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I'm interested in doing something similar myself. If the HN hivemind could help out, I have a few questions: 1 - How important is it to have some sort of publ
by luke_s 14y ago
I'm interested in doing something similar myself. If the HN hivemind could help out, I have a few questions:
1 - How important is it to have some sort of public profile (eg, High ranking StackOverflow account, Github account, well trafficked blog) or public portfolio? I've done lots of good work as an employee but almost all of it is on internal corporate networks.
2 - Where do you find the all important first few customers? Should I be going to every local users group I can find and handing out business cards? Or hitting up sites like http://www.guru.com/ http://www.guru.com/ ? What worked for people?
3 - What size jobs are feasible? I would like to start this on a part time basis while still working my day job. Is it possible to find jobs small enough to keep me working 1 or 2 days a week?
- Sodaware 14y ago1 - Nobody has ever asked if I have a GitHub or StackOverflow account. This might be different for high-priced jobs, but for everything I've done it's never come up. Normally a quick email exchange or phone call has been enough. 2 - I found my first client on oDesk, and they referred me to just about everyone else. I haven't used it since, and it's thoroughly depressing to look at how low pay the jobs are. Posting in the HN freelancer topic, and posting an ad on /r/forhire is another good way to get clients. 3 - Whatever you want - there are tonnes of people that need software building (and plenty that don't even realise it). Just remember that a few hours of time can quickly get eaten by emails, phone calls, "can you just check this", bathroom breaks, leg stretching, quick drinks etc. It takes a while to get in a good rhythm.