> How do you sell yourself if you're more of a generalist like me?
I focus on small firms. They don't have the resources or amount of work to hire a full-time (or multiple full-time) person for each role. If you can do many roles well, they don't have to source/vet a super-part-time person for each role.
> leaving me time and flexibility to work on my own project.
I think there's a bit of give-and-take there. Early on I try to look extra hard for any opportunity to show I can be flexible if they need something, and give them no reason to doubt my ability to deliver. Pretty soon trust is established, and I have all the time and flexibility I need to work on other projects alongside.
> The key is that I can keep getting the work with consistency.
My experience is my clients often don't know beforehand how long-term/consistent the work will be. But if I'm reliable and helpful, it usually turns into a long-term relationship.
> How are you finding part-time work?
HN seeking freelancer thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=whoishiring) got me a particularly nice gig, also meetups, and most of all staying in touch with people I've worked with before. For the latter two, I try to focus on quality over quantity. The handful of people who know me well, tend put me in touch with better matching gigs than the large group of superficial contacts.
Cold-emailing/cold-calling companies that look like they may be a good fit, also worked. Personally I find it a bit draining so I avoid cold-anything if I can.
I also enjoy working on small firms. My current network IRL is small, so I want to use things like "seeking freelancer" more but I'm not good at standing out. What did you post in the thread that got you the gig?
My comment history is short if you're curious about the comment itself. But in general for writing sales copy, I found The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly very helpful, especially the first five chapters. Some of it can seem a bit sleazy to IT folks (the book is primarily written for people who write ads for a living) but there's great advice in there.
Thanks for the recommendation. I've been looking into copywriting to improve this aspect. But I wasn't sure if it works in the tech industry because most copywriting advice seems to be geared at B2C copy where you write for a generally less informed audience.
> Some of it can seem a bit sleazy to IT folks
That's what I mean. Using copywriting techniques can make one seem fake if you don't know what you're doing.
I focus on small firms. They don't have the resources or amount of work to hire a full-time (or multiple full-time) person for each role. If you can do many roles well, they don't have to source/vet a super-part-time person for each role.
> leaving me time and flexibility to work on my own project.
I think there's a bit of give-and-take there. Early on I try to look extra hard for any opportunity to show I can be flexible if they need something, and give them no reason to doubt my ability to deliver. Pretty soon trust is established, and I have all the time and flexibility I need to work on other projects alongside.
> The key is that I can keep getting the work with consistency.
My experience is my clients often don't know beforehand how long-term/consistent the work will be. But if I'm reliable and helpful, it usually turns into a long-term relationship.
> How are you finding part-time work?
HN seeking freelancer thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=whoishiring) got me a particularly nice gig, also meetups, and most of all staying in touch with people I've worked with before. For the latter two, I try to focus on quality over quantity. The handful of people who know me well, tend put me in touch with better matching gigs than the large group of superficial contacts.
Cold-emailing/cold-calling companies that look like they may be a good fit, also worked. Personally I find it a bit draining so I avoid cold-anything if I can.