Fulltime Freelance?

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onion2k
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Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Post by onion2k »

Ree wrote:Yeah, just I'm having a really hard time getting ANY freelance job... For example, I tried scriptlance... well, I think it's just a joke really. Bids are terribly low, I simply get mad when I see them.
In order to be a good freelancer you need to be a lot more than a good coder. You need to be able to find leads and sell your services too. Freelance websites are all very well.. but you're up against college students who are willing to work for a dollar an hour.. you need to be able to go out and get contacts rather than hoping they'll come to you if you're going to survive on your own.
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Chris Corbyn
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Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:57 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Chris Corbyn »

Write some letters. Seriously. When I was first starting out in freelance I wrote up a solid letter explaining that I was a young but very capable developer looking to build up a resume in order to move into a career in development and that I would love to help promote their business by pushing their presence onto the world wide web. Obviosuly you can;t take a lot of money with these first jobs but you'll get some projects on your resume. Once you have even just a handful of sites you did for petit-cash you can start sending out your resume (including links to your portfoilio) along with these letters and take more money.

Sit down, get the telephone directory out, make a good list of small businesses, check if they already have a web presence and decide who to write to. I can almost guarantee you'll get some replies. Some of these placxes won;t have even considered what the web could do for them.

My experience of Freelance was grim because I'm not motivated enough (and it's hard work) so I got a full-time job but either way you can't wait for people to come to you... it just won't happen. Lookng on those freelance sites is hard work IMO... too many established coders working for too little money.

As I say... you approach them, don't wait for them to come to you ;)
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