

Ask HN: How do you find clients? - marcomassaro

Curious to know how HNers who run their own design, development, marketing, consulting (etc) business find or get clients.<p>Referrals seems to be the big one, but would be great to learn about some of the strategies people use to land a larger client or project.
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ekpyrotic
I work in digital tech policy but I think my advice is transferable.

If I could give you one piece of advice, it's 'be active'.

Getting clients is about networking - meeting new people who can offer you
good work on good terms. But this doesn't mean schmoozing at parties or sector
events. You want people to find you through your work - that way your work is
the salesperson. As a bonus, your clients will feel like their reaching out to
you, rather than being sold something.

Saying you're a great designer at a party in one thing, having them find you
through your work is another thing altogether. They can see you can do what
you say you can do.

But how do you get people to find your through your work? This requires
effort, time and a bit of hard work. But the investment is worth it.

You need to do things - you need to be active. Then you people to find your
stuff organically.

So:

* Now is the time to kick off that little side project you've been meaning to finish for the last 12 months;

* Now is the time to complete that article you've been meaning to write for the last 6 weeks;

* Or kick up that HN or StackExchange account again and start answering questions

* Do something more innovative, i.e., write a book, etc.

For the next couple of weeks you need to invest your time in doing stuff.
Start that blog. Get your twitter up and running again. Try to commit 2 hours
a day. Get up a little bit earlier than usually, and work a little later.

Then submit your best stuff to relevant networks, like HN. Or push out a link
to your friends and colleagues, asking for feedback. Hopefully it will start
to pick up traction.

But, most importantly, at the end of all this new stuff that you've
developed/written say that "You're a freelance webdesigner/consultant/etc, and
that you'd love to grab a coffee in X location with anyone that's interested.
Email me now."

This might take a bit of upfront effort but it's worth it. Getting your first
few clients will be the most difficult, but it gets easier - because these
clients will hopefully refer you on to other people, and your business will
start picking up traction.

So, in summary:

1\. Clients (rightfully) fear giving money to new people

2\. You need to show these people that you've got skills (and not just a
business card)

3\. The best way to put potential clients at ease is for them to find YOU
through YOUR work. That way your work is the salesperson, and not you

4\. Do interesting stuff, send it out, write a pitch at the end.

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to hit me up.

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ricardobeat
A good start is the "seeking freelancer" monthly thread here on HN (latest
one:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6995014](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6995014)),
thought they seem to be drying out. Also look at more decent job matching
sites like gun.io, onsite.io, authenticjobs, etc. Startup and business meetups
are hit-and-miss, but they're fun and might net you good relationships, even
if they don't turn into a money exchange.

Patrick McKenzie (patio11) has more advice on this than you'll ever need. You
can start here: [http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/17/ramit-sethi-and-
patrick-...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/17/ramit-sethi-and-patrick-
mckenzie-on-getting-your-first-consulting-client/), or just go through his
comment history
([https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11)).

~~~
mrfusion
What makes you think the HN thread is drying out? Just curious.

~~~
ricardobeat
The ratio of "seeking work" to "seeking freelancer" has increased
considerably, and the quality and variety of jobs decreased. The number of
comments and votes has also dropped, the last one barely showed up on the
front page. Looks like merely being on HN is no longer a good filter, for
either side.

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tagabek
I'm going to repost my comment here from a previous thread.

One of my jobs is an iOS Freelance Developer, and this path is what got me my
first client.

It seems like you are very aware of what you are capable of. It's great to be
realistic, but also realize that you are now in the professional market like
everyone else. Like the other posts say here, NETWORK.

Go to local meetups and present yourself as a real professional. Create
business cards (BONUS: Make yours stand out from the rest). You will receive
many business cards by going to these meetups. You can probably gauge what
would make yours flashier.

Here's an example of my business card that has been one of the most effective
marketing strategies I've ever used:
[http://i.imgur.com/4LeH2vf.png](http://i.imgur.com/4LeH2vf.png)

Update your LinkedIn, Twitter, HackerNews, Blog, etc immediately with solid
and presentable information. If you're unsure of how to do this
professionally, check out other professionals' pages and emulate success.

Now, BUILD THAT PORTFOLIO. Even one side project is generally enough to show
someone that you can do the work. Do you want to show off your skills, but
you're not sure what to build? Take a popular site and build a small client
for it. This is one of the most exciting experiences you will ever go through.
We hear about people building businesses all of the time, and it seems
amazing. There is so much more passion - in my experience - when you are
building yourself.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any basic questions about the whole
freelancing process. I'm happy to help in any way! (Email in profile)

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nihonto
Browse through websites and try to identify issues with design/marketing/or
whatever you do, then get in touch with the owners and try to help them solve
the issues. You'll know instantly (judging by the response) whether there is
potential for you to work together. Nothing endears you to the potential
clients more than free advice.

This method has got a low success rate, so you'll need to go through a number
of websites before you hit a positive response. And it's important to make
sure you've got a "presence" (like ekpyrotic and tagabek said)

It may make things easier if you target websites that are based in your area
(or within a driving distance).

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justintocci
The all time greatest way to get referrals quickly for IT is to do some work
for an accountant. Do a great job, be as professional as you can be. Work for
free if you have to but don't work for less than your rate. Then ask for
referrals. Accountants know the right people and have the right relationship
with them to put in the good word that counts.

The nature of IT is such that the trust level needed to get business is too
high for most marketing techniques. But referrals work (if you are high
quality).

I could give a lot more if you need it. Anyone who needs some help can call
me.

~~~
allwein
> but don't work for less than your rate

Just to touch on this. Some people don't feel like they can justify their rate
when their first starting out, for whatever reason. The common solution is to
start at a lower rate. The better solution here is to keep the higher rate,
but fudge the billable hours silently. i.e. Bill at $200/hour for 10 hours,
even if it took you 20 hours instead of billing all 20 hours at half the rate.
It'll be easier going forward to just adjust your work time than it will ever
be to raise your rate with any initial clients.

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bliti
Go where your target market is. In some cases, it means sites like Quora,
local meetups, and conferences. In others, it means cold-calling random
people.

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Ryel
Meetups are a good start

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0800899g
How do you find clients?

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veritas9
Hustle

~~~
ricardobeat
That's as helpful as saying _magic_. The poster is asking for the definition
of "hustle".

