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Ask HN: Who got a project as freelancer from HN

7 points by mr_o47 3y ago

We have Freelancer seeking freelancer post but did anyone actually got a lead

alxmng 3y ago
I haven’t tried. What I have done successfully is cold outbound. Identify your offer, identify what kind of startups would benefit, and then go to job boards and find startups hiring and reach out with your offer. I’ve won many contracts this way. If you want to know more email is in my profile.
tikkun 3y ago
To give some insight from the other side of the table, I've posted in that thread as someone hiring freelancers. I'm currently doing ongoing weekly work (10-40 hours) related to some GPT agent projects with 2 freelancers that reached out after seeing one of my "seeking freelancer" comments. I've also worked for a temporary period with 3 others freelancers that reached out from seeing my comments. For example here's my comment in the latest thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36154077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36154077. I post monthly and typically get 2-5 inbounds. I'll also note that I haven't emailed any freelancers who posted in the thread. I rely on people seeing my comment and reaching out to me. My advice would be: * After posting your "seeking work" comment, cmd-f/ctrl-f for "seeking freelancer" and email any that look interesting to you. Reach out. My advice on reaching out: * Make your emails short * You can leave your rate out of the first email unless they explicitly ask for it, that way if they don't reply you can tell if it was more likely because they no longer have the need or they weren't interested in your background, whereas if they don't reply after they ask for your rate and you send it, then you know it was probably out of their range * You can politely include a soft deadline. For example - "it would be helpful if you could let me know sometime in the next 7 days whether you're interested or not, thanks" - you can replace 7 with something else but I wouldn't go shorter than 4. This way, if they don't reply by the 8th day, you can treat it as a gentle "no" and you can direct your energy elsewhere * Include what the poster asks for (if they ask for links to prior projects you've made, include those) * Don't try and make it sound impressive, instead just go for "fast facts" - include your links, include what they ask for, and leave it at that. You can send the same thing to each person, other than modifying for any specific requests people have.
- tikkun 3y ago
  Additional tips on reaching out: * Don't send a "Hi are you getting this email, reply to confirm and then I'll send over what you asked for, so that it doesn't go to spam" - just go right to sending the info * Minimize the usage of GPT to fluff up your email. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's often pretty easy to tell, and generally all it does is make it harder for me to skim the email for things that aren't fluff. * Write it in your personal honest style. This way the client can get a bit of a sense for you, and it's more likely to be a good long term match. "Write like you talk" - or write it in whatever style you'd use if you sent them a weekly update about what you worked on that week. * In general, optimize for helping the client see you accurately, because this will help you find clients that are long term fits. You can obfuscate your style and then clients who might love you and want to work with you long term won't realize it, and clients that won't want to work with you long term might not realize that and then you've invested time into something that didn't become a long term working relationship. * Consider including a Loom video where you introduce yourself, 30-180 seconds, a generic one - not a custom one for each client - have a project you worked on in the background and show it live. * If you you don't have a style, consider using the HN style of concise and clear. Think of the style of HN - it's like craigslist. Clear, concise, barebones, and it works. That's kinda what I hope for when freelancers reach out to me. If I wanted long and fluffy I'd post on a forum that valued long and fluffy. But HN's style is more fast facts, bullet points.

7 points by mr_o47 3y ago

We have Freelancer seeking freelancer post but did anyone actually got a lead

I haven’t tried. What I have done successfully is cold outbound. Identify your offer, identify what kind of startups would benefit, and then go to job boards and find startups hiring and reach out with your offer. I’ve won many contracts this way. If you want to know more email is in my profile.

tikkun 3y ago

To give some insight from the other side of the table, I've posted in that thread as someone hiring freelancers. I'm currently doing ongoing weekly work (10-40 hours) related to some GPT agent projects with 2 freelancers that reached out after seeing one of my "seeking freelancer" comments. I've also worked for a temporary period with 3 others freelancers that reached out from seeing my comments. For example here's my comment in the latest thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36154077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36154077. I post monthly and typically get 2-5 inbounds. I'll also note that I haven't emailed any freelancers who posted in the thread. I rely on people seeing my comment and reaching out to me. My advice would be: * After posting your "seeking work" comment, cmd-f/ctrl-f for "seeking freelancer" and email any that look interesting to you. Reach out. My advice on reaching out: * Make your emails short * You can leave your rate out of the first email unless they explicitly ask for it, that way if they don't reply you can tell if it was more likely because they no longer have the need or they weren't interested in your background, whereas if they don't reply after they ask for your rate and you send it, then you know it was probably out of their range * You can politely include a soft deadline. For example - "it would be helpful if you could let me know sometime in the next 7 days whether you're interested or not, thanks" - you can replace 7 with something else but I wouldn't go shorter than 4. This way, if they don't reply by the 8th day, you can treat it as a gentle "no" and you can direct your energy elsewhere * Include what the poster asks for (if they ask for links to prior projects you've made, include those) * Don't try and make it sound impressive, instead just go for "fast facts" - include your links, include what they ask for, and leave it at that. You can send the same thing to each person, other than modifying for any specific requests people have.

tikkun 3y ago
Additional tips on reaching out: * Don't send a "Hi are you getting this email, reply to confirm and then I'll send over what you asked for, so that it doesn't go to spam" - just go right to sending the info * Minimize the usage of GPT to fluff up your email. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's often pretty easy to tell, and generally all it does is make it harder for me to skim the email for things that aren't fluff. * Write it in your personal honest style. This way the client can get a bit of a sense for you, and it's more likely to be a good long term match. "Write like you talk" - or write it in whatever style you'd use if you sent them a weekly update about what you worked on that week. * In general, optimize for helping the client see you accurately, because this will help you find clients that are long term fits. You can obfuscate your style and then clients who might love you and want to work with you long term won't realize it, and clients that won't want to work with you long term might not realize that and then you've invested time into something that didn't become a long term working relationship. * Consider including a Loom video where you introduce yourself, 30-180 seconds, a generic one - not a custom one for each client - have a project you worked on in the background and show it live. * If you you don't have a style, consider using the HN style of concise and clear. Think of the style of HN - it's like craigslist. Clear, concise, barebones, and it works. That's kinda what I hope for when freelancers reach out to me. If I wanted long and fluffy I'd post on a forum that valued long and fluffy. But HN's style is more fast facts, bullet points.