Hi HN,<p>I'm a game designer and programmer who recently started his own business. I was off to a rocky start but thanks to a blog post on gamasutra that ended up on HN I managed to reach my sales goal and I'm in the clear for the next 6 months. The problem is, I don't want to repeat the previous mistake and, although I have another game in the works and 2 more updates ready to ship for the first game, I'm looking to extend my savings and not have to bank on the next projects having the same luck.<p>I've setup an account on Upwork and have applied to more than 40 projects over the course of 1.5 months. I finally scored a quick 5$ job on translating a couple hundred phrases to another language. I have listed all the projects I worked on, quite a few of them being big titles (like The Dark Knight Rises, N.O.V.A 3, Frozen). I also listed the ones I developed myself as an indie and I have my credentials and LinkedIn listed as well.<p>I targeted projects related to my skills and experience with solid referrals and examples but I never seem to get the job. I lowered my hourly rate to 15$ / h and I still can't win any projects.<p>Any chance I can get some tips from people with more experience than me on freelancing? Or do you know any better place where I can find gigs related to programming (Lua, C#) or Game Development? Heck, I'd even take article writing since I like doing that and it would surely help me keep the lights on for longer.<p>Thanks!<p>Edit: I have been making games professionally since 2010 and even worked in fields related to Home Automation to save money for my own business.
Here are my main tips:<p>Pick a niche. This is key. You may be the best programmer in the world, but people won't know whom to pick. You might be the best game programmer, but there are many others. However, if you pitch yourself as the expert in getting html games to perform smoothly with poor connectivity, then people with that problem know exactly whom to pick.<p>For this to be effective: Don't pick too broad a niche.<p>You can pick the niche based on data -- which if your skills is most in demand, pays the most, has the most wanted posts and so on.<p>Make sure your whole profile is geared to promoting your prowess in the niche.<p>Did I mention, pick a niche?<p>Once you have a niche, you can expand to adjacent niches.<p>Oh, and don't underprice yourself. The price is a signal of quality so only go as low (if you must) as the market average but no lower for your niche.
When starting from scratch: post on Freelancer Seeking Freelance every month.<p>You'll reach a groove once 120% of your referrals are word of mouth. The pendulum flips quickly between looking for clients and then getting a good rep. for doing good work and the clients flowing to you. Good work is hard to find.<p>With that said, don't negotiate for the highest rate possible at the start. Getting a good rep. will get you better paying clients a lot faster.
I've been freelancing remotely as a front-end web developer for over 3 years now. Here's my advice:<p>1. Get off of Upwork, now. You're only getting into a bidding war with low-priced overseas developers.<p>2. Instead, search remote job boards, Twitter, Facebook Groups, and LinkedIn for freelance remote contracts related to your field.<p>3. Find the client's email and send them your portfolio directly.<p>Following this strategy is what has landed me the most freelance gigs these past years.<p>There's also aggregation newsletters like RemoteLeads that send you remote freelance gigs a few times a week directly to your email.<p><a href="https://remoteleads.io/" rel="nofollow">https://remoteleads.io/</a><p>Shameless Plug: I started RemoteLeads to make finding remote front-end freelance leads easier for myself.
<i>I was off to a rocky start but thanks to a blog post on gamasutra that ended up on HN I managed to reach my sales goal and I'm in the clear for the next 6 months.</i><p>I guess the shrewd commenters who said this piece <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ConstantinBacioiu/20171121/310012/Post_Mortem_I_thought_I_could_ship_at_least_700_units_to_stay_in_business.php" rel="nofollow">https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ConstantinBacioiu/20171121/3...</a> was actually something of a subtle sales technique were pretty much spot on!
Looks like you've gotten some helpful tips so far. Here's a few things I can add.<p>As far as marketing yourself as niche vs. a generalist developer, it really depends on the types of clients and projects you are looking to work on. Being a generalist means you will qualify for more projects, and probably can create extra work for yourself since you can help clients with a broader range of development tasks. This will be useful if you want to help clients build and scale a product. Niche skills on the other hand means more niche marketability and searchability for clients looking for those specific skills.<p>When it comes to marketing yourself....keep blogging! Even if its only for 15 mins a day, write something. Share what you've been doing, answer questions for potential clients and other developers. You've already seen the pay off. Netowrk, online and off. Go to events and conferences, share your work and interests. Personal connections still count for a lot, and have a stronger tendency to lead to referrals.<p>Lastly, don't forget, as freelancer you are your own business. Some freelance platforms will take care of a lot of business aspects for you, but you still should be prepared/ knowledgeable about the following:
-Terms of Service Contract
-Your own (favorable) NDA
-Time Tracking/Invoicing Software
- Regular Review of Your Rate<p>Here's an article I wrote on landing clients as a freelance dev: <a href="https://www.codementor.io/blog/land-clients-freelance-developer-39w3i166wy" rel="nofollow">https://www.codementor.io/blog/land-clients-freelance-develo...</a>
What does an ideal target project/client look like?<p>If you can answer this-- you can direct your own proactive business development campaign. On this subject, Mike Weinberg is brilliant > <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15863998-new-sales-simplified" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15863998-new-sales-simpl...</a>
Upwork is terrible. All of my work comes through personal contacts and relationships. IMO you've got to find a way to grow your network, be that meetups, events, etc. Get creative. It sounds like you have a lot of skill in your domain, maybe you could do a lecture somewhere and meet people that way. Relationships have a tendency of naturally generating work.
y, you're going to have problems getting viable projects on Upwork.<p>The best projects with reasonable pay will come from your own network, people you know. So focus on networking following up with old contacts/making new ones.<p>Reach out to the game dev community, get in contact with podcasts, write articles, get involved with the community.
As already said, pick a niche, and make sure you're known for it. Generate content in that area, you're a game designer, so blog about the issues you've faced, how you've overcome hurdles. If blogging isn't for you, create a podcast, just create content in whatever medium you're most passionate about and do something that makes you a thought leader in that space.<p>When someone is searching for a solution to an existing problem they face and you can demonstrate how you've solved it, and many more in that domain you're immediately valuable.