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Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#101

Post by ssijak »

edem wrote: post #88
ssijak wrote: post #87

Try getting into Toptal https://www.toptal.com/#connect-unmatched-coders-now It is good for both clients and freelancers because Toptal screens both for quality. I am there as a freelancer for half a year and am satisfied. It feels like they are looking after you, and you can pick and choose what you want to work on and how much. They will try to match you with the clients, or you can pick jobs, but they will never f…

Toptal is paying you based on your geographic location so it is rubbish and makes no sense.

You can set whatever rate you want. You can set 1000$/h, but of course, no one will hire you. Anyhow, my rate on Toptal is much higher than what I could get as a senior dev in my country, so it is good for us and as I can tell from reviews much of the world. Devs from the USA complain but from what I can see there are still many devs on Toptal from the USA and many Toptal events in the USA. So to each, it`s own. Another good thing is that you can be part of Toptal and have it be a backup source of work. You can choose your availability without any penalties. As for the companies/clients of Toptal. They get tested devs, guidance (for inexperienced clients) and they have mediators (Toptal) who would guarantee the quality of the devs and intervene in the case of a problem. It is best rated freelance platform, for a reason.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#102

Post by LogicX »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #60

There are pretty good Remote Job sources these days, try them. There are quite a bit of contract works too, which you can start off with. Also, do not forget to walk into your area's agencies, they usually work with freelancers/contractors. - https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs - https://remoteworkhub.com/remote-jobs/ - https://www.crossover.com/ - https://remote.com/ - https://weworkremotely.com/ - https://getbetterlu…

I maintain a list with even more, which I used to get a remote job a few years ago: http://lx.tc/positions

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#103

Post by andriussev »

Mz wrote: post #16

Potential alternative to Upwork that sounds better: http://gigworks.blogspot.com/2017/04/moonlight-work-for-soft...

I applied to Moonlight but never heard anything back, sadly (except for marketing emails).

I suppose that either they have much more developers than contractors, they only work with US people or my skills aren't needed :( (mostly PHP/Laravel backend work with various frontend skills and some experience in other languages)

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#104

Post by gk1 »

xcubic wrote: post #96
gk1 wrote: post #13

I wrote about how I learned to get consulting leads: http://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-le... TL;DR - Decide who is your ideal client. Identify their 1) common pain points and 2) which online communities they participate in (may or may not be HN). Write advice that will help them with their pain points, and share it in those communities. This will in effect advertise that you know how to solve…

How long did it take to go from 0 to clients?

Around 2-3 months. Lived off savings and a credit card. First client came from a referral, but that didn't turn out to be a consistent source. First long-term client came from seeing me on HN.

If I had started with the strategy I explained above, I'd probably get the first client much sooner.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#105

Post by Brajeshwar »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #60

There are pretty good Remote Job sources these days, try them. There are quite a bit of contract works too, which you can start off with. Also, do not forget to walk into your area's agencies, they usually work with freelancers/contractors. - https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs - https://remoteworkhub.com/remote-jobs/ - https://www.crossover.com/ - https://remote.com/ - https://weworkremotely.com/ - https://getbetterlu…

Nice, People seem to like this. Here are the remaining sources for you to look into;

- https://remote.co/remote-jobs/

- https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs

- https://remote.co/remote-jobs/

- https://remotive.io/find-a-job/

- https://www.skipthedrive.com/

- https://www.outsourcely.com/remote-business-services-jobs

- https://www.wfh.io/

- http://jobscribe.com/

- http://europeremotely.com/ (Europe)

- https://www.remotelyawesomejobs.com/

- https://landing.jobs/

- https://remotebase.io/

- https://github.com/jessicard/remote-jobs

And here are some companies which encourage remote jobs https://oinam.github.io/remote-teams/

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#107

Post by smithsmith »

penpapersw wrote: post #48
myrandomcomment wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a person problem. You are at the top of HN. Get off your ass and take the few hours it takes to get a resume done. Maybe that's your issue in finding work. You ask for help but are not willing to do the most basic thing required to get a job?

I have a resume, sorry for the miswording. But my wife values privacy and so isn't comfortable with me just posting it up here on HN willy nilly. And although I am comfortable with it, I feel obligated to respect her wishes.

You may have a good reason to not disclose your identity, but how do you plan to get paid. Do you want to get paid anonymously in bitcoins or you just want to provide your identity to the future employer only which does not make sense to disclose privacy only to your future employer. I am confused here.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find clients when you have no network and can only do remote?

#108

Post by bradfa »

pacomerh wrote: post #69
wtracy wrote: post #4

The problems with Upwork and Freelancer, while significant, are regularly blown out of proportion. I don't recommend them for more than finding short gigs when you're in a pinch, but they are useful for that. Do be prepared to lose a lot of jobs to bidders from the third world. Take advantage of anything that you can use to differentiate yourself. Also, get a stack of business cards and start going to local business…

Honest question. Are business cards still useful?, do people actually hold to them?. If I'm interested in a person I trade emails, done. I don't know anyone who holds business cards from other people.

I find business cards hugely useful as the client. If you don't give me one, I'll forget how to contact you in a few hours.

I have a few inch tall stack of business cards I've collected over the years, mostly from people who wanted to sell me or the company I worked for at the time something. When I or my company want to buy something, I go to that stack and can quickly find contact info to reach out to one of the people and get quotes or info.

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