I started a freelancing business in 2017 that ultimately involved me freelancing and cutting my teeth. Stuck with it and after a long struggle finally broke thr

I started a freelancing business in 2017 that ultimately involved me freelancing and cutting my teeth. Stuck with it and after a long struggle finally broke through. Some things I've learned: - Passive marketing just won't work early on. That means spending time on your website, buying Google Ads etc will likely only be dead-ends until you've established yourself. (The exception might be writing niche content about some industry if you happen to know one well). - I've used all of the freelancing platforms- Toptal, Upwork etc. You can make good money but you probably won't grow your business. Your objective if you're trying to grow a business is to scale up, and these platforms mandate that you're the one who has to do the work. I know there are Upwork firms, but I think they're worthless. Oh and Thumbtack is a scam. - The Meetup angle didn't necessarily work for me, but I've learned that going to non-developer meetups are more fruitful, if you're willing to learn about an industry. - The low hanging fruit in 2022 for finding clients is probably investing 15 minutes a day into building a Linkedin network (trivial and you don't need to pick up a phone :)). That means growing your connections, and learning to search for people looking for a developer for X, Y, Z, filtering out full-time hires etc. - Actually the lowest hanging fruit is referral business, so when you get your first clients do a great job and send them emails every few months reminding them to put you in touch with anyone they know. - When a client asks you to do something extra always say no. Always. If they're a great client, do something extra that they didn't ask for. This sounds insane, but the second you do submit to doing an extra request, a client will subconsciously discount your work and time and take it for granted. It almost never wins kudos, almost always wins more requests. I've seen this happen 35+ times. When you do something they didn't ask for, they tend to be more appreciative and touched. - The following are essential business processes you should set up if you want to grow: task management (Github issues for me, make sure to adopt a task format with predictable attributes whatever you use), communication (Slack, invite my clients to a dedicated channel), CRM (I use Hubspot which is free for just CRM), and a project cycle. - By project cycle I mean a contract where you're cash-flow positive, i.e. charge hourly deposits up front as much as possible, as well as defined expectations. What happens when the project finishes? How do you prevent scope creep? - PayPal invoices are nice but they were my biggest expense, 3% of my revenue! Do ACH if possible, or Wire Transfer if the fixed fee is less than the PayPal cost. I even set up a consulting business for invoicing just because this is such a big issue [1]. But don't optimize this until it's worthwhile. Feel free to get in touch if anyone needs any help getting established. My email is my HN username +3@gmail.com [1] https://receivable.dev https://receivable.dev