I’m betting you have more to offer a client than just your amazing coding skills. So why are you only promoting your technical experience? Here are some other attributes that many if not most customers will also consider important:

Reliable with deadlines. Consultants who consistently achieve deadlines are unusual. And valuable.

Easy to connect with. Some programmers go into a rabbit hole or never answer their phones/emails. If you aren’t one of those, why not remind prospects of that?

Business or subject matter expertise. You may be able to advise your client on more than just technology.

Provide additional services....

When I describe my target market, people wonder if it is too narrow. It is important to realize that some criteria may not be automatic deal breakers. Here’s what I mean. My target market includes small organizations of 25 employees or less. Does that mean that if a prospect has 50 employees I automatically tell them I’m not a fit? No. But I use that information as one of the items for identifying if I think I will enjoy working with this client. The larger the client, the more cautious I am.

On the other hand, some projects do have ...

I've written previously about the importance of figuring out what kind of projects you really want. Here are some questions that can get you started:

• Do you care if you are maintaining existing code (even your own)? Or do you only want to be working on new projects?
• Do you prefer working with a team? How large? What role do you want on the team?
• How long do your favorite projects last?
• What technologies are most interesting to you? Are there any that you don't want to work with?
• What tools, processes, and methodologies are "must have" for you? ...

Whenever I meet someone who is IndyCoding and working on a project they hate, I feel sad. And a little confused.

Being a freelance programmer is not the easy solution for most people. You can’t just be a programmer. You have to also be a business person. A sales and marketing person. A project manager. Many programmers are not up to that challenge.

And there is quite a bit of uncertainty in the freelance programming life. Where is my next project coming from? What if they don’t pay me on time? These are not easy things.

So why, Why, WHY ...

One of the things I offer my clients is fixed-fee monthly support. This is a great option for my clients, because they can easily budget for hard to predict problems, and it is useful for me because it guarantees me regular income every month.

Support is easier to offer if you have experience working with the client. On occasion, I’ve been asked to quote support for new clients for apps I didn’t write. I’ve declined because this works best if you have a history of working with the client and the application. You know where the danger areas are, how ...