for free, and maintain it on an annual maintenance contract basis. "Value-price" each AMC. Initially, be fine with "leaving money on the table". Within two to three deals you will figure out a mutually profitable pricing strategy.
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#69Rely on your network. This idea you’re going to email someone you never met and they’re going to agree to wire you 10k is as fanciful as it sounds.
As others have mentioned, it’s a super crowded space and based on my experience and metrics, in the last year has become 4-5x more crowded.
Your offer of 10 free hours sounds great and if you’ve read Alex hormozis books you’re thinking you’re on the right path. 10 hours isn’t free though. It’s 10 hours of my time to support someone who probably has no idea what they’re doing (business wise, I’m sure technically you have skill but that’s not enough.)
Once you’ve got some case studies from people you know. Figure out where the money is and where it’s going. Then give it away for free as lead magnets with value. Charge to do hands on implementation and get your foot in the door there. Make it blatantly obvious you have skills wider than just implementing your lead magnet and look for legitimate opportunities to help their business.
Once you’re at this stage, you can start emailing warm leads.
You need to be likeable, extremely reliable, technical, up to date and be able to deliver value to clients that can afford you.
Lastly, this is an incredibly difficult space to be in. If you don’t have a network that you can rely on to generate leads, you’re sunk. Change tact and focus on the job market. The good thing is, you probably do have a network, you’ve just never thought of them like that before.
Re: Ask HN: How did you land your first projects as a solo engineer/consultant?
#70Well, I started a long time ago: I had written several books and readers occasionally contacted me for doing gig work.