As I’ve mentioned before, a common question I get from people interested in making the jump to freelance/indie web development work is “how do I find clients?”. I’ll describe a few approaches that have worked for me, but will start with the leading one.
Network
Like most things in life, there’s no shortcut to success, and networking is typically a ‘long view’ play – you won’t have your pipeline filled overnight via networking. However, I can attest that it pays off.
I first moved to this area over 5 years ago, and began to involve myself in local user groups in early 2006, and made some connections. In late 2007 I went ‘full time independent’, on the strength of one potentially long term engagement. That didn’t work out entirely, and even when it did it was less than full time, so I found myself with some spare hours. One of my 2006 contacts reached out and said he had some work. He put me in touch with an org, and I did a small project for them. That led to handing off that entire project to their client, and I’ve worked directly with that client for 3 years now. In addition, I picked up some more projects over the years from that original contact’s organization.
Here’s where it gets interesting. That particular organization is being folded in to its parent organization, and there’s been a number of layoffs and dispersals. The old team I worked with has been disbanded. But people from that team have contacted me at their new respective organizations, and I may end up having 2-3 “new” clients from the original one. All of this sprang from an original meeting at a user group in 2006. Over the last few years, that one connection has amounted to six figures of work.
Not *all* connections have been that successful, but that’s not quite the point. Many have the potential, and if I was a bit more proactive about actually following up with people, it may be even moreso. I just haven’t given it much effort so far.
Another chance encounter at a conference in January 2008 led to a phone call in August 2008, which has led to a steady stream of ongoing, low effort work which has resulted in a sizeable chunk of money over the past few years. While certainly a chance enounter, this person already knew my voice from my podcast series (webdevradio.com). Having a reputation, however small, helps enormously. You’re a bit of a known quantity, and people feel like they know you already. Whether through a podcast or regular blogging, people can get an idea of what you’re like even before meeting with you, and can convince themselves they want to use you over others. There are a number of freelancers I know by blog only, but if the time came for someone with their skills, those are the people I’d want to reach out to first, and if they’re busy, I’d take their recommendations.
That may be another way to get work – find someone who’s got too much, and befriend them. I’ve referred work to some of my podcast listeners in the past few years, simply because they reached out and initiated a relationship with me. They’re not going to retire millionaires in the next few months 
but I’ve tried to make it work their while.
I’ve got a couple more points I’ll make in a future post. In the meantime, what’s worked for you?
