Daniel Lima
Posted on April 13, 2023
If you just want to code, this article isn't for you.
Be a freelancer is more than just go to platforms, get a job and start to code.
And, in my opinion, be a developer is much more than just code and chill.
In this article i will show a new way to get new clients and to make your career as a freelancer grow up.
My experience as a freelancer
I did freelances job for 2 years. I was not just a freelancer ( i worked as a Software Developer too), but 1/3 of my money at this time came from those jobs. So at this time i learned how to get new clients and how to make then happy with the product π.
I founded a marketing and websites agency, called Β©Vetrin. At begin was just me. myself and I doing everything. And at the end of my journey at this company I was with 4 people working with me at the agency.
Freelances Plataform
It's important to treat your freelance work like a real business and not just as a developer. This means taking a 'holistic' approach to your work by focusing on marketing, improving your clients' experiences, and always looking to grow and scale.
While freelancing platforms like Workana can be a great way to find clients, I have never got lucky with then ( and i tried a lot ). But never succeed.
β¨Success as a freelancer takes time, effort, and dedication. But by treating your work like a real business and focusing on marketing and growth, you can create a sustainable and fulfilling career for yourself.β¨β¨
But if you want to just develop and don't care about "marketing" and "company stuffs", a good start is to search about freelance agencies, show some projects in a portfolio .
How to find clients tho ?
All my clients were from indications and marketing adds that I launched for my service. Is good to be focused on a specific niche tho.
What niche ? How do i start tho ?
I started my freelance wallet with doctors that need websites ( for example ). And a part of my job was found those potential clients and approach then with problems.
After storing telling about problems I bring solutions and sell it for then.
But you can approach and start for any niche. Everybody needs a website or a solution to improve the routine. You need just to learn about "how to be a good seller".
Think like a company.
π¨ Running adds, approach clients. Move !
Have a portfolio is a duty. You need it !
Why should i pay for you if i don't know if you really can do it for me ?
And if you show a niche portfolio for your client he will felling a FOMO ( Fear Of Messing Out ). So you must and want induce this feeling in then.
In each niche the approach technique could be different, but a general and easy way is: go at instagram profile, if the account have not a website on bio, congrats, you have a potential lead.
If the lead already have a website ( and if you can do better ) you can approach tho.
Running adds on TikTok and Facebook Ads for Instagram is a good ideia too ! Do it if you want, a simple video with a good Call To Action ( CTA ) should bring you a lot of leads.
After start and why i stopped.
The beginning is the hardest part. After conclude some jobs and make some clients happy, they will telling about you for their friends, you could have a coupon too to stimulate that ( there are some techniques for that ).
All things were looking fine, the team was growing. But, it is not scalable. Or if it is I did not found the way of scaling these kind of agency.
Today with AI revolution, maybe could be easier to scaling those jobs. But have clients is a hard work, especially if you have to talk with then every single day.
So I just sell my part of company and quit.
In this part I felt that I needed to study more and spend more time with my hard skills. But now i understand that i'm a life long learning :)
Posted on April 13, 2023
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