
Ask HN: How do you find clients with no network? - AnancyDotWS
I&#x27;ve been programming for ~14 years and throughout this time I&#x27;ve found that I&#x27;ve been most passionate about my Open Source work and Linux community involvement.<p>Over the years I slowly withdrew from the Linux community, then a couple years ago I changed jobs and found that it slowly killed all passion I had for programming.<p>Last year I was laid off (no reflection on me personally) and after taking some time off, I decided to try my own thing. I&#x27;ve been doing that this year by attempting to work on my Open Source project(s) as much as possible and while I haven&#x27;t achieved what I hoped I would, I&#x27;d say it&#x27;s been great.<p>Problem is... this isn&#x27;t viable without proper funding, so I&#x27;ve been trying to sell my skills (React, TypeScript, Go, etc.) and I&#x27;m finding it very  difficult to find clients.<p>The usual places like UpWork and other Freelance websites seem to be a race-to-the-bottom and&#x2F;or filled with horror stories.<p>I&#x27;ve also tried cold emailing and contacting people through Reddit and Facebook with no luck.<p>Jobs postings here and other places naturally seem to be directed at finding actual employees while I&#x27;m more of a web dev agency&#x2F;consultancy.<p>Other advice I&#x27;ve seen is to build a network, but I&#x27;m not exactly sure how to go about it without already having some kind of network behind me.<p>I&#x27;ve been thinking to put the idea on hold and find employment, but I fear I would simply end up in the same situation I&#x27;ve been in the last couple years.
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yixiang
I started with no connections too. I've been a freelancer since 2015 and I
recently started my own consulting firm. Here's how I got clients.

1\. I contacted someone on a PHP forum looking for coders, we chatted and he
turned out to own a consultancy and one of his clients was looking for .Net
coder. He referred me and I got my first client as a freelancer.

2\. I attended a frontend meetup and met another consultancy owner and I
freelanced for him for about a year.

3\. Last year I sent out around 50 proposals on Upwork and got several people
talking to me and 1 client. It was not terrible, just very frustrating, and
there were people who were only looking for US/European freelancers so you are
not always competing with, say, Indians. Eventually Upwork asked for my id
card, electricity bills and I left.

4\. When I was starting my own consultancy, I wrote an ad and asked everyone I
knew to post it on their social media. I also asked my girlfriend to ask
everyone she knew too. 500 people saw it and I got my company's first two
clients.

Key insights:

1\. Consultancies/agencies are easy targets, when they need coders, they
REALLY need coders NOW. You won't get paid as much, but a subcontract is
better than no contract. And they might even refer clients to you.

2\. Keep meeting people, and talking to them about your service. Know that
forums, Upwork, networking are all just means for meeting people. How you do
it doesn't matter, what matters is that you keep meeting people.
Congratulations on becoming a salesperson and yeah, it's less sexy than
writing code.

~~~
usurpedfounder
There is a big need for even contract type work to help nontechnical founders
prototype. I get asked at least 1-3x per month (as a crappy front-end dev that
has no time to keep learning how to code) to build x or y project. Post under
job boards that you are "accepting PT or prototyping contracts" on job forums
of communities similar to YC. Start-up coworking spaces, such as the CIC in
Boston, have Slack channels where people are constantly looking for devs - ask
a current member to post your capabilities on their internal Slack channel.
Probably a bunch of folks would be happy to chat with you about contract work.

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taprun
There's nothing to prevent you from networking while you have a job. Here's
what I suggest:

1) Find a specialty. It's easier to get referrals when you're the "shopify
guy" then when you're the "generalist programmer guy." You don't have to BE a
specialist, so much as present yourself as one at the initial stages.

2) Let people know that you have that specialty. Introduce yourself as such,
gives talks on the subject, build a blog about it, start a newsletter, offer
to help people in related chat rooms / discussion boards.

3) Along the way, try to be helpful to other people, both in your field of
expertise and not. Helping people strengthens bonds in a network and makes
them more willing to recommend you.

4) Every once in a while ask if people you know might know of people who have
problems you can help with (and get paid for)

Feel free to contact me, I'm happy to help...

~~~
AnancyDotWS
Thanks! I will definitely think about presenting a more specialist image and
asking people I already know esp. family.

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arandr0x
It's likely you're mistaken about not having a network. Are you married? Does
your spouse occasionally leave the house? I've known people who got jobs
because they went to their partner's company party and brought up what they
did. Most the "network referrals" people get are from people they've never
met, but who are their best friend's hairdresser or who've once talked to
their ex-boss at a conference or something. If you're in a conversation with
somebody that progresses far enough that you get their name, tell them what
you do and that you accept clients.

You could also cold-email other freelancers -- usually freelancers in an area
all know each other and tend to have times when they can't take on new work
but some clients still show up.

If you're in something web oriented (you do say React/TypeScript) consider
partnering with a freelance designer.

~~~
AnancyDotWS
Thinking about it more... you're absolutely right about me being mistaken
about not having a network. I still have family who would help.

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swatcoder
Do you know what your clients look like? You know the technology you like to
work with, but can you characterize the people who would contract out that
work _to you_? Can you describe the kind of projects they pursue?

If you can narrow down your niche by identifying these factors, you can make
your cold outreach more effective. You might even be able to market yourself
through targeted advertising or by attending community events and conferences
centered on your clients' interests.

The other approach is to go back to work but at a contracting/consulting firm
or design agency. There, you'll accumulate a network of clients which you can
mine for referrals and work later on. You'll also learn more about what it
takes to sell and deliver as an independent freelancer.

~~~
AnancyDotWS
Thanks for the response! esp. for the point about knowing what my clients look
like. I have a vague idea, but I think maybe I need to work more on making
that image clearer and more focused.

