A step-by-step guide to becoming a freelance programmer.

If you’re reading this then you’re probably thinking about becoming a freelancer, or a web developer, or best of all some combination of the two.

It’s a good idea! But, err, how?

In this blog post we’ve put together the essential 6 steps you need to make that jump into freelance web development. And we’ve outlined a couple of them for you here.

But first, what are the benefits for you in going freelance?

1. A better work-life balance — you can have breakfast with your boyfriend/girlfriend again!

2. Being your own boss — you can work all morning (or all night for that matter), and then spontaneously take a couple of days off to, I don’t know, play disc golf?

3. Freedom to choose your working hours/clients/rate of pay — say a polite ‘no thank you’ to that miserable client and a ‘no thank you’ to his criminally low budget too.

4. The chance to work on more interesting projects — no more monotony, each month bringing a variety of work, clients and opportunities. Cue envious looks from your former colleagues.

It’s not easy. You have to be strict, but incase you need the motivation, here are a few things about being a freelance developer that work to your advantage:

• Your skills are highly sought-after in every industry (AKA lots of demand)
• There is a huge shortage of web developers worldwide (AKA lots of demand)
• Contract salaries are frequently high (AKA … awesome)

Think this might be the career choice for you? Thought so. So let’s get you started!

1. Find Your Niche

Wanna stand out from the crowd? Find yourself a niche and upgrade your skills. While it’s great to be a programmer that can do a bit of everything, your value will be higher as an expert in just a few. Have you thought about learning Ruby on Rails, Node.js or Swift? Knowledge of these coding languages could make the difference between landing that client or not.

If you’re not sure your current abilities solve a common enough problem, consider building a skillset of complementary abilities other than coding, such as User Experience Design, or User Interface Design for the more creative types. A developer who can also plan out a usable and effective information architecture is rare, and this dual-skilled approach could see you turning clients away left, right and centre.

2. Start Building, Anything & Everything

So you’ve found your niche. Now it’s time to get building. The best place to start is your portfolio website, the one website you will update, edit and continually develop for your entire career. Your portfolio is a way of displaying your skills and having an easy reference for potential clients. If in doubt, remember that your goal in self-representation is to be easy to find, easy to remember and good to know.

Build your ideas, they are what make you, you.

Once you’ve built your portfolio, you need things to put in it, which is your opportunity to boost your personal brand by:

• Practicing your niche skill
• Building your own ideas
• Exhibiting your technical chops

You’re essentially killing two birds with one stone: you’re improving on and applying your new skills while simultaneously showing your wares. Your portfolio is your shop window, so make sure that it and its contents represent your very best work.

3. Build Your Personal Brand

Getting your name out there as an expert in the field can be tough, but if you want the freelance lifestyle, you’ll have to hustle for it, so get ready for some sleepless nights.

There are so many opportunities for professionals to get known without spending a penny that advertising is not a route you need to go down, not at this stage. Websites like Twitter, Quora and YouTube give freelancers great opportunities for online marketing, so use them! By showcasing your work, building a network and teaching and blogging like an expert you will find more than enough ways to connect with people and for people to find you.

It’s crucial that you talk to people. Online and off. You’ll have to talk to a lot of people to find and land clients, so get used to it!

From a visibility standpoint, keep your goals simple. Getting Google to find you if you have a normal name can be tough, so focus on attaching your name across your portfolio, social profiles and content to the terminology of your niche skill, and the problems your clients will search for.

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Want to know what the other three steps are? Then head over to CareerFoundry’s blog to read the full article. By following our six steps you’ll be all set to chuck in the 9-5 and become your own, brilliant boss.