How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job? • Hacker News Board

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#11

Post by ceeK » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 3:35 PM UTC

I didn't come from a 9-5 job, but did want to get into freelancing from being a CS student. The trick for me was to build my portfolio of paid client work by doing significant discounts for HN members (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6382405). I got about 15-20 replies to this, and got to choose the most worthwhile clients. Fast forward and I'm now working for them at a normal rate. The portfolio has also allowed me to gain new contracts pretty easily.

As someone else said in this thread, the trick is to find good clients who know the value of your work. I generally find ODesk, Elance to _not_ be those places. Try to find them through other means, like HN freelancer threads or local businesses.

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#12

Post by ulisesrmzroche » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 6:25 PM UTC

There's a book called 'Get Clients Now' which details a step-by-step sales & marketing plan that I found pretty invaluable. I went without nothing for a year or so, and now I get leads every day.

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#13

Post by timparks » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 9:27 PM UTC

Agree with the comments here but in particular 2 things, one go to your network and people who can vouch for your work - ask them for recommendations and contacts. two, build up your web presence / profiles where you can so that people will understand the quality / level of experience you have. not sure you interest in teaching in order to gain leads, but creating a free online course on what you are good at could be a good way to start gaining a following. also, i've spoken with some SF based developer recruiting companies and I think there is a general trend towards working with remote talent, in particular in US cities that are NOT SF, NYC, Boston, etc - places where the cost of living is much more reasonable. best of luck

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#14

Post by itengelhardt » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 10:15 PM UTC

I don't know if this was inspired by your post, but Brennan Dunn( of Planscope.io) just published a blog post about that same topic: http://planscope.io/blog/quit-your-job/ - might be worth a read for you.

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#15

Post by itengelhardt » Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 10:18 PM UTC

momedalhouma wrote: post #9

i think if you have great github,stackoverflow profil , the people and the great company wil be interesting in your services , there is a lot of website to offer remote job like weworkremotly or freelancers .i think it depends in your skills

+1 for building a StackOverflow/github presence. I don't have many points (about 2,500) on SO - back from when I spent a solid hour or two on the site every day. This eventually allowed me to create a profile on SO careers. I get about one lead a month now.

Re: How does one get started freelancing coming from a 9-5 job?

#16

Post by eswat » Wed, Mar 19, 2014, 2:01 PM UTC

I recently took this plunge. I quit less than two weeks ago and now do occasional design freelancing.

My goals might differ from yours; I want to contribute to more open-source stuff before I make freelancing a full-time thing. But what has helped was just making use of the current network I have - mostly based on a startup incubator that my last company was a part of - and letting them know I was looking for work.

And +1 to the “Always be selling.” advice. I hadn’t done freelancing in many years while working at my last startup, but I always let people know that if an opportunity arose, I would work with them in the future. May seem like a shallow commitment, but in a few months, or years, you may sign up a new client this way.