Struggling as a freelance developer

Career Advice
1

Hello everyone. I’ve been trying for several months to become a freelance web developer. I’m starting to give up.

I’ve done all the stuff that everyone keeps recommending. I have a beautiful website with a decent portfolio. I’d like to focus on small businesses. I’ve cold-e-mailed dozens of them, and I’m yet to receive a positive reply. Judging from all the stuff people report, this is the golden pathway to success. But I have serious doubts.

First, I think there are just not that many new businesses at any given time and place. How many new restaurants open in an average town every year? Maybe a dozen…? With the miniscule response rate, this is hardly enough to make a living.

Second, businesses nowadays think of a website right at the beginning. By the time you find them on your street or on Google Maps, they already have a contract with some big web agency, which they’ve simply chosen from the first page of a Google search. As a beginner freelancer, it’ll take years, if at all, for me to appear at a reasonable place on Google.

Many old-world businesses that really don’t have a website will never get one. Eighty-year-old shoemakers cramped in a small workshop around the corner; an electrician that has thousands of clients; and the likes. They haven’t heard of the Internets, they have their loyal client base, and they don’t believe a website can help them.

Furthermore: even if you manage to get a client or two, I doubt the chain reaction of word-of-mouth that’s supposed to get you hundreds of clients over time. Most business owners would simply pay you for the website, move on and never mention it to anyone. Restaurant owners don’t go to conferences and share advice with each other.

I’ve tried contacting local agencies and asked them to let me do stuff for them if needed, but the response rate here is abysmal too.

I’ve tried Upwork and the likes (not recommended, I know). But hardly anyone posts there a job for building a simple website. Most jobs are highly specialized tasks that involve JS frameworks or WordPress themes and so on.

And lastly: family and friends. Again, I respect people’s own personal experience, but I happen to have a small, dysfunctional family, and even more-dysfunctional friends, and no chance that any one of them will ever need a website. I suppose you can manage without this, but it’s just something that everyone says all the time as the absolutely first advice for beginning freelancers – and I think this can work only for a few.

Incidentally, I live in Germany. Dunno, maybe the culture here isn’t so responsive to cold e-mails. Or maybe this is not an ideal time to do this (you know why).

Hope this isn’t too depressing. Any thoughts?

1 Like
2

Hey there,

Getting started as a freelancer can definitely be a challenge. Especially in the current climate, where (as you hinted at) many small businesses are still struggling and don’t have as much disposable capital to invest in something like a new website.

First, I think there are just not that many new businesses at any given time and place.

This is not wrong. However, there’s nothing that says you have to find a business without a website. It’s entirely viable to reach out to a business and explain how you could improve their website, or create a version that will result in more successful conversions.

even if you manage to get a client or two, I doubt the chain reaction of word-of-mouth that’s supposed to get you hundreds of clients over time

Word of mouth isn’t the only way that a past client can help you. Not only do you have a website that you can use to show potential new clients what you have done, but you have someone who is (hopefully) happy with the work you have done. One of the best things you can do with a client is ask for a testimonial. Follow up after 3-6 months, see how they are liking the work you did, and see if they’d write you a review.

Most jobs are highly specialized tasks that involve JS frameworks or WordPress themes and so on.

WordPress is almost a separate skill on its own, but JS frameworks are very common and prevalent. If you aren’t comfortable/familiar with a framework, I highly recommend picking one up. It sounds like you might be throttling your skills here.

I suppose you can manage without this, but it’s just something that everyone says all the time as the absolutely first advice for beginning freelancers

Building websites for family/friends can help you round out your portfolio with projects, but I personally like to recommend finding a local church/community/non-profit and offering to build them a website. I generally don’t advocate for free labour, but donating your time/work to a non-profit can not only get you a project to show off, but a successful professional relationship with a client (which, as mentioned above, can help quite a bit).

I’m not quite sure where your skill levels lie, but it sounds like you may benefit from some additional learning.

To help you self-assess, let’s pretend I’ve opened a new restaurant. My current website lists my address, phone number, and has an image of my menu. Could you:

  • Update the website to use text for the menu instead of an image?
  • Add functionality where I could change out menu items without having to contact you every time?
  • Embed Google Maps onto the site so my customers could get directions from their house right there on my page?
  • Allow customers to order their food online and pay at the store?
  • Allow customers to order their food online and pay in advance?

Is all of this necessary to build a website for a restaurant? No. BUT the more you can do, the more appealing your sales pitch is when you reach out to a potential client.

3 Likes
3

Depends on what people you follow, if you follow primarily “successful freelance web developers” you’d probably think it is the pathway to success. Except there is basically no one you can follow who calls themselves a “freelance failure”.

Freelancing is risky, difficult, and a lot of work. The idea of being your own boss, doing work only you want to do, when and where you want to do it sounds amazing, but the reality of taking this route means your not only the developer, your the project manager, marketing, research and development, HR, ops, and everything in between.

Not only that, but you really only have yourself to rely on to make anything happen. If you can’t make it happen, then the business loses. This doesn’t only stick with technical development skills, but along with all those other roles you inherit.

This is probably the key factor for the “not happening part”. You listed all the reasons why this section of the freelance market isn’t working for you. Small businesses are well small. It’s tough to find the right ones, when you do they aren’t going to pay a lot, and even if everything goes great their reach is limited in regards to “word of mouth”.

In theory if you could find enough, get the right price, do the work, and get them to spread the word around to others who need more, you could make it happen. However, it seems like that isn’t whats happening.

So where does that leave you? One advantage of freelancing is flexibility. If something doesn’t work for your business change it. If the target market your looking into wont suffice your business model (IE there isn’t enough work to get paid) expand or your business model.

Ultimately you might have a specialization right now that the market doesn’t need. The real specialization is your ability to adapt. If you learned how to make awesome looking websites, some of that skill can carry over to other use-cases.

This could be an angle you could look into, or at least a starting point. WordPress itself has been around for decades and isn’t going anywhere. JS Frameworks aren’t going anywhere either, learning either could open you up to new opportunities.

Ultimately the ball is still and always be in your court. You can change how you do things faster than larger companies (as your “company” is just you), you can use that to your advantage and stay agile to the changing situation.

Or, if freelancing is just too stressful fold up shop and send out resumes for full-time work so you can have other people do all the other non-technical jobs, rather than having it all on yourself.

With freelancing your the boss, you got control over your own destiny for better or worse!

Good luck, keep learning, keep growing :+1:

4 Likes
4

Cold calling and/or email has never been an easy way to get business and I really never liked when I did, you get a small number of prospects and then from that even less. I`ve read some discussion here on FCC and you have to get a couple of clients lined up and work from there, I hope this helps.

5

This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.