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Okay, so we've gone from "You can make $100/hr making iOS apps" to "You can make $100/hr making iOS apps if you happen to live in a city that lets you throw an

Okay, so we've gone from "You can make $100/hr making iOS apps" to "You can make $100/hr making iOS apps if you happen to live in a city that lets you throw an event, figure out which people you need to convince to let you throw that event, have enough public speaking skills (along with presentation skills and "appearance skills") to wow the audience, and you can somehow get local business owners to attend your event." The overview is really excellent, it's just that I'm getting the feeling "connecting competent iOS devs to business owners" is a huge unsolved problem. Could I persuade you to throw out some more ideas for how to connect with the right people to land a $100/hr gig? (I appreciate that this thread is rather not-very-visible, so maybe your time is better spent elsewhere. But I figured I'd at least ask, since the advice would be so valuable.)

patio11 13y ago
Could I persuade you to throw out some more ideas for how to connect with the right people to land a $100/hr gig? Write up a case study on how you made a business $MONEY using your iOS programming skills, submit to HN. Contact other iOS freelancers, particularly those who appear to be doing well, and ask if they could provide you referrals for overflow work or work which does not fit their interest (wrong budget, wrong client pool, wrong location, etc). Cold call or cold email people. Dirty secret: it works. Work your offline and/or online social networks, asking people if they will warm-intro you to business owners who fit the general profile of "People who could conceivably write very small [+] checks." [+] This goes against everything in my upbringing and what I believed about the world as a college student, but it is an important lesson for technologists to learn very early in their careers: $4,000 is not a lot of money to many businesses.
- caw 13y ago
  Since you're current in college, you can actually use that to your advantage with certain people. You can now reliably cold call certain people all by saying "Hi $COLLEGE alumni! I'm currently in $COLLEGE" and people will talk to you. I'm sure there's a lot of people still local around the school. How do you find the people? LinkedIn or through your college, they always have things to connect with alumni. You can then ask 'if they will warm-intro you to business owners who fit the general profile of "People who could conceivably write very small [+] checks."'
jdboyd 13y ago
> I'm getting the feeling "connecting competent iOS devs to business owners" is a huge unsolved problem. Maybe there could be an app for that?
wikwocket 13y ago
You are partially defeating yourself here. Yes there is some legwork to be done with this approach (did you expect to get $100/hr by browsing craigslist?), but these hurdles are more about simply getting out of the comfort zone of a stay-at-home college student and into the comfort zone of a businessperson. > ...live in a city that lets you throw an event, figure out which people you need to convince to let you throw that event... The location requirement is basically "big enough to sustain a hotel with a conference room," as that is all you need. Cities do not have a Department Of Permits To Host A Seminar, you can just rent a conference room, VFW hall, or park district room, and pass out fliers. > ...somehow get local business owners to attend your event... Mention free donuts. Only half joking here; your seminar doesn't need to be ISO Certified to attract attention and curious business owners. If you read your local library newsletter or village website, you'll probably see dozens of similar talks put on by local lawyers, accountants, print shops, etc, and people attend those. Heck, the library will probably advertise it for you! > ...presentation skills and "appearance skills"... This is really what it boils down to. Do you have the confidence to convey the image of a professional developer as opposed to a student. After a decade of experience, I would say this is a greater asset than wizardly technical expertise, and a harder skillset to refine.

patio11 13y ago

Could I persuade you to throw out some more ideas for how to connect with the right people to land a $100/hr gig? Write up a case study on how you made a business $MONEY using your iOS programming skills, submit to HN. Contact other iOS freelancers, particularly those who appear to be doing well, and ask if they could provide you referrals for overflow work or work which does not fit their interest (wrong budget, wrong client pool, wrong location, etc). Cold call or cold email people. Dirty secret: it works. Work your offline and/or online social networks, asking people if they will warm-intro you to business owners who fit the general profile of "People who could conceivably write very small [+] checks." [+] This goes against everything in my upbringing and what I believed about the world as a college student, but it is an important lesson for technologists to learn very early in their careers: $4,000 is not a lot of money to many businesses.

caw 13y ago
Since you're current in college, you can actually use that to your advantage with certain people. You can now reliably cold call certain people all by saying "Hi $COLLEGE alumni! I'm currently in $COLLEGE" and people will talk to you. I'm sure there's a lot of people still local around the school. How do you find the people? LinkedIn or through your college, they always have things to connect with alumni. You can then ask 'if they will warm-intro you to business owners who fit the general profile of "People who could conceivably write very small [+] checks."'

jdboyd 13y ago

> I'm getting the feeling "connecting competent iOS devs to business owners" is a huge unsolved problem. Maybe there could be an app for that?

wikwocket 13y ago

You are partially defeating yourself here. Yes there is some legwork to be done with this approach (did you expect to get $100/hr by browsing craigslist?), but these hurdles are more about simply getting out of the comfort zone of a stay-at-home college student and into the comfort zone of a businessperson. > ...live in a city that lets you throw an event, figure out which people you need to convince to let you throw that event... The location requirement is basically "big enough to sustain a hotel with a conference room," as that is all you need. Cities do not have a Department Of Permits To Host A Seminar, you can just rent a conference room, VFW hall, or park district room, and pass out fliers. > ...somehow get local business owners to attend your event... Mention free donuts. Only half joking here; your seminar doesn't need to be ISO Certified to attract attention and curious business owners. If you read your local library newsletter or village website, you'll probably see dozens of similar talks put on by local lawyers, accountants, print shops, etc, and people attend those. Heck, the library will probably advertise it for you! > ...presentation skills and "appearance skills"... This is really what it boils down to. Do you have the confidence to convey the image of a professional developer as opposed to a student. After a decade of experience, I would say this is a greater asset than wizardly technical expertise, and a harder skillset to refine.