Freelance developer - lacking direction/jack of all trades

[Sheppard Digital]

Following on from a topic I created a couple of year ago https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/web-developer-feel-like-a-jack-of-all.385507/page-2 I find myself in the same situation over two year later, and I feel like I'm no further forward.

Reading back through my original posts, I worked primary in PHP and recently started working with Java. Fast forward to today, I still work with Java a little, but I've done very little in PHP. I have however completed 4-5 projects using ASP.NET Core. As for Drupal, I found a developer who works with me on Drupal projects, but I've still had to dig in a little where needed and I've picked up a fair amount of knowledge of Drupal too. This all just highlights how varied my skills are and how the technologies I use vary depending on my client and their projects at a given time. The downside is that I never really become highly proficient in one particular technology, but instead have a very broad knowledge of many technologies.

I finished my Masters in Computing, and have since gone on to have a second child, who's now two. I've turned 40 too.

Last year saw my biggest turnover/profit to date, and while that's something to celebrate, it's also brings some concern. 70-80% of my turnover comes from two of my biggest clients, and I always worry that losing one of those will have a huge impact on me/business.

Another concern of mine is, I don't have a website. Would you believe it, a web developer that doesn't really have a website. I've had websites, but in all honesty, they've done absolutely nothing for me as pretty much all of my work has come via word of mouth. On the other hand, I've had no new clients approach me for a while now.

I'm been a freelance now for more than 15 year, and while I would say things have been financially stable, I still feel like I need stability, or feel the need to be in a situation where I don't need to worry that losing one client could cripple the business. I want to bring my wife into the business to take over some admin duties and take over some of the project management. I feel I want to narrow my focus, but how do I do that without losing existing clients? I just feel a bit lost.

I've begun designing/planning a web application that I want to build for myself. I think it's a reasonable idea and could have some legs, but I'm held back because I don't have the time to work on it, I've wasted god knows how many hours/months in the past working on stuff i've never finished, and while I believe I'm a good developer, I think even if I finish the project, I lack the communication skills to get out and there seek funding to pay for it.

Then there's the business itself. I feel I really need to nail down exactly what it is that it offers to clients, and focus all communication/marketing around that. At the minute I'm a jack of all trades, I'll take on almost any work I'm comfortable with, and in some cases I'll take on work I'm not comfortable with, but I always explain that's it's outside of my comfort zone, but clients seem to have the confidence that I'll figure it out anyway. If I go back to basics and wanted to target new clients, I really have no idea what we're offering. It is outsourcing? web application development? is it both?

I don't even know what it is that I want to do. I enjoy backend work, I enjoy solving someones problem and really making a difference to their business. In some ways I think I might want to take a step back from development and focus mainly on delegating work to other trusted freelancers depending on the project, but then it comes back to the point that I enjoy developing stuff. Hell, I even sometimes enjoy a bit of frontend work as well.

As you can tell from this post, my mind is still so full of doubt and direction. While I count myself fortunate enough to be in the position that I'm in, I still constantly find myself feeling lost and directionless.

I must have these discussions with myself at least once a year, and I never really nail down what it is that I want to do. What I do know is, I want to feel more financial secure, I want to feel like the business is growing rather than stagnating, and I want reduce my reliance on a handful of clients that I could lose for any reason at any point in time. At the same time, I don't know what type of client it is that I want to work with, as because of that, I don't know who I'm targeting.

If someone were to ask me what is is that I do, my reply would have to be along the lines of "Whatever my clients pay me to do".

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I have loads of projects that I could be working on that will never be finished. Instead I focus on the one that makes the most money and concentrate my efforts on that.

That's the best advice I can give you.

 

[AllUpHere]

It's a very common predicament. It's hard to know what to suggest on the forum. If you feel like bouncing a few ideas around I'd be happy to arrange a time for a chat to see if we could narrow down your focus a bit.

 

[Interestedobserver]

You seem to do well from 2 customers.

Do you have time to go and find 1 or 2 more just like them?

Why re-invent the wheel at this stage?

Simply note down why you do work for them. What they do etc and go and find more like them.

Don't make life too complicated.

If you get more customers you already know how to manage you will get economies of scale as well and be able to justify taking on support staff like your wife or others

What you have created for your existing customers should have some synergy with new ones if you target the right ones and save you a lot of new development work

Shouldn't it?

Ie replace your existing customers BEFORE you lose them - and hopefully improve what you can offer to everyone at the same time

Work smarter as well with economies of scale as above

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

I enjoy solving someones problem and really making a difference to their business.

There is your marketing - build on that, with real world examples of problems solved and how you make a difference. Once you have that, you need to then decide how best you are going to get that information in front of potential customers!

I suspect you are in the middle of knowing you need more clients, but not having time to get them as your 2 main client's keep you busy!

 

[mattk]

Without being too crude, you need to think about much you make from your "business"? The reason I ask is that you mention financial security and of course, the most obvious way to do this is with a full time job. With your experience/background you could easily command £50k+ with all the trappings of an employee. The other route is as a day rate contractor, which is far more profitable, only slightly less secure, but has become much more complex with IR35.

In terms of your business, as you've mentioned, you have the option to engage with other freelancers or even your own employees, but the onus is then on your to win lots more work and you will have to become more of a salesman than a web developer! That's a decision you will have to make.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

Employment has crossed my mind a few times, and one of my clients keeps pleading with me to work for them (I'm based in the North East and they're in Milton Keynes), but I keep saying no.

I enjoy being my own boss, I enjoy the flexibility that I have. Take this morning as an example, I've took 2 hours out to go for a ride on the bike knowing I can make 1 hour up over lunch and the other hour on an evening sometime. I can nip out to do the school run. I don't have people chasing me to make sure I've done 37.5 hours a week. If I don't do the time, I don't get paid, and that's my choice.

In terms of salary, I probably earn £30k+ on a reasonable year and £50k on a good year. I work from home and as a family we have relatively low outgoings and a small mortgage. I think we've put ourselves in this financial position knowing that as we're both self employed there's always the risk something could go wrong. At the same time, I think this has made us afraid to take risks.

My main customers. One is a marketing agency down south who essentially outsources all of their development to me, which can be anything from Drupal websites to web applications and everything in the middle. They handle all communication with the client, they handle design etc and I handle all of the technical stuff. Anything I can't do, I hand off to someone else who does it on my behalf.

My second main client is an app development company, again, based down south. They employ a number of iOS/Android devs, and have a couple of .NET developers as well. They outsource overflow work to me and then anything that they can't do in-house such as anything using PHP.

I have a few smaller clients but in the grand scheme of things the money they bring in is small compared to the main two clients.

If I were to focus on what I'm primarily doing now, then I'd potentially look for similar clients to the main two I have, and long term look to pass more work onto other freelancers to cope with demand. My biggest issue with this is, at the minute I get really annoyed when I keep having to switch between projects/technologies almost daily. Take yesterday as an example, I made some changes to a Drupal website, I made an edit on a PHP project, I added a new feature to a project in .NET and today I'm working on an intranet in Java. It's getting hard to keep relevant in all of the technologies I'm being asked to work with. Looking long term, it would make sense to take a step back from some technologies and delegate those tasks to others which would allow me to narrow my focus, and at the same time take on a more project management/quality checking role. I think my very broad skillsets may lend itself to this type of role.

I also mentioned that I enjoy solving problems for people. Take another one of my clients as an example, which I may have mentioned before. I've worked with them to build an intranet, which over the course of a month saves them countless hours in man-time and has freed up staff to work on less mundane tasks by automating and moving some of their processes into an intranet. There's a great sense of satisfaction knowing that you've been actively involved in coming up with solutions that make a difference. Where as with other clients, they've already come up with the solution, and my job is to simply plan/build it.

I guess long term, it would be good to have a business that I could eventually take a step back from that has the staff to enable it to (mostly) function without me. Then even during retirement I would still have some sort of income an involvement in the business. My problem is, time is running out to do this and I think I'm afraid to take any risk that might backfire. Also, is there a market for yet another development/outsourcing agency?

The point made above about being a saleman.... yep, that's not me. That's definitely something I'd have to delegate to someone else. I understand technology, I understand it's benefits, how it can be applied, but sales is like a black art, and I think it takes a certain type of person to be really successful at it.

 

[Interestedobserver]

Think back to how you gained these existing large customers and see if you can replicate what worked back then I reckon.

And figure out which parts of the role could be delegated to others that you trust and which bits cant

 

[Sheppard Digital]

Think back to how you gained these existing large customers and see if you can replicate what worked back then I reckon.

And figure out which parts of the role could be delegated to others that you trust and which bits cant

How I got these clients is a strange one.

I was a developer for a travel agency that went under. We decided that I'd try working for myself and see how it goes. I was doing the odd website and doing work in PHP when I met a designed/media specialist who was looking for someone to do his development work. One of his friends worked for an agency down south, so the designer and I setup a business together and we provided our combined services to the marketing agency. Sadly the partnership didn't last, but seeing as I did 90% of the work for the marketing agency, I got to keep it as my client.

Another guy started working for that marketing agency, and I ended up with two main contacts there. The first left and setup his own marketing agency, and is now one of my biggest clients. The second guy left to start an app development business with his friend. He's not with that business anymore but that app development agency is my other large client.

As a result, I've had to do very little marketing. I've barely had to put myself out there. I got these clients due to a unique set of circumstances that kind of just happened, and I've just been able to build a reputation and provide them with a quality service that's meant we've continued to work together for 10 years.

 

[Interestedobserver]

So maybe just look for other clients like them in similar industries that look like they could use your help

You should have lots of success stories to tell them

Being careful not to conflict with the businesses of your existing clients of course

 

[tony84]

When I set up my business, I was a jack of all trades - Buy to lets, residential, commercial - I would do whatever hit my desk.

As things got busier and I built up more contacts I started to hand off certain types of mortgages to people I know and trusted. That meant I could start to concentrate on what I enjoyed. It has worked quite well for me. As an example last year I was paid kick backs which was more than some people would be paid in full time jobs - not too bad for doing very little.

I am not sure I would take on your wife. It can work but do you want to spend all day and night together? When it comes to home time, what do you talk about? When your child grows up and moves out what do you and your wife talk about? What happens if you want to go away? Who (wo)mans the phones?

Nobody is going to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. Unless you pull your finger out, you will be posting another thread like this in 2 years time.

Work out what you want, put a plan in place and then work towards it.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

it would make sense to take a step back from some technologies and delegate those tasks to others which would allow me to narrow my focus, and at the same time take on a more project management/quality checking role. I think my very broad skillsets may lend itself to this type of role.

I think you already do this, just need to do more of it. I think I read somewhere that you employ freelancers for things outside your expertise. No reason why you can't follow this and use freelancers to do the things that you can do, but would rather not!

The real issue here is getting new clients isn't it? With more client's you can pass on some of the work you don't like to your freelancers? Certainly in the early days it leaves you free from the risk of having full time employees?

 

[Sheppard Digital]

When I set up my business, I was a jack of all trades - Buy to lets, residential, commercial - I would do whatever hit my desk.

As things got busier and I built up more contacts I started to hand off certain types of mortgages to people I know and trusted. That meant I could start to concentrate on what I enjoyed. It has worked quite well for me. As an example last year I was paid kick backs which was more than some people would be paid in full time jobs - not too bad for doing very little.

I am not sure I would take on your wife. It can work but do you want to spend all day and night together? When it comes to home time, what do you talk about? When your child grows up and moves out what do you and your wife talk about? What happens if you want to go away? Who (wo)mans the phones?

Nobody is going to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. Unless you pull your finger out, you will be posting another thread like this in 2 years time.

Work out what you want, put a plan in place and then work towards it.

The hard part is figuring out what I want to do and what direction I want to take. I have no issue pulling my finger out, and it's a term I regularly direct at others. If I want something, I do what I need to do to go out and get it, which only works when you know what you want.

There's been some good advice, and it's certainly given me some food for thought. I think I need to take what I'm doing now to the next level. I may look at getting in touch with someone who can help me put together a plan of where I want to get to, and potentially what steps I need to take along the way to achieve it.

 

[MarkOnline]

Sometimes growing is the answer and sometimes not. I dont think bringing in more work will improve your situation. You havent, from what youve said, got the infastructure for more work. I dont think more work would make you happy, you value your work life balance too much.

If you could make more money to invest into "slow pound" hands off investment that I believe is the key to your long term personal prosperity. I dont understand your market at all, but if I had your skillset and lived in the Phillipines life would be a breeze on the revenues you generate.

Good luck.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Maybe you're also not charging enough which is why you're busy juggling different projects? I have a girl who does some jobs for me and she charges far too little, I have told her so too. And, yeah, she's always run off her feet - surprise, surprise.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

Sometimes growing is the answer and sometimes not. I dont think bringing in more work will improve your situation. You havent, from what youve said, got the infastructure for more work. I dont think more work would make you happy, you value your work life balance too much.

If you could make more money to invest into "slow pound" hands off investment that I believe is the key to your long term personal prosperity. I dont understand your market at all, but if I had your skillset and lived in the Phillipines life would be a breeze on the revenues you generate.

Good luck.

I count myself very fortunate the get the salary that I get, that really isn't the issue. The main issue is sustaining that salary for the future. At the minute I feel that I'm exposed to a big reduction in salary if something were to happen to one of my two main clients. I don't think I necessarily want to any bigger than I already am, but I think it's a path I need to take in order to place my eggs in more baskets to protect myself in the future.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

Maybe you're also not charging enough which is why you're busy juggling different projects? I have a girl who does some jobs for me and she charges far too little, I have told her so too. And, yeah, she's always run off her feet - surprise, surprise.

My current hourly rate is £50, which at times I think is far too much, especially when work is being outsourced to you. I am lucky in that I know my two main clients bill me out at around £100 an hour, but for many other agencies their own rate is £50 and they can't justify paying me the same rate. That's an objection I've had in the past.

My wife thinks I charge too little, I think I charge too much. I've had people baulk at my hourly rate. Even trying to explain to them that I have 25 years experience in web development and I studied a Masters in Software Engineering seems to fall on deaf ears.

 

[MarkOnline]

At 30 hours a week £50 is fine at 12-20 hours not so good. Do you manage to save much with your current income. I get the feeling, from what you have previously posted, that you have been sensible with your money.

 

[UKSBD]

I've been like you all my life

I started a temporary job for a small building firm in the school holidays before starting college and ended up staying there and not going to college.

It was one of those small family businesses, the 2 sons basically ran the sites, they had a couple of old boys, 1 who was a bricklayer the other a general all rounder.

I started just on the barrow but it was the sort of firm where everyone did a bit of everything, after about 6 months they got another labourer so I was on the tools more; bricklaying, carpentry (1st fix), roofing, tiling, plastering, basically a bit of everything except electrics and plumbing.

It was great for 1st 10 years, they got bigger though, started using subbies for everything and everything changed.

By then I was basically the site manager, responsible for ordering materials, sorting out the blokes (a mixture of some on books and some subbies which always made things tricky), I was also in charge of the actual building, setting out, groundwork, liaising with building control etc. (we only tended to work of basic plans which I had to interpret a lot of the time)

The 2 bosses were rarely on site by then, just wanted the jobs done as quick and cheap as possible and I was in the middle between them and building control

I had no training, no education but basically had to know the building regs

Finally had enough of it and left to do web work full time, which was similar story

I was just self taught learning HTML as I went along, then learnt about SEO, then had to teach myself basic ASP, then teach myself PHP and how databases work, learn about Wordpress, etc. etc.

I'm still winging it all now with a lot of what I do on a trial and error basis

I can't really do anything, would probably be unemployable, but I just keep pottering on - The thing is I love it

I only really work about an hour a day now, apart from all the little new ideas I'm constantly <strike>playing</strike> working on.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

At 30 hours a week £50 is fine at 12-20 hours not so good. Do you manage to save much with your current income. I get the feeling, from what you have previously posted, that you have been sensible with your income.

I pay a little into a pension. I started a pension fairly late, so it won't be a great one, but as they say, every little helps.

Both my wife and I are pretty frugal with money, our only debts are a small (less than £50k) mortgage on our home and a small mortgage on a rental property. We've got everything set up in a way that should we need to, we can survive on far less income than we're currently getting.

I bill myself out at £50 an hour, but based on profits it actually works out that I receive somewhere in the region of £23-28 an hour. At the minute my profits are around 43% of turnover.

 

[gpietersz]

With 25 years experience you should be charging more. Its an acceptable rate from agencies subcontracting to you as they are doing the customer acquisition, but definitely charge more ffrom direct clients.

I have got clients through my website. Do not put much effort into it, but a simple static site with a few pages of basic information is easy to do, does not require maintenance and make a few sales. My site is static, using a site generator (Nikola), and has got me some work for little effort or cost.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I am lucky in that I know my two main clients bill me out at around £100 an hour, but for many other agencies their own rate is £50 and they can't justify paying me the same rate. That's an objection I've had in the past.

If you raise your prices then those who are billing you out at £100 plus will just pay and those who say they can't won't matter.
Where else are these people going to go - People per Hour, maybe, and take their chances?

 

[Interestedobserver]

Maybe see if you can bring new large clients in on higher rates ? You will feel more confident about increasing your rates for existing clients in due course if you do as well

 

[Interestedobserver]

Maybe see if you can bring new large clients in on higher rates ? You will feel more confident about increasing your rates for existing clients in due course if you do as well

What are the tangible benefits you could bring a new client?

Does your software help bring more sales in for clients?

 

[Sheppard Digital]

If you raise your prices then those who are billing you out at £100 plus will just pay and those who say they can't won't matter.
Where else are these people going to go - People per Hour, maybe, and take their chances?

That's part of the problem, people see the prices on things like People per Hour and use that as a basis for their costings. Being in the industry I know that good people cost good money, and when you weed out all of the rubbish on People per Hour (or alternatives), you soon see that the good people are actually charging good money.

I've worked with a team of developers in India, and while the client may have been getting a lower rate, we had endless communication difficulties and what they were being asked to do was always taken out of context. On top of that, the quality of work wasn't that good either. I'm not say that all Indian development agencies are like this, but I feel there's a far lower barrier to entry over there and like most things, you have people jumping on the bandwagon setting up their own agencies using people who've done nothing but read a PHP book.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

What are the tangible benefits you could bring a new client?

Does your software help bring more sales in for clients?

I don't build software that they use. I provide them with services that they may or may not have the skills to perform in-house.

Some of the benefits I think I can bring;

- risk free. Unlike employing something, there's little risk. No upfront costs etc
- access to a wealth of knowledge and skills built up over 20 years
- only pay for the time you need, i.e. don't need to pay for a full time developer if you don't need one
- in most cases I'm an integral part of the team. regular visits, xmas parties etc.
- reliable, never let you down. I bend over backwards to meet clients needs even when the deadlines they set are almost impossible to achieve
- access to a quality end product

 

[MarkOnline]

I pay a little into a pension. I started a pension fairly late, so it won't be a great one, but as they say, every little helps.

Both my wife and I are pretty frugal with money, our only debts are a small (less than £50k) mortgage on our home and a small mortgage on a rental property. We've got everything set up in a way that should we need to, we can survive on far less income than we're currently getting.

I bill myself out at £50 an hour, but based on profits it actually works out that I receive somewhere in the region of £23-28 an hour. At the minute my profits are around 43% of turnover.

I think you are in a good position, you live the life you want to live and have relatively no debt. I bet there will be a few on this forum who would swap tomorrow if they could.
You just want a bit more "future proofing" but time will reduce your debts still further, and as long as you can add small hourly increases when the market allows you should be fine. You can always bring in additional money if circumstances change.

It may sound like a negative view, but I know a fella similar to yourself (different industry, but highly specialised work) who mainly worked for agencies most of his 40 odd year career. He lived within his means and at the end of it finished up with a nice nest egg (no debt mortgage etc) a pension and spends his life doing exactly what he wants, and he doesnt worry about the bills (he doesnt have many)

Just be careful what you wish for.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

I think you are in a good position, you live the life you want to live and have relatively no debt. I bet there will be a few on this forum who would swap tomorrow if they could.
You just want a bit more "future proofing" but time will reduce your debts still further, and as long as you can add small hourly increases when the market allows you should be fine. You can always bring in additional money if circumstances change.

It may sound like a negative view, but I know a fella similar to yourself (different industry, but highly specialised work) who mainly worked for agencies most of his 40 odd year career. He lived within his means and at the end of it finished up with a nice nest egg (no debt mortgage etc) a pension and spends his life doing exactly what he wants, and he doesnt worry about the bills (he doesnt have many)

Just be careful what you wish for.

There's a fine balance which I think is different for everyone. The harsh reality is that one day I'll be dead, and I'd hate to think I had spent all of my days working my but off to make money that I didn't get a chance to spend because I died of a heart attack 3 days after I had retired.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Being in the industry I know that good people cost good money, and when you weed out all of the rubbish on People per Hour (or alternatives), you soon see that the good people are actually charging good money.

And what you should also know is that your good clients care far more about quality of work, reliability, etc than they do the actual cost. This applies to many service businesses but it can be all too easy to think you have to compete with others on price alone.

As someone explained to me once, cheap is cheap and any fool can beat you at that game.

 

[Interestedobserver]

And what you should also know is that your good clients care far more about quality of work, reliability, etc than they do the actual cost. This applies to many service businesses but it can be all too easy to think you have to compete with others on price alone.

As someone explained to me once, cheap is cheap and any fool can beat you at that game.

How do you measure and invoice exactly how long something takes you to do?

Surely you have at least a little bit of scope to increase your actual hourly rate without putting your hourly rate up if you catch my drift?

Without trying to be cynical or unethical

 

[MarkOnline]

There's a fine balance which I think is different for everyone. The harsh reality is that one day I'll be dead, and I'd hate to think I had spent all of my days working my but off to make money that I didn't get a chance to spend because I died of a heart attack 3 days after I had retired.

In which case there is a price to pay. Work more, charge more, spend more. There's still no guarantee you wont pop your clogs before youve had chance to spend it. Are you prepared to accept the consequences of what you may potentially lose to obtain that new goal?

Working your butt off? you work a 20 hour week maybe get a job in a warehouse for a few months to remind yourself how fortunate you are.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

How do you measure and invoice exactly how long something takes you to do?

Surely you have at least a little bit of scope to increase your actual hourly rate without putting your hourly rate up if you catch my drift?

Without trying to be cynical or unethical

Hours spent on a project are recorded in a tool such as TMetric, and I use that to generate a report at the end of the month that's used to generate invoices.

I do indeed catch your drift, and I know it's a technique used regularly when a client wants a specific hourly rate and knocks you down.

 

[Sheppard Digital]

In which case there is a price to pay. Work more, charge more, spend more. There's still no guarantee you wont pop your clogs before youve had chance to spend it. Are you prepared to accept the consequences of what you may potentially lose to obtain that new goal?

Working your butt off? you work a 20 hour week maybe get a job in a warehouse for a few months to remind yourself how fortunate you are.

I wish I worked a 20 hour week. I easily work 37+ hours a week even if some of that isn't billable. While working full-time self employed I spent 3 year working towards a Masters Degree, and I can tell you it was hard work. Even last week I was putting 12 hour days in just to hit a clients deadline, and I regularly find myself working evenings and weekends making changes to projects that I can't make changes to within business hours. As with most people in business, there's barely a time when I'm not thinking about work. At least when I've been employed in the past, I finished my shift and didn't have to think about work until the next day.

Would I rather do what I'm doing then work in a warehouse, of course I would. I've worked in a number of factories, and I've worked 12 hour night shifts. I've worked in places where I've hated going into work. Do I count myself fortunate, of course I do.

 

[MarkOnline]

I wish I worked a 20 hour week. I easily work 37+ hours a week even if some of that isn't billable. While working full-time self employed I spent 3 year working towards a Masters Degree, and I can tell you it was hard work. Even last week I was putting 12 hour days in just to hit a clients deadline, and I regularly find myself working evenings and weekends making changes to projects that I can't make changes to within business hours. As with most people in business, there's barely a time when I'm not thinking about work. At least when I've been employed in the past, I finished my shift and didn't have to think about work until the next day.

Would I rather do what I'm doing then work in a warehouse, of course I would. I've worked in a number of factories, and I've worked 12 hour night shifts. I've worked in places where I've hated going into work. Do I count myself fortunate, of course I do.

Fair enough. Good luck.

 

[Interestedobserver]

I think 12 hard working hours from you must be worth 15 hours at least on an invoice

Also you are available when they need you. Thats worth a huge amount trust me

 

[Deleted member 59730]

I don't see that you are a "jack of all trades". From what you say you have a very narrow range of abilities. Perhaps you should sit back and take a look at why people use you. If its to make money off of your skills why don't you do it for yourself?

Back in 1993 I was paying £50 for what was described as System Time. That was for a very basic guy with an Apple Mac connected to a Film output machine.

 

[Dima Pimakhov]

I think the really valuable part was how you found the first client: through someone you know.
Networking is a super-vital skill. I saw you mentioned you want to "outsource" your sales - don't! If you outsource your sales you will be effectively an employee of that person, because, having a client is way more important than having some PHP or Java skills. Finding a freelancer in PHP is easy, finding a client and maintaining a good relationship with them is super hard.

So, if you want to increase your sales, do more networking and do it yourself. Don't be too direct or urgent about it, treat it as a small investment with a discovery angle from you. Be open about feedback and flexible to adapt (it looks like you are already). Definitely don't hire anyone permanent, only hire (a freelancer preferably) once the workload increases substantially and you can 100% guarantee you will have enough funds to cover their costs.