5 ms·

How to effectively market my consulting skills. I've been a web developer for over a decade now and I'm still not confident in my ability to bring in consistent

How to effectively market my consulting skills. I've been a web developer for over a decade now and I'm still not confident in my ability to bring in consistent work. The work comes, but I'd like to have more potential clients knocking. From what I can tell, the best way to achieve that is by consistently offering to help others with my skills. So I'm making it a point in the coming year to make blogging a part of my work routine. Are any of you facing the same dilemma? I'd love to hear your insights!

grardb 10y ago
I have a hard time breaking into the consulting/freelancing world. I really like the idea of working part-time during off hours for extra cash, but it's proven to be quite difficult for me. I think part of it is that I'm not loud enough, and I think it comes from being an introvert. I'm confident, I'm not shy, and I know I'm skilled enough to work on lots of stuff, but when it comes to marketing myself, networking, small talk with strangers, or anything else like that, I just have the hardest time. It also doesn't help that a lot of opportunities to meet potential clients are found in non-professional settings, and those events are usually centered around the consumption of alcohol in the presence of loud music. I cannot stand loud music and I don't drink alcohol, so the difficulties for me just seem insurmountable.
- smnplk 10y ago
  Have you tried any of the online freelance market places, like toptal, upwork, peopleperhour..etc ?
  - grardb 10y ago
    I have, but with zero success. I've read awful things about Toptal and PeoplePerHour, so I didn't really go for them. Upwork seems to be filled with developers from various parts of Asia where the low cost of living allows them to bid way lower than what I would charge. The quality of work also seems pretty bad, from what I can tell (one-sentence descriptions, bad grammar, crazy low budgets, etc.). I've seen advice like, "If you charge high instead of trying to compete with low bidders, you'll be taken seriously," but then there's the issue of having 0 clients/reviews/ratings, which make it hard to command a high rate. I did have one client on Codementor.io! He didn't give me a review, though, even though we had three sessions and he seemed to be super happy with my help :/
    - gargarplex 10y ago
      I just wrote a book about this. I cover 15 channels for finding clients, and only a few of them involve in-person networking. Here's the website. https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com We have a signup for a mailing list at the bottom of the page. If you sign up, you will get the chapter that explains the fifteen channels in-depth. And no, they aren't channels where you are forced to bid with super-low cost overseas labor. I think the chapters on closing deals could be especially helpful for you. If you're seriously super broke, just email me and I'll hook you up. But I am planning on raising the book's price in 2017.
    - spencerfry 10y ago
      What about packaging what you know and putting together an eBook or online course? A lot of freelancers and consultants are turning to that to make extra money and to build their reputation. Here's an example: https://courses.gorails.com/ https://courses.gorails.com/
pryelluw 10y ago
One of my 2017 goals is to help others market themselves better. Im also a consultant (code and marketing). Feel free to get in touch if youd like some help from me. Email in profile.
gargarplex 10y ago
It's a matter of planting seeds. Always be prospecting. I go into depth in this in my book, https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com ... Doing work for free and blogging are just two of the channels I name. I also provide thirteen other channels, with in-depth description, including copies of ads I posted that generated results. That information is free if you signup for the mailing list. And the book itself contains myriad details, including sales 101, closing techniques & so forth.
jrsowers 10y ago
Here are two pieces of advice from someone who works in sales and marketing: 1. If you're going to blog (which I think is a good idea) make sure you have an opinion that is strongly held and/or differs from conventional opinion. If you only write vanilla stuff, you'll only attract vanilla prospects, which usually end up being a poor fit or boring to work with/for. 2. Take every opportunity to teach what you know. This can be through blogging, commenting on other blog/forums, podcasting, screen recordings...whatever it takes to teach something for free. This establishes you as an expert, provides no-risk value to prospects and has no barrier to entry, so it's a great first step to building a relationship with possible customers.

grardb 10y ago

I have a hard time breaking into the consulting/freelancing world. I really like the idea of working part-time during off hours for extra cash, but it's proven to be quite difficult for me. I think part of it is that I'm not loud enough, and I think it comes from being an introvert. I'm confident, I'm not shy, and I know I'm skilled enough to work on lots of stuff, but when it comes to marketing myself, networking, small talk with strangers, or anything else like that, I just have the hardest time. It also doesn't help that a lot of opportunities to meet potential clients are found in non-professional settings, and those events are usually centered around the consumption of alcohol in the presence of loud music. I cannot stand loud music and I don't drink alcohol, so the difficulties for me just seem insurmountable.

smnplk 10y ago
Have you tried any of the online freelance market places, like toptal, upwork, peopleperhour..etc ?
- grardb 10y ago
  I have, but with zero success. I've read awful things about Toptal and PeoplePerHour, so I didn't really go for them. Upwork seems to be filled with developers from various parts of Asia where the low cost of living allows them to bid way lower than what I would charge. The quality of work also seems pretty bad, from what I can tell (one-sentence descriptions, bad grammar, crazy low budgets, etc.). I've seen advice like, "If you charge high instead of trying to compete with low bidders, you'll be taken seriously," but then there's the issue of having 0 clients/reviews/ratings, which make it hard to command a high rate. I did have one client on Codementor.io! He didn't give me a review, though, even though we had three sessions and he seemed to be super happy with my help :/
  - gargarplex 10y ago
    I just wrote a book about this. I cover 15 channels for finding clients, and only a few of them involve in-person networking. Here's the website. https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com We have a signup for a mailing list at the bottom of the page. If you sign up, you will get the chapter that explains the fifteen channels in-depth. And no, they aren't channels where you are forced to bid with super-low cost overseas labor. I think the chapters on closing deals could be especially helpful for you. If you're seriously super broke, just email me and I'll hook you up. But I am planning on raising the book's price in 2017.
  - spencerfry 10y ago
    What about packaging what you know and putting together an eBook or online course? A lot of freelancers and consultants are turning to that to make extra money and to build their reputation. Here's an example: https://courses.gorails.com/ https://courses.gorails.com/

pryelluw 10y ago

One of my 2017 goals is to help others market themselves better. Im also a consultant (code and marketing). Feel free to get in touch if youd like some help from me. Email in profile.

gargarplex 10y ago

It's a matter of planting seeds. Always be prospecting. I go into depth in this in my book, https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com https://www.breakingintoconsulting.com ... Doing work for free and blogging are just two of the channels I name. I also provide thirteen other channels, with in-depth description, including copies of ads I posted that generated results. That information is free if you signup for the mailing list. And the book itself contains myriad details, including sales 101, closing techniques & so forth.

jrsowers 10y ago

Here are two pieces of advice from someone who works in sales and marketing: 1. If you're going to blog (which I think is a good idea) make sure you have an opinion that is strongly held and/or differs from conventional opinion. If you only write vanilla stuff, you'll only attract vanilla prospects, which usually end up being a poor fit or boring to work with/for. 2. Take every opportunity to teach what you know. This can be through blogging, commenting on other blog/forums, podcasting, screen recordings...whatever it takes to teach something for free. This establishes you as an expert, provides no-risk value to prospects and has no barrier to entry, so it's a great first step to building a relationship with possible customers.