[mgkimsal]

networking and word of mouth - both take longer, but will have longer term results. I made a couple connections in 2006/2007 that I can directly attribute $200k in income to, because of their word of mouth referrals. That came just from local meetups and such.

There's plenty of people I've met which haven't directly contributed to my bottom line, but to try to look at everyone as a potential $ is a wrong approach. I enjoy trying to find referrals for other people I meet, and I think that's come back to me a few times (unexpectedly, but not that surprising, perhaps).

Couple other random thoughts:

"Selling the Invisible" (beckwith?) - useful to read. Not specifically tech-oriented, but will get you in the right frame of mind.

"Million Dollar Consulting" (weiss?) - may give you a different perspective on freelance consulting.

Contact local design shops to see if they need an extra pair of hands on call.

Put up a portfolio website with a phone number. Then answer the phone if someone calls.

gentle yet shameless plug: http://indieconf.com is being held again this year to cover precisely these sorts of topics - how to get clients, how to not get ripped off, etc - we'll have 18-21 sessions total - I'm confirming them with speakers this week, so the site doesn't yet reflect the full schedule.

[boopsie]

I'd add Jerry Weinberg's _Secrets of Consulting_ to the reading list. It had a major impact on my ability to turn my tech skills into a business. For example, it helped me understand that the right answer to a client request is, "Yes, I can do that. And this is what it will cost."

[mgkimsal]

I was in a meeting last week and person A said "can we do X?" and person B said "Anything's possible, it's just a matter of time and money, right Mike? That's what you always say, right?" and she laughed as she said it. I've trained them well. :)

I don't quite have that as a standard reaction to all client requests all the time, as I'll often ask more questions and try to engage them a bit first before the 'this is what it will cost' bit, but that's generally the direction I go in.

I think tech people have a hard time with this response because they're often unsure of their own skills. At least, I know that's the case with a few friends of mine who rarely think about "the business side" of things. I've done this long enough now where i know that anything someone asks me for can be done, it's just a matter of figuring out how.

However, the flip side of this is that I've seen the result of people (and possibly even been this person) just saying "yes" to everything, building it, and it not really working. I do think some customers have been burned by that - a dev who claims to be able to do anything, then delivers them crap, charges a fortune, then leaves a mess for someone else to clean up. After they've gone through that a couple of times, they're wary of anyone who claims to be able to do anything.

I've learned to try to be more cautious how I phrase my abilities, because I know how it can appear. In general, anything someone wants done, I can make happen. It doesn't mean I will be the one doing the work, but I can bring in the appropriate skilled people when needed. That's a function of age, in that my network is more useful than it was 10 years ago, and possibly wisdom. 10-15 years ago I'd always try to build everything myself, and sometimes ended up with subpar stuff.