3 ms·

I haven't been an keen reader, but recently started reading stuff online and offline. Recently read "Rework" by Jason Fried. What good reads do you recommend fo

I haven't been an keen reader, but recently started reading stuff online and offline. Recently read "Rework" by Jason Fried. What good reads do you recommend for consulting/freelancing? How difficult was it to get work in initial days? Is it not very difficult to get work for someone who has no freelance projects to showcase?

eswat 12y ago
Part of the “make the change easy” was making sure that I had work lined up before leaving my job. So by the time I was ready to quit, I was already jumping into projects (these projects were with people that I had worked with in my last job and started their own companies or knew very well in the local startup scene). It is difficult to get work without a showcase of some kind, especially a designer. That’s why I relied on contacts I would consider good friends as my first clients. As mentioned earlier, they either worked with me in some way or I’ve talked to them before about the cool stuff I was working on, but was ready to start something of my own. They didn’t need to see my work, because they either seen me work or have heard me talk about this stuff at local meetups (helps that the community is small here). Though I consider myself extremely lucky to not have had done any outbound sales for my first gigs, so YMMV. As for reading material, these are the books I went through last month specifically for consulting/freelancing + the one I’m currently reading. If you’re not a designer I’d just recommend reading the last three. - The Designer’s Guide to Freelancing (http://nathanpowell.me/guide-to-freelancing/ http://nathanpowell.me/guide-to-freelancing/) - Design Is a Job (http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job) - Double Your Freelancing Rate (http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/ http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/) - Million Dollar Consulting (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MPQ230/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MPQ230/)

eswat 12y ago

Part of the “make the change easy” was making sure that I had work lined up before leaving my job. So by the time I was ready to quit, I was already jumping into projects (these projects were with people that I had worked with in my last job and started their own companies or knew very well in the local startup scene). It is difficult to get work without a showcase of some kind, especially a designer. That’s why I relied on contacts I would consider good friends as my first clients. As mentioned earlier, they either worked with me in some way or I’ve talked to them before about the cool stuff I was working on, but was ready to start something of my own. They didn’t need to see my work, because they either seen me work or have heard me talk about this stuff at local meetups (helps that the community is small here). Though I consider myself extremely lucky to not have had done any outbound sales for my first gigs, so YMMV. As for reading material, these are the books I went through last month specifically for consulting/freelancing + the one I’m currently reading. If you’re not a designer I’d just recommend reading the last three. - The Designer’s Guide to Freelancing (http://nathanpowell.me/guide-to-freelancing/ http://nathanpowell.me/guide-to-freelancing/) - Design Is a Job (http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job) - Double Your Freelancing Rate (http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/ http://doubleyourfreelancing.com/) - Million Dollar Consulting (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MPQ230/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MPQ230/)