Six Tips for Getting More Freelance Work

Six Tips for Getting More Freelance Work - Despite the GFC!

By Jesse Stratford

Published June 5, 2009

The Community

Rating:

Diversify & Network

Jesse Stratford

Jesse was born and raised in Australia, and now lives in London. He is one of the original founders of http://ActionScript.org, and was formerly a Flash developer, teacher, author and speaker. While Jesse no longer works as a full-time Flash professional, he still enjoys actively participating in the http://ActionScript.org community as time permits.

View all articles by Jesse Stratford

5. Be Like Super Mario

No, don't eat magic mushrooms, or become a plumber. What else was special about Mario? Think back… That's right, it's a "platforms" pun. A bit of a bad one. (Mario was a platform game… ok, it died)

Annnnyway, there is a world of development beyond Flash, and ActionScript. Why not toggle platforms? Sure Flash Gaming will always be your first love, but now that ActionScript is a fully-fledged OOP language, you can transfer your skills elsewhere.
You can start playing with Objective C, hop on the iPhone bandwagon, and bash out your first game in your spare time. Before you know it you'll be millionaire.

Or you could expand your skillet to something complimentary to Flash, such as a server-side language if you don't already know one. Look at eLance -- what projects can't you bid on because you don't have the complimentary skills? Maybe you should learn those things to expand your marketability. The trick is to use your down-time productively to either make money, or build skills which will help you make more money when the market turns around.

6. Network, network, network

Remember User Groups? No? Well, before you became participant 1,546,789 on the Facebook "Adobe Flash User Group", and before you started following Tweets from your favourite gurus, people used to get together in rooms to discuss their love for Flash and slashdot T-Shirts. Surprisingly, such things still exist, and they are a great way to meet more people in your industry who might work for a company that just needs a guy on the side to do an occasional bit of… that's you!

Of course there are heaps of great Flash conferences and events around the world too, and most of them are probably a worthwhile investment: if you're really committed to networking the ticket will pay itself off. And don't forget, once you've built your brand and established your expert position by writing articles for ActionScript.org (and other community sites) you can probably even swing a speaking gig at one of these events. Nothing says "I'm an expert worth hiring" like wearing a speaker's lanyard at the next big Flash conference, and better yet, speakers get in for free!

So there's six high level ideas for how to get more work as a Freelancer, even in these tough times. If you have your own ideas, why not post them as a comment?

All the best to you!

Pages: « Back 1 2 3 4 Next »

Spread The Word

14 Responses to "Six Tips for Getting More Freelance Work - Despite the GFC!"

Jean Rating: ratingfull

said this on 05 Jun 2009 8:02:59 AM CST

Great article! The only thing I would add is this: Be patient! It takes a great deal of time for people to know you and to know what you can do. Also when you start freelancing it's always tempting to under quote to try to get more work. It might work from time to time but mostly under quoting will just make your potential clients think you don't know what you are doing, so be aware of that.

(Reply to this comment)

tad Rating: ratingfull

said this on 06 Jun 2009 10:29:45 AM CST

Your ideas are pure gold! Awesome article! Another good freelance network is odesk.

(Reply to this comment)

towe Rating: ratingfull

said this on 08 Jun 2009 10:13:38 PM CST

Sure, this is a great article! I'm from Philippines and the economic crisis here is well felt . I'm a graduate of BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) for almost a year and a half, and I hardly hadn't find a job with good compensation . So I'm trying my luck in this trade. Thanks a lot. Good points and well said. For all the coders out there, LEARN UNTIL YOUR LAST BREATH ^^

(Reply to this comment)

sam Rating: ratingfull

said this on 11 Jun 2009 8:53:27 AM CST

The article is appropriate for the GFC period.

I found my generic ideas coming during this ideal period matches much with that of the writer. The article triggers me to think like that way "If enjoyment of life is ultimate goal I think this is ideal time to start for the goal according to the idea the author has hinted to".

(Reply to this comment)

Harry Acosta Rating: ratingfull

said this on 12 Jun 2009 10:14:08 PM CST

Very helpful article. I was very pleased to realize I'M DOING ALL THIS STUFF, or at least moving in the right direction to be able to say so. Four out of six isn't bad. And I totally agree with Jean. Patience doesn't come easy when you start to think about what you have become accustomed to and what you may see yourself slipping into. And with any online opportunities, there is a global amount of information for employers to weed through before they get to the right one.

(Reply to this comment)

Jack Rating: ratingfull

said this on 13 Jun 2009 4:46:59 PM CST

How do you participate in the flash community?

(Reply to this comment)

Jean Rating: ratingfull

said this on 16 Jun 2009 9:21:55 AM CST

You can participate in the Flash community in many ways Jack. Here are a few:
Writing tutorials.
Participate in forums.
Collaborate on an open source project.
Be a member of a Flash/Adobe user group.
and probably more I can't think about right now!

(Reply to this comment)

A-ron Rating: ratingfull

said this on 24 Jun 2009 12:13:34 AM CST

Jesse, I'd just like to tell you that this IS a very inspiring article. The world is ever changing as must any type of web developer. It is very exciting knowing that the work you put into something is what you get out of it and this can't be more true for web developing. Making people think you are an expert is by far one of the most key aspects of getting them to hire you. You have to make them BELIEVE that they need your skills, everything is downhill from there.

(Reply to this comment)

shridha Rating: ratingfull

said this on 07 Jul 2009 1:32:08 AM CST

It is really very helpful to others ,your idea is behaving like a seed which can give birth a lot of seeds of ideas,As I am freelancer animator and working in flash based environment for last 6 years,I feel to get success you need to do continuous efforts and research .

(Reply to this comment)

paul Rating: ratingfull

said this on 16 Jul 2009 10:34:48 AM CST

I would add: Go live with your parents.
kidding

(Reply to this comment)

Rich Brill Rating: ratingfull

said this on 02 Sep 2009 2:57:06 AM CST

Top article Jesse! All helpful tips that I will definitely be using to get more work.

Tip 5 is fine but I think it's all too easy to get carried away with becoming a 'Jack of all trades' and waste too much time learning a skill which might not be so popular in one years time.

Deciding which skill is likely to be the the most useful for your target market and then learning that skill is better than learning too many different skills, badly IMHO.

(Reply to this comment)

Andreas Renberg Rating: ratingfull

said this on 26 Oct 2009 7:37:59 PM CST

Very nice article.

You touched briefly on how important it is that you have a good "appearance", making you seem like an expert.

I wanted to emphasize how VERY important the way you present yourself is, specifically in your writing. Sadly, pretty much everyone judges based on what little information they get on you, including your grammar and spelling in your emails, and when they put their website in the hands of the developer, even though they may be desperate, they want to make sure that the worker can be trusted, and isn't just some 15 year old blowing hot air. Then it helps to have a portfolio, but still, the way you present yourself is quite important.

This may be a lot more difficult for people who originally speak other languages, and sadly, when two possible candidates are available, work is more likely to go to the one with perfect English rather than the one who never capitalizes the beginning of sentences and forgets punctuation.

So, appearance is 90% of the battle.

Of course, it's likely that most people reading this article are professional enough to know that already. ;)

On a related note, outward appearances on Flash projects also makes a huge difference. I have seen projects that look amazing when compiled, but with sources that make me want to hunt down the developer and strangle him. Then there are Flash projects with decent outward appearances, but beautiful code behind it, and sadly, in the vast majority of cases, the one that looks nicer on the outside is favored. [Forgive me for the hijack]

(Reply to this comment)

denni Rating: ratingfull

said this on 03 Nov 2009 9:28:11 PM CST

wow, its an inspiring article!
I just wonder that i can "sell" my skill

(Reply to this comment)

Deepali Rating: ratingfull

said this on 03 Mar 2010 11:38:25 PM CST

This article is awesome!! Thanks for all those ideas :)

(Reply to this comment)

Rate this article and leave a reply:

Rating: *

Poor Excellent

You are replying to the above comment.Cancel this "reply".

Your Name *:	Email (private) *:	Website:

Please copy the characters from the image below into the text field below. Doing this helps us prevent automated submissions.
Security Code:

Diversify & Network

Jesse Stratford

5. Be Like Super Mario

6. Network, network, network

Spread The Word

Related Links

14 Responses to "Six Tips for Getting More Freelance Work - Despite the GFC!"

Categories

Featured Jobs

Recommended Links

Recent Articles