[Haydos585x2]

I started doing a lot of contracting through recruiters which could be anywhere from a few days work to 6-12 month longer contracts. This allowed me to meet a lot of different people in my industry/city and build a reputation as someone reliable. After that's done then it's a matter of growing those relationships and once the recruiter lock-in period ends you can start to approach them directly and offer your services. This can be either independent if you want or it could be with a team.

The most important thing in contracting is being reliable and showing up. So many contractors just don't show for work or leave before the signed end date so if you avoid that you're already ahead of the pack.

[malort]

Can you elaborate on "contracting through recruiters"? Did you respond to recruiters who were reaching out to you with full-time positions and say "no thanks, but what about a contract instead?" If so, do you have any particular strategies for getting to a "yes" with that approach?

Or did you mean that you reached out to recruiters and worked out a finder's fee arrangement if they brought you contracts? If so, how did you find recruiters to work with who weren't already engaged with clients and might therefore have a conflict of interest?

[Haydos585x2]

I live in Australia so it might be a bit different in your country. The work started for me as shorter term contracts e.g. a recruiter would say "I'm looking for someone on a 6 month react JS project". I would provide them with a day rate and go work for the client as a standard employee. Overtime this has led to me meeting a lot of people, getting a lot of experience and building a client roster of my own.

[grepfru_it]

I’ve found some recruiters just default to W2 because it’s less headaches (and potentially more money) for them. Sometimes it’s a requirement for the contract. You don’t know unless you ask