How To Find Freelance Clients

In this episode Wes and Scott talk about how to find freelance clients — tangible things you can do to position yourself and set yourself up for success.

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1:27 - Question from Andreas Trattner: I am a backend developer with 4+ years experience working on large systems in Europe and am considering moving toward freelancing/contracting. However, I find it difficult to discover quality opportunities. Any tips you can share on how to strategically get projects?

• There isn’t a secret trove of work, and there’s no one way to do it.

4:50 - Relationships

• Trust and relationships rule all. The best paying gigs are never advertised.
• Who should you know?
  • Other developers
    • How? Meetups, Conferences, Twitter, Slack rooms, Friends
    • Tip: Volunteering is a great way to get in to conferences, plus you often get to know people
    • Tip: If you are friends of a friend who gets a lot of work, as for a introduction
  • Designers and marketers
    • You usually work together
    • How? Twitter, Email, Dribbble, Instagram
  • Project managers
    • How? Cold emails, tweets
  • Office managers
    • Life blood of the office - they know everyone
    • Often move into other roles
    • How? Meetups, previous employees
  • Entrepreneurs
    • Lots of connections, often switching gears
    • How? Demo camps, Facebook marketing groups
  • Venture capitalists
    • Have dozens of companies and tons of connections
    • How? Demo camps, introductions, cold email

19:08 - Display of expertise

• It certainly is an option to just be really freaking good at what you do
• Speaking at conferences and local meetups
• Working on open source
  • Helping in chat rooms
  • Posting guides
  • Maintaining docs
• Offering reviews / Make things public
  • Performance - Harry Roberts from CSS Wizardry
  • Accessibility - HeydonWorks
  • WordPress speed
  • React checking
• Start a podcast
• Blogging
• Volunteering

9:22 - Visibility

• You need to let everyone know what you do. Your mom’s uncle’s friend’s cousin on Facebook might casually ask for recommendations.
• Instagram / Photos. Showing people what you are doing and what you are working on will make a mental note in their head that you do that type of work.
• Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
• Blogging
  • This makes the “vetting” process much easier
• Tweeting
• YouTube videos
• Slack channels you are involved in

38:02 - Other tactics

• SEO - Locality (Toronto designer), specific technologies (Redux contractor)
• Craigslist
  • This one sucks, but it can lead to decent work occasionally
  • You need to be more vigilant in screening, most clients will suck
• Cold asks - Just ask people what works well
  • “Hey, I’m looking to book a few contracts starting June 2019. I love working with ______ and you can see my work here”
• Put a phone number on your website. Seriously.
• UpWork
  • Won’t make as much money here because of competition
• Local business listings
  • Find online and offline biz listings
  • Old fashioned — putting your card on bulletin boards

47:29 - Maintaining Relationships

• Check in every few months with non-biz related contact
  • But also just straight up ask for work
• Christmas / Thank-you gifts

• Canadian Couch Potato

• Scott: Google Drive Scanner
• Wes: Endy Mattress

• Scott’s React Hooks For Everyone
• Wes’ All Courses

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