[amiuba]

That's the thing though: how do you start? Where do you find clients? I obviously can't go after any of my current employer's clients, I don't have friends who studied CS and work at prestigious companies... How do you get started?

[robot]

Identify who would need your service, learn and do sales. Make sure you believe you have a great service. If not identify your greatest skill and improve it. Books are generally great. Here is a great sales book: https://www.amazon.com/SPIN-Selling-Neil-Rackham/dp/00705111...

If doing sales sounds tough, it will start tough and then get easier. If people ignore you just keep going.

Build something for someone for free (assuming you are in a programming or similar field).

When selling the most important part is the immediate benefit you are providing - will you reduce your customer's cost, improve their sales, solve some problem they spend too much time?

RE: how do you find clients? What field are you in? Who would need your service? Identify 1000 potential buyers and contact them. Contact them by email, phone, use forums, go to conferences, talk to people one on one. Introduce your benefit to them.. Make sure you contact people who seem to have budget and good things going on. Build a website on wordpress that describes your service. Hang out in places where your audience might be.

There is a lot to talk about but most importantly you "do" something consistently, improve it and keep going if you get Nos. If you stop doing you will never get there, and if you keep doing you will definitely get somewhere good, then great.

[bigmanwalter]

First, have some savings, it took me ~3 years to get a solid sales pipeline going.

There are 2 types of freelancing. You can specialize in a platform or framework, like Rails/Shopify/WordPress, or you can specialize in delivering whole solutions.

I prefer whole solutions as it gives me control over the project which makes it more likely to succeed. But it takes longer to build a reputation that will get you these projects. Until then, it's easier to find a client that knows exactly what they want but needs a programmer familiar with their technology of choice.

After deciding on what niches you want to go after, you have to start marketing yourself. Print business cards, start heading to meetups and conferences. Find any tech/startup hubs and go to networking events that sound interesting. My rule of thumb is to try and make at least one good connection for every networking event you attend. At the same time, find some online job boards for your city. I have had very good luck with a Facebook group run by a local startup hub. I've heard good things about LinkedIn but haven't looked much myself.

The best is when you can find clients by word of mouth, because you aren't competing with anyone else for their business. The goal is to build enough word of mouth that clients find you. Until then, you have to hustle.

If you make sure to announce on all your social media channels that you are now freelance and you make sure all your friends and family know, clients will start to find their way to you. It takes some time, but it happens.

If you put effort into networking and marketing, you should find clients eventually. As long as you have enough money to float your expenses until the work becomes consistent.

While building your portfolio, don't be afraid to do a free project or two for friends. Barter can work well with artists if you like their work! You can work at a discounted rate if a project aligns strongly with your objectives.

After your portfolio is something you are proud of, you shouldn't need to worry about discounted work anymore.

Try not to get stuck doing an under priced project for too long. It will get highly demotivating.

After a few years, if you live somewhere with a decently active tech economy, things should be well on their way.