| General > General Technical Chat |
| Best way to attract clients. Scale! |
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| mrburnzie:
Hi guys. In the past 3 years I had around 10 clients (a couple were reaccuring too). My goal is to make freelance my primary income in the next couple of years. What is the best method to scale? Mostly asking the veteran players here. I'm also ready to work with a team, because on some projects I had people recruited to complete the project faster (and because they knew how to do it better than I). I'm open to making my own product (which is always a better option, because I don't have to deal with clients), but I don't have the capital yet to do that... I would also like opinions on the pros and cons of freelance. Edit: My services are designing a prototype (PCB and firmware), optimising it for production and scheduling production (anywhere from 100 - 50K units (my largest number)). |
| brabus:
I started my business and had the same "issue", but I think I found a way. The question is very simple: how can you offer value to your customers? If you can clearly identify the value in what you are offering, start from there. It may be the price It may be a specific know-how It may be the personal connection A million other things. The question is: why exactly should I contact you and no one else? Do you have an answer already? In my case, I am dealing with a very specific customer and environment (the railway), offering a very rare value nowadays: a clear and bullshit-free communication. May sound brutal sometimes, but it works wonders. |
| Nusa:
Scale what? What kind of services/expertise are you offering to your clients? |
| mrburnzie:
Reply to brabus and Nusa At the end of the projects I always request an honest personal review from my clients. They basically liked that I told them (straight up, no bullshit) if something was not possible/too expensive, which I always ended with me presenting a solution and a win-win situation. ;D My services are designing a prototype (PCB and firmware), optimising it for production and scheduling production (anywhere from 100 - 50K units (my largest number)). Because I'm based in the Balkans, my prices are quite lower, but I had a couple clients say that I'm undervaluing myself. To answer brabuses question, I don't exactly have the answer to why exactly should someone contact me... I have a general answer, like above, but nothing specific. |
| kaz911:
The question is how much can you scale. Your commodity is time and knowledge. To calculate your full time working rates you can scale to - you need to estimate how much of your time your should sell. Normally for consultants - that would be somewhere between 55-60% "have" to be sold. So the 55% should provide enough money for you to pay a reasonable salary and set money aside for slow times. So for single person business - that would probably mean you split 50/50 - so 20-30% of your time goes towards paying your salary and 20-30% towards savings and general "overhead" So that means selling yourself 20-25 hours a week - should be enough to cover your salary and overhead. And 10-12 of those hours is what covers you "personal" salary. Then you are on the right path towards being able to grow your business. |
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