Ask HN: How to actually get clients when starting to freelance?

[Im_a_throw_away]

Hi HN,

I'm a self employed guy living in Paris. I know how to code (mostly websites), and I'm pretty good at conversion optimisation (landing pages, AB testing, email marketing, etc). In 2017, I'd like to give freelancing a try, but how can I find my first few clients? My current plan looks something like this:

Go to 2-3 developer meetups per week; talk to 4-5 people per meetup; introduce myself as a web freelancer; be friendly/helpful; exchange emails; wait to be contacted.

With this I would be talking to ~10 developers per week, and I feel like it will take me months to just get one client... What I am missing?

Any advice on this would be really helpful. Thanks!

[leepowers]

That's a good start. Do the devs talk about their projects? Or do you? Getting eyes-on your existing projects and asking devs for feedback can be a good way to engage. The goal here is to reciprocate - get a look at their projects and clients, and point out pathways to conversion optimization. Being proactive can help a lot.

Conversion optimization is valuable and most businesses are happy to pay for a bump in new customers. What's your pitch? What's your web site? A whitepaper, or a web page showing what you can do will go a long way to demonstrating value to possible customers.

It's going to take a while to build a strong customer base and network that can keep you busy and in money. And it may be a month or more before you land your first client. That's OK. Any business requires you to stick with it, if it's ever going to have a chance to succeed.

But don't undersell yourself or take on a subpar client just to close a sale. It's far better to spend your time building your network and looking for serious clients than wasting time with a difficult client. A serious client will pay you upfront, usually a deposit of 50%, though sometimes less with a more detailed payment schedule. Any asshole can ask you to work on contingency. A deposit ensures that even if a client ends up being an asshole at least they're an asshole with money.

[hakanderyal]

The size and quality of your network is generally the main source of work for freelancers.

Expanding your network is a great way to increase your 'luck surface'.

Most of my big clients came to me with referrals from my existing (happy!) customers.

You can check out Double Your Freelancing[0]. I'm not fancy of his academy stuff, but the book covers most of the things that will help you become succesful in your freelancing career. When I read it, I already knew most of the things taught in the book, as I had already been freelancing for 2-3 years, but it was still helpful with widening my perspective.

Regarding meeting with developers, you should also expand your network in areas that will include your potential clients. If you are not only targeting startups, getting your name out in business owner circles is a good idea. I'm living in Turkey, and attending the local chamber of commerce activities and meetups allowed me to meet with business owners that are all potential clients.

[0]: https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/

[Im_a_throw_away]

> You can check out Double Your Freelancing

Already read it, and it's great! But it doesn't explain how to start getting clients from scratch.

> Expanding your network is a great way to increase your 'luck surface'.

That's what I'm trying to do. But I feel like going to developer meetups is going to be a very slow way to expend my network. Any other ideas?

[hakanderyal]

Business owners was my target segment, so I attended every meeting I could find that will have lots of business owners & executives attending. Business fairs, chamber of commerce seminars.

As I already said, if you have a chamber of commerce, or equivalent organisation in your city, join their events. In most cities, chamber of commerces organises events, meetups, seminars, meetings targeting local businesses & owners.

Main idea is, once you identify which market segment you want to target, in order to sell 'yourself' to them, be where they are. Meet with them, listen to their problems, and offer tailored solutions. Being a 'solution' guy instead of 'random web developer/designer' guy will help you differentiate yourself from your peers.

For example, instead of telling a business owner 'I design websites', go with "I create websites that will help you boost your sales, that will pay for itself and earn you more money". First one is generic, second one is offering a solution to their problem, a benefit that they can understand. Back your claims with research and data, and deliver what you promise.

As my target was business owners, I gave examples on that segment. But you can apply the same strategies to any other segment you want.

[Im_a_throw_away]

Really interesting, thanks! Can I send you an email to ask you a few questions about this? Where can I find your email?

[hakanderyal]

Sure, I've added my email to my profile.

[chatmasta]

You just need to throw enough shit at the wall until it sticks. If you are only talking to 10 people a month, and you close a deal with 10% of them, that's 1 new client a month. Assuming you can maintain an ongoing relationship with each client, that could well be enough. In my experience it's better to have 3-5 continuous clients than it is to be finding a new one every week.

Beyond that, my advice:

- SPECIALIZE. Pick one skill that you are very good at (sounds like it's conversion optimization) and focus 100% of your energy on landing clients who need that skill. For you, conversion optimization is a particularly marketable skill because it has a direct 1:1 relationship with value you can provide. If you increase conversions by 1%, that has a real monetary gain associated with it. Set your prices based on this value.

- Sell yourself. You are a product. Convince your client why it is valuable to his business to hire you.

- Always be getting leads for new clients, even when you're working on a project for another. Close the deal and then worry about scheduling.

- Consider working at a "discount" for the first project with a client, or a differing pricing structure, then raise your rates. For example, I like to start projects with clients as fixed price, in order to build trust and a sense of my working pace. Then I move to daily rates.

- Join any slack groups and skype groups you come across. You can find some skype groups on internet marketing forums, and nomad list has a good slack group (thousands of entrepreneurs in it)

- Consider reaching out to consulting/freelance agencies and offering your help on any projects that require your specialist expertise. If a consulting shop is good at fullstack development, but not at conversion optimization, then that's an opportunity for you.

- Update your linkedin saying you are accepting clients and new work. Make a list of startup founders in your network, and get in touch with them via personalized emails describing how you can help.

[Im_a_throw_away]

Thanks for the great advice!

> If you are only talking to 10 people a month, and you close a deal with 10% of them, that's 1 new client a month.

If I follow the plan described in my post, I will be talking to ~30 people a months. But they are just developers spending time in meetups, not people actively looking for freelancers. So I won't get 10% of them as clients, maybe 1% or less...

[chatmasta]

Sounds like a solvable problem, but the solution depends on your location / interests / social life. If you want to use meetups for prospecting, then you just need to find the right meetups. This is why it's important to specialize. By specializing, you can focus on one target market of clients. In your case, your target market might be "founders of small SaaS shops with profitable product but poorly optimized conversion funnels." So you'll need to go to as many meetups as possible until you find which meetups have the most potential clients for you. Once you know the "right" meetups, you just need to focus on attending them consistently, giving presentations when you can, and always selling yourself.

[illwrks]

I don't freelance but have considered it in the past. Why go to developer meetups? You will only meet other developers... go to marketing meetups for business people, young marketing executives etc.

[leepowers]

Developers know other developers. But developers also know business people, startup aspirants, and other existing and potential customers. Developers can also have "overflow" where they have more work than they can handle and need to offload it. My own freelance career is supported by building direct relationships with clients and building relationships with other developers/designers/producers who I can work with on an ad-hoc basis.

In this particular case, OP's primary skill is "conversion optimization", which can complement another developer's skillset. That's a specialization that a developer can pass along to a client.

[illwrks]

That's a fair point I hadn't considered. It's a good idea I'm not freelancing!!

[Im_a_throw_away]

That's a good point, I'll try these too!

However there are developer meetups almost every day in Paris, but I don't see any for business people or marketers.

[partisan]

Is there some general Business Networking group local to you? Perhaps BNI: https://www.bnifrance.fr/

I spoke to someone who says this is a great way to find small companies who need IT services though I would take care to avoid coming off like someone who just wants to take from the group and not give back.

I have no personal experience with this, but maybe someone else here does?

[itamarst]

Not an answer, but suggestion based on your question:

Don't sell yourself as "web developer", sell yourself as "someone who can get you more customers/signups on your website."