How to Find Freelance Jobs
Summary
TLDRLuke Sislian, a self-employed web developer, discusses the meaning of freelancing and strategies for acquiring customers. He differentiates between being a full-time freelancer and a side hustler, noting the potential for higher income and less stability in self-employment. Sislian emphasizes the importance of focusing on existing customers and establishing a strong brand presence before seeking new clients. He advises investing in a web presence through content creation rather than spending on ads, and optimizing for local markets. Additionally, he suggests offline methods for gaining local business, such as contract work for other developers, direct contact with potential customers, and attending networking events.
Takeaways
- 😀 Freelancing can mean being a truly self-employed individual or a side hustler, with each having different implications for income stability and work hours.
- 💼 Being self-employed as a freelancer means running a one-person operation, handling all aspects of the business, which can lead to higher income but less stability.
- 🛠 As a side hustler, one balances a full-time job with freelance work, often leading to more stable income but less potential for high earnings and more work hours.
- 📝 The speaker emphasizes the importance of defining what freelancing means to the individual before starting to attract customers.
- 🤝 Building a business should start with focusing on existing customers and prioritizing their needs before seeking new ones to ensure business growth through referrals and repeat business.
- 🌐 Establishing a strong web presence through investment in owned media like blogs and videos, rather than spending on rented ad space, is crucial for sustainable business growth.
- 📈 Optimizing the website for specific services and a targeted local market can improve search visibility and attract clients looking for local expertise.
- 🏢 Before actively seeking new customers, it's essential to have a solid business foundation including branding, a portfolio website, online review profiles, business cards, and a business phone number.
- 🔍 Researching and understanding potential clients or businesses before contacting them can significantly increase the chances of securing work.
- 📲 The importance of following up with potential clients or businesses regularly cannot be overstated, as persistence often pays off in securing freelance work.
- 📈 Networking, both online and offline, is highlighted as an effective way to meet potential customers and grow the business beyond just online presence.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of Luke Sisliano's video and accompanying article?
-The primary focus is to discuss what it means to be a freelance developer, and to provide strategies on how to get customers for one's freelance business, both online and locally.
Why is it important to define what 'freelancing' means according to Luke?
-It's important because the term 'freelance' has become a buzzword with different meanings for different people, which can lead to misunderstandings about the nature of a freelance developer's work.
What are the two definitions of a freelance developer mentioned by Luke?
-The two definitions are: 1) An individual who is truly self-employed, operating as a one-person business. 2) An individual who is doing freelance work as a side hustle while maintaining a full-time job or business in another field.
How does Luke define a truly self-employed freelance developer?
-A truly self-employed freelance developer is someone who operates as a one-person business, with no other jobs, and is responsible for all aspects of the business including development work, marketing, bookkeeping, and regulatory filings.
What are the potential benefits of being a self-employed freelance developer?
-The potential benefits include higher income due to keeping 100% of the profits from their labor, and having more flexibility in how and where they work.
What are the potential downsides of being a self-employed freelance developer?
-The potential downsides include less stable income with highs and lows, the need to work many hours to cover all aspects of the business, and the responsibilities that come with being the sole decision-maker and worker.
What is the alternative to being a self-employed freelance developer, as mentioned by Luke?
-The alternative is to be a freelance developer as a side hustle, where one maintains a full-time job or business in another field while doing development work on the side.
What are some important considerations before starting to market one's freelance business, according to Luke?
-Important considerations include setting up the business to focus on servicing existing customers first, establishing branding elements such as a website, portfolio, online review profiles, business cards, and a business phone number.
Why is it crucial to focus on existing customers first in a freelance business?
-Focusing on existing customers first ensures a better customer experience and higher likelihood of referrals and repeat business, which are essential for growing the business without constantly needing to find new clients.
What are some strategies Luke suggests for getting customers online as a freelance developer?
-Luke suggests investing in a web presence by creating content such as blog posts and YouTube videos that one owns, as opposed to spending on ads. He also recommends optimizing the website for specific services and local geography to attract relevant traffic.
What are some ways to get local business for a freelance developer that do not involve a website?
-Luke suggests doing contract work for other developers, contacting potential customers directly by introducing oneself to local businesses, and attending networking events such as BNI (Business Networking International).
Outlines
😀 Introduction to Freelance Web Development
Luke Sisliano, a self-employed web developer, introduces the topic of freelancing, particularly focusing on freelance web development. He discusses the importance of understanding what it means to be a freelance developer and plans to explore how to acquire customers for a freelance business. Luke emphasizes the need for clarity on the definition of freelancing, as it has become a buzzword with potentially different interpretations. He outlines the structure of the video and article, which will delve into the definition of freelancing, the prerequisites before starting to reach out to customers, and strategies for acquiring customers both online and locally.
🚀 Freelancing: Self-Employment vs. Side Hustle
The paragraph delves into the two main definitions of being a freelance developer. The first is a truly self-employed individual operating as a one-person business, responsible for all aspects of their work and business operations. This route can lead to a higher income but comes with less stable income and more work hours. The second definition is freelancing as a side hustle, where one has a full-time job and does development work part-time. This approach can provide more stable income due to the full-time job but limits the potential earnings from the freelance work. Luke highlights the importance of understanding these two paths and choosing the one that aligns with personal preferences and life goals.
🛠 Setting Up for Success in Freelancing
This section emphasizes the importance of setting up the business correctly before seeking new customers. Luke suggests two key points: focusing on existing customers before seeking new ones and establishing a strong brand identity. He argues that prioritizing existing customers can lead to repeat business and referrals, which are crucial for business growth. Additionally, having a solid brand, including a professional website, portfolio, and online presence, is essential before actively marketing to new customers. These elements help establish credibility and attract potential clients.
🌐 Building an Online Presence for Freelance Business
Luke discusses strategies for building an online presence to attract customers. He contrasts investing in a web presence with spending on advertising. Investing involves creating content such as blog posts and YouTube videos that can continue to bring in customers over time, whereas spending involves paying for ads that stop working once the budget is exhausted. He shares his personal experience, where writing articles brought significant, long-term traffic to his site. The focus should be on creating an owned web presence that can serve as an asset for the business.
📈 Optimizing Web Presence for Local Market
The paragraph focuses on optimizing the freelance developer's web presence for the local market. Luke advises against having a broad, general website and instead recommends focusing on specific services and targeting a particular geography, such as a city or state. This approach reduces competition and makes it easier for potential clients to understand the services offered. He also suggests focusing on a few services rather than listing many, which can overwhelm customers. The goal is to make the website a tool for attracting local business by clearly defining the services and geographical focus.
🤝 Getting Local Business Through Networking and Direct Outreach
Luke outlines methods for obtaining local business aside from the web presence. He suggests three main strategies: contract work for other developers, direct contact with potential customers, and attending networking events. For contract work, he advises researching potential companies, making informed contact, and following up regularly. Direct contact involves researching local businesses, understanding their needs, and persistently following up. Networking events, such as BNI, are also valuable for meeting potential customers face-to-face and building relationships that can lead to business opportunities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Freelance Developer
💡Self-Employment
💡Side Hustle
💡Web Presence
💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
💡Networking Events
💡Referrals
💡Investment vs. Spending
💡Branding
💡Local Market
Highlights
Luke Sislian discusses what it means to be a freelance developer and provides insights on how to get business.
Freelancing can mean being a truly self-employed individual or a side hustle in addition to a full-time job.
Self-employment as a developer can lead to higher income but with less stable income compared to traditional employment.
Being a freelancer involves handling all aspects of the business, including development, marketing, and bookkeeping.
The flexibility of freelancing allows for a personalized work-life balance, such as working while traveling.
Freelancers should focus on servicing existing customers first to foster repeat business and referrals.
Establishing a strong online presence through a website and branding is crucial before seeking new customers.
Investing in a web presence, such as blog posts and videos, can yield long-term benefits compared to spending on ads.
Optimizing a website for specific services and local markets can improve search visibility and attract relevant clients.
Luke shares his experience of growing a business through investment in content rather than spending on ads.
Contract work for other developers can be a consistent source of local work for freelancers.
Direct contact with potential customers, such as local businesses, can lead to new projects and collaborations.
Networking events, like BNI, are effective for meeting potential clients and building a local business network.
Luke emphasizes the importance of persistence in following up with potential clients and collaborators.
The guide aims to help freelancers not just make money but to take their business to the next level of profitability.
Transcripts
hi my name is luke sisliano and i'm a
self-employed web developer i've done a
few articles and videos for free code
camp that relate to working for oneself
as a freelancer
i've decided to expand on those a little
bit in this video and the article that's
going along with it by really discussing
what it even means to be a freelance
developer in the first place and i'm
also going to talk about how you can get
business
the first of those topics i think is
really important to address because
a lot of people aren't really even clear
as to what it means to quote on quote
unquote be a freelance developer so
we're going to really discuss what that
looks like and kind of what a more of an
actual definition for it is and then
we're like i said we're also going to
look into how you can get customers in
your business and we're going to look at
two routes for that
the first one being how you can get
customers online through your own
website and we're also going to look at
how you can get customers uh locally in
your city
uh the one thing i want to do a little
differently in this video
is i don't want to throw out a lot of
the general advice that you'll hear from
a lot of resources as to
how to get business there are a lot of
ways to get business where you can make
a few bucks but the approach i'm going
to be taking and suggesting in
this video and again the article that's
going along with it
is really meant for those that kind of
want to take their business to the next
level in other words they don't want to
just make a few bucks they want to be
really profitable and they want to do
really well for themselves
so we'll be discussing those tips as we
go along but as i said
in order in this video we're going to
talk about what is freelancing we're
going to talk about
a list of items that you need to
complete before you even
think about reaching out to customers
once you've decided to go to
the freelance route we're going to talk
about how you can get customers online
and we're going to talk about where to
get customers locally and how to get
customers locally in your own city so
all that said let's get to it
okay so before we talk about how to get
customers into your development business
i think it's important to first kind of
talk about what it even means to be a
freelancer in the first place
i think this is important because the
word freelance has kind of become a
buzzword that gets thrown around a lot
in today's society right you'll hear
people say i'm a freelance developer i'm
a freelance writer a freelance writer
i'm a freelance journalist i'm a
freelance this or that or blah blah blah
in other words because it's almost
become kind of a buzzword it can tend to
mean
different things to different people you
might have person one and person two and
this person says i'm a freelancer and
they mean it one way and this person
essentially hears something else and
they never really are on the same page
as to what the
person does so i'm gonna lay out a
couple of actual definitions of what it
means to be a freelance developer to
answer that question of what is
freelancing
in the first place
and
the really comes down to two definitions
the first one being
the individual who is truly
self-employed the second one being the
individual who's doing it as a side
hustle um let's look at the first of
these two that i just mentioned
if you're going to freelance route it
can mean that you are truly
self-employed and with that you are a
one-person operation uh it's your first
of all it's your sole job you don't have
any other jobs that you work you know
you don't have a full-time job and
develop software on the side or anything
like that you are a developer and you
work for yourself and that's it you have
no other income outside of your business
and you are truly a one-person operation
um you know not only do you do all the
marketing and uh or i should say donald
do you do all the dev work you do all
your own marketing you do all your own
bookkeeping you do all your own
uh you know uh regulatory filings and
things of that nature so you are a
one-person operation you are the
administrative side of things you are
the uh business development side of
things you are the
actual uh dev work side of things you
know that is you
um
going this route can result in
much higher income than you tend to
receive uh in a job for somebody if you
really you know
you know if you really decide to get
behind your business and keep it get it
going
in my experience you can really make a
lot more working for yourself than you
can
working for somebody else because you're
keeping one hundred percent of what you
bail out right instead of somebody else
billing out your labor and then taking a
percentage of it you're keeping 100
percent of your you know what's built
for your own labor so you know if you
really put your nose to the grindstone
you can
uh make a lot more money going the
self-employed route
self-employed slash freelance route than
you can working for somebody else
the one thing to understand about this
though is that going that
self-employment route is
going to result in a less stable income
when you're working a job for somebody
you have the security of a paycheck
whereas you know when you're working for
yourself you might have a big month you
might have a bad month you might have a
mediocre month your income's going to be
all over the place uh you know you have
to worry about clients paying you on
time you have to worry about getting
clients you have to worry about how slow
is your business how busy is your
business
um things of that nature so your income
is really going to go
up and down in you know like a really
big way so you've really got to think
about um the fact that if you're going
to go the self-employment route that
you're going to have less stable income
than you would
working a job even though you have the
potential to in aggregate make more
money you know like at the end of every
year
the other thing
excuse me and the other thing about you
know going the truly independent route
is that you're going to be putting in a
lot of hours um because again you've got
to do all the dev work you've got to do
all the marketing you've got to do all
the bookkeeping and you've got to do all
of the
name 10 other things you know that i
haven't listed yet so
you know it's easy to work full time as
a dev without having to do all that
stuff so if you're going to be doing all
that stuff as well it means you're going
to be working a lot of hours
now even though you're working a lot of
hours one of the upsides of this is you
tend to get a lot of flexibility where
you work right
you know you can take a vacation and get
work done while you're on vacation
you can travel and you know like work
while you're traveling if you you know
uh you know if you kind of want to just
become a traveling nomad and code all
over the place you can potentially even
do that
so it really gives a lot of flexibility
into how you live your personal
lifestyle um
the reason
uh i keep talking about this in the
context of self-employment and you doing
everything
is that
going this uh individual route
does not involve you having any
employees okay
once you start hiring employees you're
not a freelancer you're a business owner
at that point so
you know i really define being a
freelancer as a self-employed one-person
operation and again once you start
hiring employees you're not a freelancer
anymore you're a business owner you're
responsible for people and
you know things of that nature um you
know yeah uh you know you have to work
more uh because you have to make sure
the revenue is coming in to you know pay
people um you know like etc etc so
that kind of spells out what it is to be
kind of that one person self-employed
operation
and calling yourself a freelancer um
you know another option though where
people can probably call them fairly
call themselves a freelancer is when
it's more your side hustle right
in other words you have a full-time job
somewhere or some kind of full-time
business or career somewhere and you're
doing development work on the side
this could be for example you know like
you're
working a dev job somewhere and you uh
you know start building websites for
people on the side just as one example
but you keep your full-time job or you
know maybe you've got a full-time job
that's completely unrelated to software
development and uh you know you're
finishing up free code camp and you want
to just do some work on the site as a
part-time project again you keep your
full-time job but you're
doing you know your dev work you know
like on the side uh that would be
another definition that i would assign
to the word you know like freelance
developer
so the one thing about this approach
is
you're
you're working two jobs right
because you're working your full-time
job and you have your business on the
side and that means you are working a
lot of hours i mean a lot because you
have a full-time job
and now you've got a business that you
know you've got to run a part-time
business that you've got to run you know
like on the side of that so it means a
lot of times you're going to be working
on client projects at night you're going
to be working you know like on client
projects on the weekends it really tends
to mean that friday is only two more
working days until monday so if you know
if you're going to go that route of
making it a part-time business while you
have a full-time job understand you are
going to be working a lot of hours
uh
upsides and downsides of this approach
are that it can result in more stable
income for you because you know like as
i said a minute ago people who truly
work for themselves only uh you know
kind of good months and bad months and
their income can be all over the place
well if you have a job somewhere then
that means you have a steady paycheck
right so you know you've got the
steadiness of the paycheck
but you also have a lot less upside
potential because again you can make
more working for yourself and you're
just choosing to devote a lot of time to
working for somebody else so the amount
of money your business can bring in is
going to be limited again because you're
just doing this as you know like a side
hustle
so
you know which one's right you know
going the whole self-employment route or
go in the side hustle route that really
depends on you it depends on your you
know your personal choices your personal
preferences your personal situation and
just kind of what it is you want out of
life more than anything else so
there's nothing right or wrong you know
with either of those approaches you just
gotta pick um which one's right for you
but if you are gonna think of yourself
as a quote-unquote freelance developer
you my suggestion would be either a say
i'm self-employed and i'm going to make
this a full-time thing and i am going to
work really hard at it i'm really going
to try and grow it
and the second approach would be hey
this is a side hustle and i'm gonna keep
my main job and whichever one of those
is right for you hey rock on man um
so again with all that said that's kind
of how i define
freelancing in one of those two terms uh
you know
you know you can pick which one's right
for you
so
with all that said uh in a minute we're
going to talk about uh how to get
customers online and how to get
customers in your own locale but before
we do that i think it's really important
that we lay out some things you need to
get done in your business
before you even try to get a customer at
all okay in other words before you start
proactively marketing yourselves to
anyone so let's take a look at that
okay before we talk about how you're
going to go out and get new customers
for your business
we need to talk about a few things that
you need to nail down inside your
business uh before you even start
marketing yourself to new people that
haven't found you yet and the reason i
say you need to nail these things down
from the get-go is because it's all
about getting your business off on the
right foot correct um if you start off
on the wrong foot
then as you start getting busy it's only
going to get harder to go back and
correct these things so the time to make
sure you've got all your ducks in a row
is from the beginning not something you
do
later on so two things you need to nail
down
before you even go out and try to market
yourself to someone who hasn't heard of
you yet is one
setting up your company around the idea
that you're going to exit or you're
going to service your existing customers
first and try to get new customers
second i'll explain why this is in a
minute the second thing you're going to
do is get all your branding set up your
website review profiles things of that
nature and i'm going to give you an
action item list for those
in just a minute so let's talk about
each of these in turn
the
most important part
of how you're going to get customers in
the future
is to focus on your existing customers
first in other words focus on your
existing customers first
and market second and like i said before
you even try to meet anybody else you
got to make sure your business is
set up around this concept so
why do i say it is crucial to set up
your business around the idea of
focusing on existing customers first and
servicing existing customers first
um
well let me explain this a little
indirectly
if you talk to not just and not just
developers if you talk to just business
owners in general and you ask them hey
what do you need to do to grow your
business the first thing they need
they'll almost always universally say is
they need to market more they need to
advertise more they need to do more
things to get people who have never
heard of them calling and that usually
involves some kind of paid advertising
going to networking events and you know
and all that kind of stuff
um well think of it like this
every dollar or every you know every bit
of time you put into
dealing with advertising every bit of
time you put into
uh going to networking events
that's money and time you're not putting
into
uh existing
customers that you already have working
for you that means those existing
customers are going to wait a little
longer to get the product that you're
supposed to be working on for them it
means those existing customers aren't
having as good an experience as
they would otherwise have and then they
become less likely to refer somebody to
you in the future they become less
likely
to
give you a review
be someone who gives you a review i
should say
this puts you in a position
of having to reach a new customer every
time you want to get new business so in
other words you know if you want to have
four new customers your marketing would
need to reach
four people four separate people who
have never heard of you
at all
think of how resource intensive this is
you know to go out and reach four people
you've got to do enough advertising to
reach four separate people uh if you're
doing it through networking events
you've got to go to enough networking
events to meet you know like four
separate potential clients it is
incredibly resource intensive
to run a business that is entirely
reliant on customers who have otherwise
never heard of you as opposed to
customers who are referred to you by
somebody who has already heard of you
okay
so
i've this is something i've gone around
around with businesses
about for years
and a lot of people just to be frank
don't get it and they wonder why they
struggle
um
you know
if you focus on those existing customers
first
what you could do instead of that
resource intensive approach i just
described is
you can get one lead and then turn that
lead into several new clients and
several jobs without putting any more
resources into getting leads so
i have several personal examples of this
i'll just share one with you in 2013
i uh i built a website for a lawyer
that lawyer was you know i focused on it
you know got it out the door
that lawyer was really happy with my
services
uh
relatively short amount of time later
doesn't matter relatively short amount
of time later that lawyer called me had
me build a second website for her law
firm
on a new kind of about a new niche area
of law that she was going to be
practicing so she was going to have two
websites so that one phone call became
two jobs because she was happy with my
services and became a repeat customer
she has since then referred me to more
people
and one of those people have hired me
and and so in addition to
that one phone call
turning into three different products
i've built
i am also performing on i also have a
performing uh or a contract for
performing on ongoing maintenance with
the lawyer
and i have a contract for performing
ongoing maintenance with the person that
the lawyer referred to me so one phone
call
turned into three separate jobs and two
ongoing maintenance contracts okay
think of that versus
you know if you wanna do three projects
you gotta go out and get three separate
leads it is much much better to service
your existing customers first and let
those existing customers turn into
resources whenever you see a developer
who
makes twice as much as somebody else so
in other words if developer one makes
twice as much money as developer two
it's not because developer one is
getting twice as many phone calls
um from people that wouldn't have
otherwise heard of them uh they're
getting more phone calls but they're
also getting a lot of referrals they're
getting a lot of repeat business and
things of that nature you cannot grow
your business
at any kind of decent rate
without referrals without repeat
business you cannot do it and you get
those referrals in that repeat business
by focusing on your existing customers
first
so
what focusing on your existing customers
first means is if there is something
that you could be doing
for an existing customer
do it okay
and if you have time left over at the
end then that time goes into marketing
so let's say for example
you've dedicated yourself to saying hey
i'm going to work 45 hours a week in my
business okay
and then your dev work for the week and
customer service for the week takes up
30 hours okay and so
you've worked 30 hours you have 15 more
to work but you don't really have
anything else you can be doing for
clients right now
then you devote that other 15 hours into
going out and trying to get new
customers but focus on your existing
customers first and you will actually
find yourself working smarter not harder
and your business will grow you know
like exponentially as a result of that
so thing number one to do
when getting ready to start up your
freelance business before even trying to
get a customer understand that you need
to service existing customers first
the second thing you need to do
before even attempting to go out and get
customers is establish your branding
okay and by your branding i mean things
like your website your portfolio will
work and things of that nature
the reason why you need to have your
branding set up before you even try to
get customers it's pretty simple right
put yourself in the shoes of someone
that you're hoping will hire you like
let's say you're talking to
you know um a local local auto shop um
asking uh you know and you're hoping
that you can
you know build a website or an app for
them or something
and you know you don't have a website of
your own
you don't have a portfolio work to show
them
you you know don't have
any online reviews or anything of that
nature
what are the chances they're going to
take you seriously slim to none right so
what you'll wind up doing is spending a
lot of time
trying to get that first lead even
though you know
even though you could have gotten that
first lead with a lot less effort if you
had done like all those things in
advance so
first part of branding yourself is to
get a portfolio website up uh and when i
say a portfolio website i mean a website
that shows what you do
and uh you know some stuff you've built
you can build out your own or if you're
looking for inspiration a really good
resource for uh to go to uh for your
website would be html5 up uh we're gonna
link to them in the description below uh
you know if you use a free template from
html5 up just make sure that uh you know
you're following their licensing
requirements and giving attribution you
know like we're required and uh things
like that they have paid templates you
know like you can use um as well but so
getting your website up is number one
including a portfolio in that website is
really crucial
if you have not done a lot of things yet
or haven't done a lot of projects yet
you can still include a portfolio that
targets your market
on your website
so let's just say for example and again
i'm using simple examples
let's say
your niche is going to be hey i want to
build uh you know websites and apps for
small local businesses okay
so what you can do is
put together
essentially uh mock-up websites
that would fit local businesses so like
let's say for example you know you want
to go around and introduce yourself to
local restaurants well
you know
put together a restaurant website for
you know a mythical restaurant and put
it in your portfolio
you know put together something for
professional services businesses like
law firms psychologists things like that
and
again a fictional mock-up and put that
in your portfolio you can put five or
six projects
in your portfolio that would be examples
of the types of local businesses you're
going to be
going out you know like in targeting so
you can have a portfolio saying for
example if you walked into a
psychologist's office and you had a
psychology website on your
uh you know on your portfolio you could
walk into a psychologist's office and
explain here's what your website could
look like i have you know a mock-up of
this so putting together a portfolio
into your website is crucial because
again no one's going to take you
seriously if you have a website of your
own and
you don't have a body of work to show
and it may sound like duh when i say you
have to have a website but you would be
surprised at what a lot of other people
do
the other thing after you've
put together your website and your
portfolio is you need to set up your
online review profiles um so for example
go to google my business and set up a
profile for your new for your new
company uh go to facebook and set up a
facebook page for your new company those
would be the two big ones that i would
suggest and whenever a customer is
happy with you make sure you're asking
the customer to you know like leave you
a review
as you get more reviews online more
people will be willing to hire you you
want to get those review profiles set up
you know like like from day one so
you're in a position to ask people for
reviews um it's kind of hard to call
somebody and say hey would you mind
leaving me a review online when you
don't even have the profiles to send
them to yet right so get those set up
you know like from day one
the last thing you need to do before
even attempting to go out and get a new
customer is uh get get a business card
for yourself and get a business phone
number so people aren't just calling
your personal cell phone business cards
can be gotten pretty cheaply from a
service like vistaprint and i mean i
would just do kind of a basic option and
then in terms of a business phone number
you could use a free service like google
voice it'll just go straight to your
cell phone but then you have a dedicated
line you know like for your business
phone
so those are the things i would really
do in terms of setting up your branding
so you know just again
quick to quickly recap
before you even attempt to go out and
get a get a customer um meaning someone
who hasn't heard of you yet number one
understand and structure your business
in a way
that is focused on i'm gonna service
existing customers first
number two is establish your branding
and branding is things like website
portfolio online review profiles
business cards and business phone number
okay
so once you get all those things out of
the way you are then in a position to go
out and uh
start trying to get customers and start
establishing a customer base in terms of
getting customers online and getting
customers locally
in your city so with all that said let's
you know let's talk about how to
get customers online especially since
you will have now created your own
website as part of your branding
okay so let's talk about how you can get
customers online as an as a freelance
developer
now if you go back to the start of this
video you remember i said that i was
going to be focusing on
concepts that are really meant to take
your business to like kind of like that
next level so
in this video i'm not going to talk
about places where you can get customers
online uh you know essentially through
like third-party hiring sites instead
what i'm going to talk about is how to
build up your web presence in a way that
is going it's going to
bring you customers on a regular basis
building up your web presence in a way
that is profitable for your business
revolves around a couple of concepts
number one is going to be invest in your
web presence don't spend on it this is
really crucial i'll explain what
this is in a minute
number two is
optimizing your website for
a few niche areas in your local market
okay and i'll explain why this is in a
minute uh
but before we get to optimizing your
website let's go back to the first one
which is investing in your web presence
instead of spending on it
here is the difference when you invest
in something you own it when you spend
money on something you're renting it so
an example of spending would be
you build a website for your business
you put your portfolio in it looks
really nice and to get customers in your
market to see your website you like do
paid ads for google paid ads through
things like that you're renting ad space
from a third party you're spending money
on ads because you don't own anything at
the end of the day right
well you can make money doing that so
let's say you spend a thousand bucks on
ads this month let's say it brings ten
thousand bucks in business into your
bank account it's easy to look at that
and go score
the problem with that is that thousand
dollars is gone it's never going to
bring you another dime okay it's um you
spent a thousand got 10 but that's it
and next month if you don't spend money
again your revenue goes from 10 000 to
zero so you get locked into spending you
know
essentially spending money on ads on
just you know a perpetual basis and it
can get
really hard to get out of that trap
now
if you invest in your business you can
put some time and resources into
something once but then it keeps paying
you a dividend forever because you own
it so investing is when you own
something an example of owning something
would be creating a blog post for
your website that is meant to reach your
target audience in organic search it
could mean doing youtube videos that
your
target audience may see organically like
things of that nature and that can have
a much better result for your business
when you go that ownership route and
investment route versus spending and
renting okay
um
so just to give you a personal example
uh my previous brand uh was was acquired
earlier this year in 2020
something i'm quite happy about
obviously
so over the years i'd written roughly
400 articles
on that for that brand
um you know again reaching out to like
my target market
uh
and
a lot of those articles got a lot of
traffic people called me because of them
when i wrote an article it was on my
blog forever i never had to do anything
else with that article right so as
opposed to an ad
where the ad goes i pay for an ad it
goes up but once it gets clicked on it's
gone unless i pay again if i put time
into writing an article it's there
forever and it can keep on giving a
return it doesn't have an expiration
date on it okay
so there was one article the top perform
there a lot of my articles performed
well
but the top performing article on that
blog got roughly call it ten thousand
clicks um over a seven several year
period so you know
clicks and organic search without paid
ads
um
if i had been doing paid advertising i
probably would have spent
somewhere in the area of let's say 10
bucks a click okay
so to get ten thousand clicks from
potential customers would cost me a
hundred thousand dollars it's a lot of
money right
that article that got the ten thousand
clicks
uh between researching it and writing it
took me less than i want to say less
than 10 hours to do it
so i got the equivalent of a hundred
thousand dollars worth of advertising
for
less than 10 hours of work
now obviously that post was a home run
they're not all going to be like that
but you can see as you keep building up
posts on your blog as you keep building
up videos think of how that compounds
over time so if you invest in things
like blog post videos and other content
that you're going to own as opposed to
renting ad space
you can really increase your
profitability real fast and more people
will find you without you having to
spend a lot of time and money to do it
my pr my prior brand that was just
acquired
the
i started it in 2013 i sold it in 2020 i
spent zero dollars in advertising the
entire time you know like i had that
brand okay it was all just investment in
video it was uh you know mostly in blog
writing but also uh you know like some
videos i did on youtube interviews i
gave you know like and some other things
but i did not spend any money marketing
that business at all so build up your
business and your web presence in a way
where you're investing in it and again
investment means you own it if you put a
blog post on your website you own it no
one can take it from you if you put a
video up on youtube you own it okay no
one can take it from you do that as
opposed to spending which means
essentially running ad space
from third party so rule number one
invest in your web presence don't spend
on it
once you're doing that it comes to well
what's my web presence going to look
like and you really want to optimize
your web presence for
a few services in your local market okay
so in other words your website may not
even really hold out everything you do
and it may not just talk about
all the geographies you service
and that's fine okay
the reason i say that's fine is best
explained by looking at what other
developers do or i should say a lot of
developers do which i consider to be
quite wrong okay
um
you'll find a lot of freelance
developers that have you know like a
general website for themselves it says
hey you know i build stuff for the web
or i'm a web developer
and kind of like a broad term um
they'll list a bunch of languages and
frameworks that you know they're
familiar with um
they might say where they're located but
they don't really say i service these
areas in other words you know they're
not targeting a particular geography
so
you know if you're a consumer of
services and you look at their website
it's not really
clear what niche they serve if any what
services
they offer
it's kind of broad
you're not sure if they work with people
in your area or not um
and
so you may be might be less likely to
call that person as a consumer the other
thing is think of that competition think
of the competition if you're a freelance
developer and you've got a website
that just says you know i can build
pretty much anything for anyone anywhere
then you are potentially or essentially
i should say competing against every
other developer out there uh good luck
doing well in search results with that
uh number one and number two even if you
can get your site doing well in search
on that on that broad of a level you are
really like i said competing with the
whole world you know like essentially
so it is much better
to reach
a large number of people
advertising some of what you do than it
is to reach no people
advertising
all of what you do right
so in other words uh
in other words
what i would suggest doing is focus your
website on your local market
and you know really just narrow down and
you know make your website really
emphasize
a few of your services
so like for example i live in ohio
my website really focuses on
you know
ohio and all the cities you know like
they're in it
and it really only discusses a few of
the services i can provide to people i
can provide things other than those
services but i just don't really get
into them that much you know like on my
website
and as a result of that
if you for example go to google and
google you know do a search for ohio
website design my site actually like
comes up first in
uh the organic results and that is
really important because you would be
surprised at
just how many people
uh are looking for a developer that's
close to them a lot of my clients and i
do mean a lot of my clients
you know
again that you could call a developer in
another state but i'd get a lot of
customers that
want someone in ohio so
you know like they're calling me i mean
don't get me wrong i do stuff for people
all over the country um you know and i i
mean i built stuff for people in
literally all over the country on a
regular basis but again in terms of what
comes in through my website i really
focus on
like my local market because a lot of
people are looking for someone in their
local market and it's not as much
competition i'm not trying to compete
against every single web developer in
the country i am competing against the
web developers who are specifically
holding themselves out
to
my state um so clearly spell out you
know like what geographies you service
and the reason i say to clearly limit it
to a few services
is you want customers who land on your
website to clearly understand what it is
you do and you don't want them to go
sifting through
you know let's say you've got like 20
i'm making up a ridiculous number to
prove the point let's say you've got a
list of like 20 things listed on your
website that you know you can handle um
again they don't want to sift through
all that all right so i really just
narrow it down to just a few things and
focus on your local market
that's really what optimizing your
website for
your local market looks like in terms of
geography and content
and it's also important to optimize your
site in general uh for those kinds of
things um
uh spoil alert i'll be doing an seo
guide for a free code camp in
relatively near future but for now we're
going to put a link to
an seo starter guide from google
down in the description to this video
so
when you're building out your website to
get clients online
really think of it from the standpoint
of
a few services you really want to target
a specific geography
you know like you really want to target
make sure the geography is big enough to
actually support your business like you
know a large city or or even an entire
state
but again you know narrow down your
services narrow down your geography
let that be the focus of your website
and again it's not everything you do
it's not everyone you service but that's
fine it's much better to get
a lot of traffic
for a few things than no traffic for a
lot of things okay the former equals you
making money the latter like does not
so
once you've got your website up
after that it's all about adding blog
posts
adding uh you know adding video to
youtube things like that do things that
you're going to own and that are going
to be relevant to your potential
customers and that's how you're going to
get clients online for your website and
the beauty of it is again you do a blog
post today you do a video today
something like that
it keeps paying dividends for years and
years and years and years like with the
example i gave
about my previous brand that was
acquired
if you just rely on
spending money to bring in business like
through ads and things of that it gets
pretty hard to make some money so
invest in your web presence don't spend
money on it and optimize for your local
market and that is how you get customers
online and that's how you get people
calling you um on a recurring basis in
terms of new business
coming in
so
while what we just talked about is going
to bring in a lot of local business
optimizing your website for your local
market
let's talk about some other ways you can
get business locally that don't involve
your website
okay now let's talk about how to get
business in your local market
as you gathered in our last segment when
i talked about optimizing your website i
said optimize your website for your
local market so
that web presence i suggest is actually
going to do a lot tapping into your
local market for you but with that being
said there are ways to go about getting
business locally that don't involve your
website so let's look at each of those
so
in terms of getting customers locally
offline
there are three things i would really
suggest
number one is
to do contract work for other developers
this is a situation where other
developers maybe have a little too much
to do
and you know they're looking to
outsource some work and you would be
surprised because there will be
developers who want to outsource to
potentially i should say outsourced to
you on a regular basis
another one would be contacting
potential customers directly
and
this would mean going out and
introducing yourself to you know
like b2b type things so for example um
you know going to like the local
restaurant the local bakery the local
whatever and
offering to build them a website let's
say
and then a third option would be to
go to networking events so
let's go ahead and talk about each of
these in turn
excuse me
in terms of doing contract work for
other developers
you would be surprised at how many dev
shops are
interested in outsourcing work because
they find themselves in a place where
they have too much to do for the amount
of staff they have but they don't have
enough to do to justify hiring somebody
else full time
and there are it is not uncommon for dev
shops to outsource stuff on a regular
basis and if you have somebody if you're
a developer and you want to outsource
and you have somebody that's worked out
well for you in the past it's
you know likely there's going to keep
sending something to that same person so
other developers who want to outsource
can be a good uh good uh source of local
work
when you're trying to get these kinds of
opportunities
it's important that you don't just you
know
call them up and say hey are you
interested in outsourcing and then leave
it at that or something like that
instead what i would do is
actually pick up the phone uh reach out
to the dev shop um ask to speak to
whoever would it is that would be you
know
in charge who or whoever's making this
kind of a decision
before you make that call actually
research the company know a little bit
about the company
then um after the call or when you get
them on the phone i should say you know
explain who you are explain that you're
available for outsourced work tell the
decision maker that you would love to
send them a copy of your portfolio along
with your cv get their email address
email them over copy of your portfolio
and your cv
now
and
the important thing i should say is
going to be don't just leave it at that
so in other words what a lot of devs do
in this situation is they email them to
somebody saying hey i'm available to
outsource
and then you know they never follow up
um
you know again this the shop you're
contacting really doesn't have they
don't know you they don't really have
any reason to call you
so
you know over somebody else so what you
want to do is consistently follow up i
would suggest following up you know once
a month or so
for
nothing else a good solid year until
they tell you no until they you know or
until they hire you tell you no or it's
been about a year i mean you got to
follow up regularly you know like for
things like this so
don't be shy on following up and again
like i said when you reach out um do it
in a way where you're intelligent about
you're intelligent and informed about
what it is they do
explain how you can provide value and
then just follow up regularly after that
and you would be surprised at how much
work you could get
um from other dev shops
a second option is to go out and contact
potential customers directly again this
is like a b2b thing
like this is going to local businesses
um offering to build them a website
offering to build them an app
you know just offering to provide
services
of some sort
it's the same thing when you go into a
local business don't just you know go
door-to-door and go walking on in and
say this is who you are and this is what
you do actually make a list of
businesses that you want to go out and
talk to
and then
take some time do some research when you
go in and talk to a business make sure
you actually know something about them
make sure you know about what they do
maybe know a little bit about their
history you know and whatnot and just
like with local developers do not be shy
about following up until somebody
specifically tells you no again you'd be
you know surprised at just persistence
and face-to-face contact
can go a long way
so do not be shy about following up
the third thing is something i have
talked about a lot in my prior free
co-cam videos and that is going to
networking events um
uh bni uh which stands for business
networking international
is a good source of uh local networking
uh
uh and you know just other networking
events in general so
uh
that's something i've talked about
before
um i do think it's always best to go out
and try to meet your potential customers
face to face which is why i recommend me
just going straight into businesses or
going to straight to developers but you
know if nothing else um networking
has been around for hundreds of years
for a reason so
attending networking groups such as bni
can be another great source of uh
getting business locally
so
you know uh that is really it in terms
of this guide for what is freelancing
and how to get clients online and in
your city um i know there are a lot of
things i've discussed in other videos i
didn't really raise here and again these
tips are meant really to
uh not just make some money through your
freelance business but to take things to
the next level uh if you have any
questions you know
feel free to connect with me through
linkedin don't you know don't be shy
about contacting me directly i respond
to people all the time who you know
inquired to me through free code camp so
best of luck with everything and i hope
this has been helpful
you
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