Ask HN: How do you find clients with no network?

[AnancyDotWS]

I've been programming for ~14 years and throughout this time I've found that I've been most passionate about my Open Source work and Linux community involvement.

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.

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've been doing that this year by attempting to work on my Open Source project(s) as much as possible and while I haven't achieved what I hoped I would, I'd say it's been great.

Problem is... this isn't viable without proper funding, so I've been trying to sell my skills (React, TypeScript, Go, etc.) and I'm finding it very difficult to find clients.

The usual places like UpWork and other Freelance websites seem to be a race-to-the-bottom and/or filled with horror stories.

I've also tried cold emailing and contacting people through Reddit and Facebook with no luck.

Jobs postings here and other places naturally seem to be directed at finding actual employees while I'm more of a web dev agency/consultancy.

Other advice I've seen is to build a network, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it without already having some kind of network behind me.

I'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've been in the last couple years.

[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.

[AnancyDotWS]

Thanks for the advice, it really gives me hope! working with other agencies is something I never really gave much thought to.

[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.

[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.

[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.