Not making it as a Freelancer...help?

dont let this negativ stuff affect you. i know a lot of people who work "just to get money" and are so damn unhappy. and i dont think that you will become happy at mcdonalds ;) (too much negative press the last days :P).

do you have a job right now? or what speaks against a full time job as a webdev? or do you want to be your own boss? :)

I honestly think some of the best clients you can get are local to you, and better when they were referred to you by past clients.

I'm personally not a fan of freelance sites like Upwork. I've been on the other end, I've hired some freelancers through Upwork, but I throw out one proposal and get 75 bids, for one job. As a small time freelancer myself, I'm not interested in that level of competition. I'm not going up against people from India willing to work for $7 an hour. A personal page is probably worth having, but it won't get you any jobs. People just don't randomly stumble on your personal site via a generic google search for a freelancer, and than decide to hire you from your site.

Gaining clients is about sweet and hustle. Meeting a potential client face to face and shaking their hand before signing a contract with them is incredibly beneficial. Some clients aren't worth your time, and you can hopefully see the crazy ones from a mile away.

As your client base grows, and your word of mouth grows, than things like a personal site become more helpful, and your rates go up.

With these clients you may have go back to them and say you need to reevaluate the deal. It's not enough to eat on per month, and we either need to significantly increase the price, or reduce the hours a week you spend on them so you can work on other projects and bring in more money. Part of the problem with working so cheap is you set unrealistic expectations with clients, and if they do tell their friend, they're going to tell them how cheap you did it for them. Not what you want.

I'm not looking for clients, and freelance isn't my main source of income right now, but if I have someone come to me wanting me to do some work for them, there really isn't anything I'll do for less than $75 and hour. They'll bawk at the price, tell me Joe Blow down the street does the same for $20 and hour, which I tell them they're welcome to use him, but I don't think they'll get the same results. When your confident in your abilities and price, most clients will stick around. The ones you lose, you didn't want anyway.

If you gotta work at McDonalds for awhile so you can feed yourself, I wouldn't judge you brother. Everyone's gotta eat. But set a timeline, say I'm going to work at McD's for 6 months why I build my freelance clients on the side, and than I'll quit and go full time. But don't give up, if this is what you want. It's a grid, but it can be fun too.

Just remember that to take a dream to a goal, it has to have a timeline, it has to have a measurable result, and it has to have a defined process to get there.

I want to lose some weight is a dream.

I want to lose 30 pounds in 3 months, means I need to eat this way, and exercise on this schedule. This is a now a goal.

You can try looking for gigs on craigslist. Like message everyone. You never know. Even if you get cheated you have work to show for a portfolio.

Nothing wrong with mcdonalds it's making honest living man.

Yes having a personal page is worth it.