How do you find contracts locally?

Question

What actionable steps do you take to land a app/web contract in your local city? What things do you look for in particular that has yielded a consistent client base? I look on craigslist but it's often hit or miss. I end up doing meeting people for free and giving them free consultation and then have them back out at the last minute.

I don't mind following up on leads but it's just so sporadic, wondering what channels I should be looking into besides craigslist to find app/web contracts that I can work on after my day job.

Essentially I will have about 5 hours after work each day and I don't want to charge by the hour and prefer to a project based on deliverables.

Update: The problem with craigslist is that there it's hard or I don't know how to find descent contract jobs. What other sources do you recommend that is NOT odesk,freelancer,guru etc.?

Answer 1

To make it easier for potential clients to find me, I:

• Determine how my target market will find clients.
• Make sure I am visible in those places.

In my case, my target market will either do a Google search or they will use a referral. In the first case, I will at times use Google ad words localized to my area to make myself more visible. (But in my case this can get a bit pricey.)

Other target markets may do things differently, so that's why understand how your clients will look for you is so important.

I try to keep up with my referral network. I have lunch regularly with people who are good at referring me to their contacts. And I try to expand it by attending events where I will meet potential clients and connectors. My target market is small business owners, so I joined my local chamber of commerce.

I also contact former clients to see how things are going and if there are new opportunities with them.

In my case, Craigslist would be a poor source of leads. People using craigslist tend to be tire kickers and cheap, and those are not clients I'm interested in.