[brudgers]

>"By Dec, goal is to get first client and make $2k from web dev. After taxes, that $2k will cover Jan expenses, buying another month to find the next client, then the next."

That's not a very workable strategy.

Work for your December client will interfere with finding your January client - or your January client will show up in October promising to be your December client.

Then your March client shows up, only he wants it done January, too.

Or you start looking for clients in December and you land three in April and three in May.

And your December client holds your invoice for 90 days and your March client doesn't pay you so in May you have to decide if it's worth taking them to small claims court for $2500 - hopefully you've learned enough to write a contract by that point.

Then, May changes the scope of the work and refuses to pay until you do it all over again.

In other words, finding clients is hard work. Getting paid is hard work. Doing what you know how to do is the easy part.

Good Luck.

[grokaholic]

Thanks for the constructive criticism! To clarify, my goal is not to find a client in Dec, but by Dec. Start focusing on client hunting around Sept, giving me about 4 months to find a gig.

Still unrealistic? Currently don't see a better option than to try, and if I fail, go back to temping/saving until I can try again. Is there a smarter way I'm overlooking? Thanks for again for your input.

[brudgers]

How realistic it is depends on how many people you know who will pay you several thousand dollars to do what you do. Finding clients isn't like finding a job - a new website is a change to business operations.

Client development can take years - relatively few people pull the trigger on $3000 expenditures each day.

And when they do, why should they hire you?

[grokaholic]

Will have a clearer idea around Sept. Then I'll know where my skills/portfolio will be, and can test out what price the market will bear for my skills. Could be more or less than I expect. Rather than wait till I have total certainty, will just go for it, find out if things work, and if not, learn and adjust. Unless there's some smarter way to do this with more guarantees that I'm overlooking, then will do that. I'm willing to try and a fail for years if needed. Reason for the 1 year goal is not because I'm impatient and will quit if things don't work right away. It's to make sure that I'm not overly patient--waiting years until absolutely sure that everything is guaranteed and understood in advance before leaping in.

Agree with your point that not everybody drops $2k on one project. So if that happens I'll just have to meet the $2k goal by getting more customers paying less per project. A lazy way to introduce myself to lots of clients right away is to sign up with a temp agency like RHI's Creative Group that will match my skills to clients for a cut of my hourly wage. Having temped before, I know this is a way to make lots of connections in a short period of time. Would need to validate my worth to the agency first, but that's still easier than doing the same to several clients. Along the same lines: subcontracting. Really, will try everything, see what works.

How did you snag your first clients? Were you already established as a dev through work at a company before you started freelancing? Or did you freelance before having dev jobs on your resume?