"My skills are solid — I just don 't know how to say I'm open for work"

Late last year, my friend Ahui quit his job in Guangzhou to go independent as a consultant. Ten years in backend engineering, untangling messy internal processes in his sleep. But he told me: "I don't even know how to post about it on social media — I'm afraid it'll look like I'm begging." Three months went by without a single project. He spent his days in coffee shops scrolling job boards, and the more he scrolled, the more his confidence cracked . I got stuck in exactly the same place — my technical direction was clear, but landing that first client felt like a glass door: I could see through it, I just couldn't push it open.

54 people on Hacker News said how they got their first project

Someone recently posted a thread on Hacker News (a forum where technical founders and indie builders hang out) asking exactly this: "How did you land your first consulting engagement?" 108 upvotes, 54 replies. I sorted the most common answers into three buckets:

  • Path 1: Former colleague or ex-boss referral (most common by far). For a lot of people, the first project came from a former employer who hit a problem they couldn't solve internally and thought of them. This isn't nepotism — it's " you've done this before, I trust you." The move is simple: when you leave a job, send one email. Say clearly what kind of work you're taking on and leave your contact info. A surprising number of people skip this step entirely .
  • Path 2: Answer questions in niche communities first, let clients come to you. Someone named Marcos spent three months answering questions about automation workflows in a community forum — no pitching, no self-promotion. Eventually someone DMed him asking if he'd take paid work to build something. He said this path is slow, but the clients who come through it are high-quality, because they've already seen how you think before they ever reach out.
  • Path 3: Offer a low-risk entry point. The person who originally posted the thread was doing this himself: offering the first 10 hours free to his first 5 clients, letting people feel out the fit before committing. That's not working for free — it's spending a little time to remove the hesitation on their end. A lot of us instinctively resist free, but the goal of that first project isn't money. It's earning the fact that someone trusted you enough to start.

What it costs to replicate this today

Money: $0. None of these three paths require any spending — no ads, no website needed.
Time: 15 minutes for the first step. Open your phone contacts . Find 5 people who manage teams or run small-to -mid-sized businesses. Send them this message: "I've recently started taking on independent work — focused on helping companies sort out internal processes, reporting , or data problems. If you know anyone dealing with that kind of head ache, I'd love an intro." That's it. No lengthy explanation needed.
Technical barrier : none. Your phone is the only tool required.
First step: right now, write down the names of those 5 people on paper. You don't have to send anything yet — just find the names first.

This approach isn't for everyone. If you already have a steady pipeline of clients coming in, there's no pressure to try any of this right now.

What I'd suggest depending on where you are

  • If you're just starting out with zero clients: I'd go with the former-colleague path first. Least friction — they 've already seen your work. Today, go through the people you knew before you went independent and send that 15-minute message.
  • If you have 1–2 clients but the pipeline is inconsistent: I'd try the community Q&A route . Find a WeChat group or paid community where your kind of clients hang out, and commit to thoughtfully answering 2–3 industry questions per week. No selling , just showing how you think. Three months in, people will start reaching out.
  • If you're trying to scale and want to bring in clients more systematically: The low-risk entry point is worth designing deliberately — a free diagnostic call , a limited-seat workshop, or a self-assessment checklist for a specific industry problem . Give strangers a zero-risk way to experience how you work, and your conversion rate goes up considerably.