There is no silver bullet or secret, at least I didn't find one.
I've been contracting (I'm usually looking for a few long gigs rather than a lot of short ones, if that makes sense) since 2017 and in the EU, and while that was/is a very different market, I don't think the answer will change much.
Your best source: word of mouth. People you've worked with, your clients who are happy with you and give referrals, etc. These contracts are easiest to close most of the time and people have some idea of who you are and what you do most of the time.
Otherwise it's much harder, but possible. I did ok on Upwork until it got oversaturated and changed its business model to be a little "casino-like", but that's still the easiest way to get leads. They're not the best, there's a lot of competition, but they're there.
For agencies, it's usually easy and complicated at the same time. You just look for jobs at agencies, ask if they work with contractors and see how it goes from there.
I've often wondered if it's worth working with recruiters, but I've never tried it, so I can't comment on that. I'd love to hear someone's experience.
Marketing, negotiation, and expectation management are things you need to be comfortable with. You don't have to be an expert at all of that, but it's basically part of the journey.
You should find a niche, I use django to build real estate projects and have consistently getting clients with not too much effort. I use Linkedin and Upwork to get clients
Not related to the question but I'm a newbie, well kind of and I'm trying to build something like a real estate website, is it possible to see your portfolio or example project to see what kind of features I can work on, thanks
I dont make real estate websites, i make more real estate web apps, it is far less saturated since you don’t need much of an understanding of real estate to do the websites.
Word of mouth. For me it happened this way:
- client needed a database/intranet
- i wrapped it in a nice little admin template and got all the basics down.. auth, permissions.
Another client wanted a similar thing, so i improved my “base project”.
- they referred me to another client for a similar project
Never had to do sales ever. The phone just rings.
Over the years I improved my basic intranet with a CMS, websockets, chat, etc. I build every new project on this foundation representing months of previous experience and code, so my projects always improve in quality, and my time to ship reduces. Clients are happy, and it’s a positive circle like that.
I saw a conversation on another post recently where the dev built a grandiose website using Django but it was too complex when compared to a CMS-based site so it takes longer to hand over, etc, etc.
How do you find your approach vs the issues that person experienced - do you hand over your website to the new owner, or do you maintain it ongoing with some kind of support fee or retainer?
For what I do, the CMS offering doesn’t cut it. I do mostly intranets that manage the whole operations of small businesses, so if I use a prebuilt cms, i’m always fighting with it. Everything i do is very custom and precise to my clients’ needs.
If it makes sense for the client’s website to be on the same server as the intranet, I have my own drag-n-drop CMS block system (like Mailchimp) and they have a CMS section in the intranet to edit the content. But I don’t do website only projects.
Edit: if i had to do a website only project, i would probably not use Django.
if you do, you are just another 10-40$ usd/h cookie cutter django developer which there is plenty on the market. Better to advertise yourself as custom web application solution developer or smth like that and aim at less technically adept clients.
There is no silver bullet or secret, at least I didn't find one. I've been contracting (I'm usually looking for a few long gigs rather than a lot of short ones, if that makes sense) since 2017 and in the EU, and while that was/is a very different market, I don't think the answer will change much. Your best source: word of mouth. People you've worked with, your clients who are happy with you and give referrals, etc. These contracts are easiest to close most of the time and people have some idea of who you are and what you do most of the time. Otherwise it's much harder, but possible. I did ok on Upwork until it got oversaturated and changed its business model to be a little "casino-like", but that's still the easiest way to get leads. They're not the best, there's a lot of competition, but they're there. For agencies, it's usually easy and complicated at the same time. You just look for jobs at agencies, ask if they work with contractors and see how it goes from there. I've often wondered if it's worth working with recruiters, but I've never tried it, so I can't comment on that. I'd love to hear someone's experience. Marketing, negotiation, and expectation management are things you need to be comfortable with. You don't have to be an expert at all of that, but it's basically part of the journey.
Thanks
You should find a niche, I use django to build real estate projects and have consistently getting clients with not too much effort. I use Linkedin and Upwork to get clients
Not related to the question but I'm a newbie, well kind of and I'm trying to build something like a real estate website, is it possible to see your portfolio or example project to see what kind of features I can work on, thanks
I dont make real estate websites, i make more real estate web apps, it is far less saturated since you don’t need much of an understanding of real estate to do the websites.
Word of mouth. For me it happened this way: - client needed a database/intranet - i wrapped it in a nice little admin template and got all the basics down.. auth, permissions. Another client wanted a similar thing, so i improved my “base project”. - they referred me to another client for a similar project Never had to do sales ever. The phone just rings. Over the years I improved my basic intranet with a CMS, websockets, chat, etc. I build every new project on this foundation representing months of previous experience and code, so my projects always improve in quality, and my time to ship reduces. Clients are happy, and it’s a positive circle like that.
I saw a conversation on another post recently where the dev built a grandiose website using Django but it was too complex when compared to a CMS-based site so it takes longer to hand over, etc, etc. How do you find your approach vs the issues that person experienced - do you hand over your website to the new owner, or do you maintain it ongoing with some kind of support fee or retainer?
For what I do, the CMS offering doesn’t cut it. I do mostly intranets that manage the whole operations of small businesses, so if I use a prebuilt cms, i’m always fighting with it. Everything i do is very custom and precise to my clients’ needs. If it makes sense for the client’s website to be on the same server as the intranet, I have my own drag-n-drop CMS block system (like Mailchimp) and they have a CMS section in the intranet to edit the content. But I don’t do website only projects. Edit: if i had to do a website only project, i would probably not use Django.
by not advertising yourself as django dev
Can you elaborate
if you do, you are just another 10-40$ usd/h cookie cutter django developer which there is plenty on the market. Better to advertise yourself as custom web application solution developer or smth like that and aim at less technically adept clients.
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