How do you get work whilst being a student?

Inazuma

Inazuma

Inazuma

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Joined
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Hey everybody,
As a university student, I am quite poor and would like to redeem the situation! Does anyone have advise on how I would go about getting freelance work, whether by online methods or going to local business's? What techniques/tactics do you use to improve your chances of getting work?
 
I already have :)

I am asking for more specific information here from you guys that have done it all before. I'd like to know how I go about the actual approach to potential clients. Things like, how should I present myself; what kind of things do I say to best sell myself; what should my first contact with a potential client be? (phone call/physical visit), etc
 
i haven't got specific advice as such but feel it's worth saying...

as a newly self employed inexperienced freelancer, the first contact will be a complete mess up, but you'll learn, and the second you'll make a whole set of new mistakes, which again you'll learn from and hopefully still continue to want to find new clients. simple go out and do anything to get a new customer, know that it's going to go extremely badly and you wont get any business from it, so that if it goes any other way you'll be pleased.

if you feel you should try to be professional then try it, you may come across as false, but you could be just what they are looking for. email someone one way, email another a different way, ring someone else, text another etc.
 
Mammalian said:
i haven't got specific advice as such but feel it's worth saying...

as a newly self employed inexperienced freelancer, the first contact will be a complete mess up, but you'll learn, and the second you'll make a whole set of new mistakes, which again you'll learn from and hopefully still continue to want to find new clients. simple go out and do anything to get a new customer, know that it's going to go extremely badly and you wont get any business from it, so that if it goes any other way you'll be pleased.

if you feel you should try to be professional then try it, you may come across as false, but you could be just what they are looking for. email someone one way, email another a different way, ring someone else, text another etc.
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That has to be up there with the most useless information I have ever come across on this site.

You've basically told him to go out, mess it up, don't be professional as he will come across false. I don't think you could have give him/her any less useful information.
 
Inazuma said:
Hey everybody,
As a university student, I am quite poor and would like to redeem the situation! Does anyone have advise on how I would go about getting freelance work, whether by online methods or going to local business's? What techniques/tactics do you use to improve your chances of getting work?
Click to expand...

I'm a self employed website designer/developer (mostly development). I have some contact with local businesses, which is initially how I've established myself. I've also found other contacts in the industry that are looking for people like myself, and get regular work from there. I am only 17 years old, and have made some fantastic contacts - word of mouth is really the best form of advertising yourself.

Inazuma said:
I already have :)

I am asking for more specific information here from you guys that have done it all before. I'd like to know how I go about the actual approach to potential clients. Things like, how should I present myself; what kind of things do I say to best sell myself; what should my first contact with a potential client be? (phone call/physical visit), etc
Click to expand...

My first client was someone who I already used for my carp fishing bait supplies. I approached him and offered him my services, as he had no web presence what-so-ever.

Try and find opportunities yourself, but don't seem forceful - just offer some quality advice, showing a willingness, and most importantly an interest in what you're proposing.

Mammalian said:
i haven't got specific advice as such but feel it's worth saying...

as a newly self employed inexperienced freelancer, the first contact will be a complete mess up, but you'll learn, and the second you'll make a whole set of new mistakes, which again you'll learn from and hopefully still continue to want to find new clients. simple go out and do anything to get a new customer, know that it's going to go extremely badly and you wont get any business from it, so that if it goes any other way you'll be pleased.

if you feel you should try to be professional then try it, you may come across as false, but you could be just what they are looking for. email someone one way, email another a different way, ring someone else, text another etc.
Click to expand...

I agree with some of your points. However, I feel that what you're saying is that making an effort will come across false.

My first contract wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped, however, I managed to recover it - I'll never make that mistake again.

I've made some more mistakes since and have kept on learning from them. After all it's the only way we learn.
 
tsinc80697 said:
That has to be up there with the most useless information I have ever come across on this site.

You've basically told him to go out, mess it up, don't be professional as he will come across false. I don't think you could have give him/her any less useful information.
Click to expand...

i never told him to go mess it up? if you can quote the part that i said go mess it up then i'll admit i must have mistyped what i meant.

I'm sure I said go out with the thought that you are going to mess up, so don't concentrate on worrying about that but instead concentrate on the lessons you'll learn from any mistakes. in a different field but similar situation, a mistake i made was taking too long to act as i was trying to be 100% prepared; i realised quickly afterwards that the best experience is from making mistakes and i'd wasted time. I don't think that is "useless information".
 
Inazuma said:
Hey everybody,
As a university student, I am quite poor and would like to redeem the situation! Does anyone have advise on how I would go about getting freelance work, whether by online methods or going to local business's? What techniques/tactics do you use to improve your chances of getting work?
Click to expand...

Work in a pub/bar, its more fun than coding which you will probably end up doing coding forever if you wanna start now ;)

I guess develop a webpage portfolio or a sample business app to show your potential then go from there. At my uni they sometimes get local companies seeing if there is a student who would like to do a nice cheap site for them. Just make sure you don't get screwed over because you are a student and they think you don't deserve a proper wage!
 
If you are just after making a bit of money, I agree with _TubbZ_ - development work might not be what you want. Managing clients on your own is a royal pain, you'll work late, have to manage at times utterly ridiculous expectations, and you rarely get paid what you deserve.

Could you do anything for your university? There might be societies that want simple sites, or perhaps there is development work to be done on the university/union sites? At least they will understand that you are a student.

Alternatively, if you want invaluable experience, you could try to get part-time work with an established agency - I did that at the start of my second year on a nominal wage and I've worked here since the start of third. But I appreciate that you might not have the sort of course that allows for fixed hours, of course.
 
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