How to Land Freelance Clients with Small Business Whisperer Luke Ciciliano [Podcast #211]
Today Quincy Larson interviews Luke Ciciliano. He's a front-end developer who runs Modern Website Design, a software consultancy that builds solutions for small to medium sized businesses. He taught himself programming in the 1980s and started landing clients in the 1990s.He's going to share tips for building your own software consultancy in your city and winning clients.
We talk about:
- How AI tools are actually creating MORE potential small business customers. Not fewer.
- How to engage with clients and close the deal.
- And why long term relationships are the key to building a business as a freelance developer
Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp
Support also comes from the 10,104 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org
Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org
Links from our discussion:
- Luke's website: https://www.modern-website.design/about-us/
- Luke's freeCodeCamp course: "How to Make Money as a Freelance Developer: Business Tips from an Expert" https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tips-for-making-money-as-a-freelance-developer-39fae6b76972/
- Luke's many other freelance developer-focused courses on freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/Luke-Ciciliano/
Community news section:
1. If you're interested in learning about AI infrastructure, freeCodeCamp just published this new course that will help you pass the NVIDIA Infrastructure and Operations Certification Exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll introduce you to key concepts like GPU architecture, CUDA, and use cases for Accelerated Computing. Even if you decide not to pursue the certification, you'll still learn a lot from this course. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-nvidia-certified-associate-ai-infrastructure-and-operations-certification-exam/
2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course that will teach you full-stack JavaScript development by building your own professional-grade Loom-style screen-sharing platform. You can code along at home as you watch instructor Beau Carnes create a Next.js app, then add screen and mic capturing using standard media APIs. Then you'll learn how to store video data in the cloud, and automatically transcribe it. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/loom-clone-next-javascript-mux/
3. You may have heard the term DevOps, or Development and Operations. Well now there's another emerging field, MLOps, or Machine Learning and Operations. freeCodeCamp just published an MLOps for beginners Python course that will teach you how to take your models beyond Jupyter Notebook and into production environments. Along the way, you'll learn tools like Hugging Face, MLflow, and Databricks. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mlops-with-mlflow-and-databricks/
4. Learn how to enjoy the code review process with what Abbey Perini calls “pull request therapy.” She explains her own struggles with perfectionism, her anxiety from hostile reviewers she's encountered in the past, and how she's overcome these hurdles to become a prolific contributor. Abbey also shares tips to help you identify friendly open source projects. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learning-to-enjoy-code-reviews-with-npmx/
5. Today's song of the week is 1983's "City of Love" by London progressive rock band Yes. I love the sleezy guitar, synth hits, and lurching bassline. This song also has a super open, airy drum sound. Top it off with some vocal harmony and some cynical lyrics and you've got a great late night driving anthem. https://youtu.be/pZ6xV72oxo0
00:00 Welcome and Announcements
03:21 Introducing Luke
04:14 Freelancing Since 2020: What Has Changed?
10:12 Educating Customers and Process Engineering
16:36 Keys to Long-Term Client Retention
22:34 New Business vs. Existing Business Stability
30:50 Communicating Price Points and Deliverables
34:51 The Flow of a Client Inquiry and Consultation Call
41:04 Why Hourly Rates Rarely Matter
45:52 Contracting and Avoiding "Problematic" Clients
50:39 A Real-World Developer Nightmare Scenario
1:05:37 The Commodore 64 and First Paid Client at Age 12
1:18:44 How AI Tools Impact Client Expectations
1:34:04 Providing Indispensable Value and Referrals
1:38:39 Advice for Young Inquisitive Programmers Receive SMS online on sms24.me
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