Long Walk on a Short Pier
I have been working freelance for the past 7 years as a LAMP stack developer. I have completed over 90% of my deadlines and never failed to complete a milestone. My code is W3C compliant and I follow the tenants of OOP religiously. Despite wonderful feedback from every major Freelance site I am failing to build my client base. In an attempt to retain clients and secure future business, I follow up politely with every client and even offer finder fees for any referrals they might provide to their colleagues. I like to think I am eloquent enough to get the point across that I require work to survive but somehow I am dropping the ball. My question is for successful LAMP stack developers. I would like to know any methods used to encourage clients to grow their businesses and increase their value through my efforts. Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Chris Butler I am going to ask Nicholas Leonard and Nihar Suthar if they can recommend any developers they know to assist you!
Hi Chris Butler (and thanks for the introduction Ashley Wilson )
I break your question into two different parts
The first question is do you have marketable skills (LAMP stack development). I think the answer here is clearly yes. Despite MEAN stack achieving a more dominant position in the recent years, there is still significant demand for LAMP stack engineers.
So the second question is with your business generation (marketing). I think it makes sense to try to use freelance sites (like upwork.com), but one of the challenges I imagine you'll find is that these sites have greatly reduced the friction between hiring international developers for significantly cheaper hourly rates. You can either drop your price to be competitive with them OR advertise your different skills. You aren't just a quality LAMP Engineer. You're a native english speaker who can help non-technical people translate business needs into actionable technology requirements, and then build them!
Are you set on wanting to work in a freelancer capacity? Obviously, given the difficulty of H1-B Visas, you have a considerable advantage at getting hired full-time in the US.